Across the Street, Down the Street, Across the Town

After working at the Chick-fil-A Support Center, I first attempted to build a Customer Experience Engine for a local thrift store. It took some work to develop a methodology that applied to them. I couldn’t just tell them to copy Chick-fil-A. But it wasn’t that hard of a translation. They both had stores and cash registers. Customers selected from a wide variety of options and then left with a physical product. So, while the details were all different, it was a very similar business model.

After teaching them a newly minted model designed for them, their sales and profits grew, and they ended up selling that store to another business. That sale delivered a much-needed chunk of cash to the nonprofit that owned it. Yes, that thrift store is still successful today. In fact, it’s the largest thrift store in their area.

Then, a credit union approached me and asked if I could help them figure out how to create remarkable member relationships. There are similarities between a credit union and a restaurant, but not as many as the thrift store. Customers still showed up at a location, waited in line, and had someone respond to their request. But the product was often not physical. It is increasingly digital, like getting a loan or opening an account.

After a series of training sessions and monthly coaching with their CEO, they turned on their Customer Experience Engine. They moved from the bottom 10 percent of credit unions in their region to the top 5 percent in a little less than three years, based on industry-standard measures that included return on assets (ROA), loan quality, and Net Promoter Score.

After working with the credit union, I updated my model again, using the engine metaphor for the first time. Eventually, I started using this engine to help a wide variety of businesses. But I didn’t leap from restaurants to enterprise software. I started with a similar business (thrift store), then moved a little further away (credit union) and applied it to totally different business models.

And this is what we recommend you do as you’re translating ideas from another industry into your own company. Start by trying something from a business across the street, so to speak, then move down the street, and only then work with something from across the town.