Are you thinking of your customer contact strategy in these terms?In nature, an observable phenomenon called transmutation finds one object converting to another over time. As business tends to mimic nature, perhaps you should be considering your customer contact strategy in these terms.

I've often met with companies who love to benchmark. They'll buy reports on contact center metrics, they'll attend "birds of a feather" user groups, and they may even hire "mystery shoppers" to assess customer experience for both themselves and their competitors. While useful exercises, one consistent theme may not be addressed in these practices - that disruptive innovation usually enters an industry from the outside, not the inside - and assessing your direct competitor may not provide enough disruptive innovation to change the competitive landscape in your industry, particularly when it comes to customer contact strategies.

An alternative approach may be to think about the best experience you ever had from a customer servicing point of view, regardless of industry or product category. The "no pressure" sales approach from Saturn (if you have a cross-selling campaign in your contact center, a must!), the fabled return policies of Nordstrom's or Costco, or even the self-service checkout of your favorite hardware retailer. What do cars, shirts, or hammers have to do with your business? Probably nothing. What does the service excellence surrounding these products have to do with your customer contact strategy? Probably everything!

Why focus on non-related industries? Over time, your customers will "transmute" their best customer experiences anywhere to your product and service category. Bet on it!

What's your best experience?