Customer Experience Passion Lesson From Dubai

No matter where we are or what we do, customer experience matters.

Connecting with what you do and delivering an exceptional customer experience is important to people around the world.

Ujala Ali Khan is a 32-year old from Pakistan, residing in Dubai and she recently taught me a valuable lesson about passion in the customer experience.

Where is the energy in your customer experience?

I believe life is too short to spend doing things – or being with people – you don’t really like. So focus your energy on things that you love.

Ujala knows that it’s not enough to do something just to do it. It has to mean something. If we care about it, we’ll deliver the very best we have to offer. Do you ever find yourself standing in line somewhere or waiting on hold for 30 minutes and reading or hearing over and over again saying, “We value your business” or “Our customers are the most important part of our business”? I don’t believe it for a minute. It just can’t be true.

Break the customer experience trend.

“Stay hungry, stay foolish” are four words have been quoted ad nauseam, but I believe that better advice has never been dispensed in fewer words.

The hungry fight harder. The foolish don’t settle. Just because something’s worked so far, it doesn’t mean that it’s the best. Fight the trends that are in place and carve your own path to deliver the best customer experience possible.

In Dubai, the Mall of Emirates has more than 500 stores and even a ski resort with even a chair lift. Dubai is known for its luxurious shopping experience, but it still has lessons to learn.

Apple stores worldwide are known for their ability to envelop the customer in an enriching, experience creating environment. Apple sells you a vision of what you can do with its products.

Dubai is the extreme opposite.

Electronics stores tend to all have the same typical display. The focus is on pushing brands, rather than creating an enriching experience with the consumer. There are no demos, only boxes of products to buy and take home. The focus by salespeople is on selling the brand, rather than the experience.

But that’s changing. Ujala and others form a growing group making a difference, determined to discard the status-quo. They believe that life can be made better through passion. They realize that it’s not enough to be content with an 8-5 job, but that you need to connect with what you do and who you serve in order to deliver an exceptional customer experience.