Watch Kitchen Nightmares closely, and you’ll see Gordon’s methodical, genius approach to the customer experience. Get more, by doing less
Gordon Ramsay is the edgy, foul-mouthed star of the hit TV show Kitchen Nightmares and a customer experience master.
Although overshadowed by his in-your-face personality, if you watch Kitchen Nightmares closely, you’ll learn Gordon’s methodical approach to the customer experience. Get more, by doing less.
Less is More in Customer Experience
More and more, companies try to turn to doing more in order to win the customer experience game. In the endless rush to out-do the competition, we find ourselves caught in the never ending cycle of having to do more, offer more, be more. What does it leave us?
With less.
We’re less focused. We provide less quality. We have less interaction with those who really matter, the customer. Focus more and do less to make your customer experience training more effective. Refine and cut out the unnecessary from your customer experience strategy. Eliminate distractions and get more from your customer experience management.
Exceptional customer experience is about doing less quantity, and more quality.
When you start spreading yourself too thinly, you can fail to meet the same standards the second or third time round. The secret of a successful chef is to put yourself in the customer’s position. By that I mean thinking about what they want.
-Gordon Ramsay
If you want to be the best, don’t do everything, do one thing..better than the rest.
Customer Experience Success from Kitchen Nightmares
Each episode of Kitchen Nightmares showcases a failing restaurant. These restaurants are failing in execution, but ultimately failing the customer experience. Owners often think that making every possible dish will result in the greatest appear of customers. They quickly find that they’re left with little ability to deliver the quality customers want.
Gordon Ramsay, with his larger-then-life attitude, steps in and turns around the struggling restaurant and turns it into a customer experience masterpiece. His first step in the customer experience process:
Do Less.
The menu is trimmed down from 30 plus dishes to 10. 10 dishes that the restaurant can execute masterfully each and every time. 10 dishes to connect with their specific customer base. Not every single possible person in the world, but the specific audience that wants and is willing to pay for those dishes when executed perfectly.
Cut back. Get more from customer experience by doing less.
Pick what you’re going to do, commit to do it better than the rest. There’s no need to keep adding more and more. Do less. It’s no use to customers to offer 100 mediocre features, when they really need 10 great ones.
“Do less than your competitors to beat them. Solve the simple problems and leave the hairy, difficult, nasty problems to the competition. Instead of one-upping, try one-downing. Instead of outdoing, try underdoing.”
-Jason Fried
Look at the companies that are getting more by doing less.
The Apple Less is More Customer Experience
Apple doesn’t make every type of computer. It offers specific types of products, designed around a customer experience.
Apple’s products aren’t the cheapest, but ask any Apple owner, to them, it’s worth every penny.
The Southwest Customer Experience
You can’t fly around the world with them. Southwest won’t fly to many places in the country. You aren’t going to be exposed to the latest jumbo-jet or a supersonic speed jet when you travel with them. Southwest’s fleet of airplanes are all Boeing 737s.
Although you can’t get everything with Southwest, you do get a focused, quality customer experience. The same planes make it so all Southwest staff is familiar with and can operate any of its planes. All of its parts fit any of its planes. This keeps costs low for the company, and it passes on its costs to the consumer, the budget-conscious customer.
The Facebook Customer Experience
Mark Zuckerberg didn’t set out to change the way business is done. He didn’t try to solve the business needs of the business world. He simply wanted to solve a small problem of letting people share information with friends.
Facebook won’t be your corporate email. Facebook isn’t going to do word processing. Facebook can’t balance your budget. Facebook won’t save you money on car insurance.
Facebook will, however, let you share what’s going on in your life. And it does a fabulous job at it.
More Customer Experience is Doing Less
Be proud of doing less. Don’t think that you always need more. Focus on what you can do, and do that really well.
Creating an exceptional customer experience is about making a positive, memorable connection with your customers. Your connection won’t be positive or memorable if you’re mediocre. You’ve got to be exceptional in your customer experience and you do that by doing less.
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