The Delightful Experience Business

All things being equal, people choose to be delighted versus disappointed. Mike Doria, my first manager at Cisco said, “As an SE at Cisco, your job is to delight the customer.” I always took that to heart and it was my prime mover.

Our company philosophy at CNS is to provide the best possible customer experience with the technology and the people. When the phone rings, I answer it and find a way to “get to yes.” I don’t get caught up spending days or weeks on statements of work, and pride myself on quick turnaround. That's what I'd want. A CNS SoW is generally one or two pages and paints the broad brush strokes of what we’re going to do and how much it will cost.

We want lasting relationships that work to our mutual benefit. We understand that all relationships are a give and take. I don’t want to work with customers who routinely ask for unreasonable things, just as my customers don’t want someone unhelpful who nickel and dimes them. I get calls from customers in emergency situations all the time, and I juggle things to meet their needs and exceed their expectations.

Our credibility and good dealings lead to understanding across the board. When I tell a customer, “I have to step out to take this important call,” or “I have to move this appointment from in-person to WebEx,” they know I would do the same for them if they had a serious issue. There are lots of places you can buy Cisco gear, and there are lots of folks in the consulting business, but the CNS value proposition lies in the intersection of integrity, responsiveness, can-do attitude, and good old fashioned elbow grease. I don't balk at having to rack equipment, pull cable, make deliveries, terminate cables, configure user accounts, change passwords, or any of the stuff the "architect' types see as below their pay grade. We just delight the customer no matter what it takes.

You hang up the phone, read the e-mail, or watch me finish my work and say, “Wow, that was great… that was easy.” CNS is in the business of delighting customers. It's what drives us.