How to communicate with customers: Put on their smelly shoes (Part 3)

I proudly present to you: part 3 in our ongoing series on how not to be a douche to customers (AKA, improving the customer experience). If you’re late to the party, read Part 1 here and Part 2 here.

OK, quick recap.

1. To provide an excellent customer experience, we have to be realistic about their reality.

2. To be truly connected to the customer experience, we need to be able to put ourselves in their shoes.

3. To put ourselves in their shoes requires empathy.

4. Strengthening empathy requires us to be vulnerable.

Which brings us to my last piece of advice for the most earth-shatteringly-good customer experience:

5. Another way of explaining the kind of vulnerability I described in Part 2 is… *insert fanfare or maybe a drumroll*….. Authenticity!

But what even is Authenticity?

Let’s go back to good ol’ Brené Brown:

Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen…. Authenticity is the daily practice of letting go of who we think we’re supposed to be and embracing who we are.

– Brené Brown

In business writing and customer interactions, here’s what I think authenticity looks like:

· Removing formality — out of date and higher-level language that is intended to make us sound good but is deaf to readers’ needs

· Dropping our out-of-date ideas around the professional voice — letting go of our fears that if we don’t use an “elevated” register, we’ll not be taken seriously

· Writing in words and ways that work for THEM not us — again, this means we let go of writing to make ourselves sound good, and write empathetically

· Acknowledging and owning our mistakes and fallibility — hello human! We, too, are human! How much nicer is the world when we’re straight up about that?

Think you can’t be authentic in your business?

Think again. I speak from actual experience.

Let’s take me, for example. I’ve been running my business for a decade now. I train people in corporates (across pretty much every industry) and GOVERNMENT to communicate more clearly.

I *DO NOT* censor or water down my brand in order to attract any of them. I don’t care who you are. I show up as me.

My business has increased revenue, Every. Single. Year. Without exception.

The first time I put swear words on my website, I brought in 3 new government clients.

Why? Because my authentic voice (which is, by its very nature, vulnerable — because I break rules and open myself up to the risk of criticism or possibly alienating potential clients) is RELATABLE.

And I’m sooooooo not the only one. Look at whose content appeals to you on LinkedIn. Do you ever say, “Oh, I love their content because they have such a bureaucratic voice”? Do you ever say, “Oh I feel so connected because they use words that are so alien to me.”

Like seriously. What appeals to you?

Here’s my current favourite authentic voice

Hold onto your hats, because they work with **lawyers**!!!

Judge for yourself. This is my shoutout to Elizabeth, Ilze, and Anne of Novation Consulting.

I fucking love you guys!

So again, let’s bring it all together

Here’s our end goal: When you COMMUNICATE WITH EMPATHY, you let go of your needs, your fears, and your anxieties, and you meet your reader’s needs.

1. A positive customer service experience is grounded in empathy.

2. To increase empathy, we need to be vulnerable.

3. The result of vulnerability is increased authenticity

4. Increased authenticity = connection

And connection, my friends, is the basis of a positive customer experience.

The end.

You’re welcome.

Love you!