Customer Experience is About the Process not the Shtick

As I interact with companies in my daily to-dos. I find myself amused at the different elements of my customer experience and the lengths that some company will go to in order to affect the wrong elements of my experience.

Companies seem very willing to invest heavily in what I call the shtick of the experience but ignore the true process that creates value. Whether it is hanging rock-n-roll memorabilia on the wall, hanging a row boat from the ceiling or having the customer experience staff wear the same goofy uniform - companies invest in the shtick. Very rarely have I seen companies focus on a complete customer experience solution.

In their article on the "Total Customer Experience", Berry, Carbone and Haeckel outline correctly that "Offering products and services alone is no longer enough: Organizations must provide their customers with satisfactory experiences. Competing on this dimension means orchestrating all the 'clues' that people detect in the buying process"

So, if the customer experience is about the buying process, and not the shtick, then organizations must determine what the buying process is. - So I wonder, how many organizations have even mapped out their buying process and understand where it begins, ends and more importantly where they fail to convert, or fail to satisfy their customer's demands?

My 'ahh haa' for the day... Companies need to focus on the process, not the shtick. As that is where companies create real value for their customers.