Great customer service is one of the key reasons and the differentiating factors from those who start businesses and those who want longevity in business.
As part of my series about the five things a business should do to create a Wow! customer experience, I had the pleasure of interviewing Elizabeth Davis.
Elegance. Sophistication. Luxury. When Elizabeth Davis’ name is spoken in any room, you can be assured that the conversation is next-level. Hailing from the near Southside of Chicago, IL., Elizabeth Davis is the Queen of Healthy Haircare. Her passion for beauty and business is unparalleled as she is the commander in chief of one the nations most valued haircare brands, Shedavi.
With a Bachelor’s degree from Florida A&M University in Construction Engineering Technology, Elizabeth made her mark in the building industry by managing multi-million-dollar construction projects for various well-known corporate clients.
Although she is an engineer and project manager by education and work experience, she is most enthusiastic about Shedavi, which provides natural, botanically-based holistic hair, skin and nail products to women, men and children of all hair types globally.
Elizabeth is a woman of faith. She attributes everything she has and everything she is to become to her reliance in a higher power. To Elizabeth, the source of her success stems from God. She believes that faith in action is the only way to level up and win.
You can learn more about Elizabeth’s haircare company, Shedavi, at www.shedavi.com and join Elizabeth and her audience of over 169k fans and followers on Facebook (Shedavi Hair), Instagram (@queenelizabethdavis and @shedavi) and Pinterest (@shedavi).
Thank you so much for joining us! Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
A former Construction Engineer, I pivoted my career into hair care after spending 6 years finding a solution to my own haircare needs. I stayed at my job for 3 years, relaying on family to help me with operations before I quit my job as a Construction Engineer to fully pursue Shedavi.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
One time I used too much sulfur in one of my products. This caused my hair to have a weird smell even though it was amazing on your hair. I had to go back several times to change the formula. This taught me to continue to improve. You may not get it right the first time but you will get it eventually. This also taught me to be patient with myself and my process.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
My mother. She has taught me how to properly manage money, how to understand building credit, and much more. She encouraged me to be a logical thinker and find what really works. Her mindset alone is what truly helped me build Shedavi.
Thank you for that. Let’s now pivot to the main focus of our interview. This might be intuitive, but I think it’s helpful to specifically articulate it. In your words, can you share a few reasons why great customer service and a great customer experience is essential for success in business?
Great customer service is one of the key reasons and the differentiating factors from those who start businesses and those who want longevity in business. Making sure the customer is number 1 on your concern list when developing your products and helping them feel involved in the process helps keeps them coming back and builds brand loyalty.
We have all had times either in a store, or online, when we’ve had a very poor experience as a customer or user. If the importance of a good customer experience is so intuitive, and apparent, where is the disconnect? How is it that so many companies do not make this a priority?
The disconnect comes when businesses do not have systems/practices in place to accommodate their consumers. Also, the lack of training and wrong placement of your staff. It is important that all customer service reps under Shedavi has proper training to keep them up to date on what they should know about our products and much more. We also emphasize empathy when dialoguing with our customers.
Do you think that more competition helps force companies to improve the customer experience they offer? Are there other external pressures that can force a company to improve the customer experience?
Indirectly, competition can force you to focus or re-establish some practices to enhance your customer experience. Analyzing your competition can give you a gauge on the latest customer experience trends and trainings to ensure that your company is providing that best customer service experience.
Did that Wow! experience have any long term ripple effects? Can you share the story?
Yes, when you can wow the customer you build brand loyalty and you inspire them to share their experiences with everyone they know.
Ok, here is the main question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a founder or CEO should know in order to create a Wow! Customer Experience. Please share a story or an example for each.
- Genuinely caring about your customer and finding ways to connect with the consumer through engagement.
- Having systems in place for typical customer inquiries to be answered.
- Clear and transparent communication with your consumers.
- Keep in mind that Customer Service is more than the service and the product you provide but the actual customer experience and relationship with your brand that matters.
- Focus on the entire cycle of the customer experience process, from pre-purchase to post-purchase. Learn to nurture the relationship between your brand and the consumer.
Are there a few things that can be done so that when a customer or client has a Wow! experience, they inspire others to reach out to you as well?
We built a strong online community for our customers to share and talk about their experience with our company.
You are a person of great influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
In Business it is a good movement to care about your customers overall life and have a social responsibility/ impact.
How can our readers follow you on social media?