I don’t know whether you have this problem or not. I often do, and I thought maybe someone could help me. And IABC.

Often when I meet new people, they will ask me what I do professionally. I say that I work for the International Associaton of Business Communicators, an international professional association with 13,000 members. So far so good. Then I try to describe what a business communicator is. That’s when I run into problems.

I give them my two sentence description of a business communicator, and I can see their eyes glaze over in confusion. Then after saying “blah, blah, blah,” I say, “like someone who does employee communications or public relations.” Then the light dawns and they get it.

I really would like to have a meaningful definition of business communicator, both to help me out at the dog park and family weddings, but also for IABC. IABC staff is in the process of working with a branding consultant, who has discovered that everyone he talked to has a different definition of “business communicator.” He believes that since those two words are in our name, we should have clear definition of business communicator and own the definition.

How do you define “business communicator?” Or does it matter that we have so many definitions?

My team conducted an impromptu mystery shopping study at consumer electronics stores in two states, and came back with some rather disturbing findings. We posed as customers who asked for assistance to buy a photo printer. No less than 80% of the reps we encountered didn’t ask a single qualifying question! And almost all of the 20% that asked something, asked just one question. Not a single rep asked such basic questions as, “How many pictures will you be printing?” or ”Are you using a PC to edit your photos?” Yet, all of these leading consumer electronics retailers are trying to stake out a brand reputation of superior customer experience and personalized shopping assistance. The responses from the sales reps ranged from, “I suppose you need a color printer,” to the rep who spouted product specs for 15 straight minutes without once taking a breath or even looking at the customer. What they all had in common was a complete lack of the most basic selling skill: the ability to listen to customer needs. With sales reps that are completely incapable of conducting a customer conversation, how can the nation’s leading consumer electronics retailers even begin to build a differentiated brand experience? And, from the manufacturers’ point of view, why don’t they take a sliver of their advertising budget and invest it in training retail reps how to effectively sell their brands?

Walt Disney had it right: the customer experience is a “stage,” where customers are “guests” and service employees are “cast members.” Armed with this critical insight into the customer relationship, Disney and other service leaders avoid the commodity death spiral by recognizing that they’re in the business of creating rich, compelling experiences.In the vernacular of the former C.E.O. of the Scandinavian Airline Systems, Jan Carlzon, it’s the “moments of truth” that make or break a brand. He argued that the SAS brand is a product of the 50 million moments of truth his customers experience every year. Carlzon sent all of his front-line personnel to training, gave them more decision-making power, and designed new uniforms for them. He inspired, taught and empowered employees to send customers a consistently positive message about the brand. He recognized that every moment of truth is a microcosm of the brand. It’s like a hologram. No matter how many small parts the hologram is divided into, each piece still contains the whole picture. Every contact with a company represents the entire company to the customer.

Who are today’s brand experience leaders? With the American Customer Satisfaction index stuck at a lower level than in 1994, there hasn’t been much progress. Starbucks comes to mind as a great exception. While all Starbucks stores aren’t identical, there’s the same unmistakable smell, look, feel, and irresistible service from frontline employees who are pampered with good training and completive compensations and health benefit packages. What other examples do you have of consistent brand experiences?