Understanding How Small Decisions Shape Customer Experience
After all, businesses have access to endless resources, training programmes, books, consultants and technology. Customer experience has become a boardroom priority across almost every sector.
Yet most of us can still recall frustrating interactions with companies that failed to meet expectations.
As a CX and Continuous Improvement Consultant at Carter Consultancy, Dave Stubberfield believes the answer lies in something deceptively simple: understanding how small decisions shape outcomes.
To illustrate this, he turned to two unlikely business tools—a pig and a slice of toast.
The pig that revealed a common business mistake
Early in his sessions, Stubberfield asks audiences to draw a pig. The results vary widely—some pigs are large, some small, some more artistic. Yet the critical oversight is that no one asked what kind of pig was wanted.
This simple exercise highlights a common business mistake: teams rushing into action based on assumptions rather than a clear understanding of customer requirements.
When Stubberfield guided the audience through drawing a pig step-by-step, outcomes became more consistent. Everyone followed the same instructions, sharing a clear understanding of the goal.
This exercise underlines three essential areas that underpin business performance:
- Understanding customer requirements
- Creating consistent processes
- Eliminating inefficiencies before they become embedded
Too often, organisations set up processes that seem to work initially but are left untouched for years. Over time, new technologies, systems, and workarounds accumulate, turning simple processes into tangled webs of disconnected systems and unnecessary complexity.
We are living in the age of the customer
Stubberfield then introduces the central analogy of toast to demonstrate the variability of customer expectations.
Ask a group how they like their toast, and answers will range from lightly browned to nearly burnt, with various toppings and butters. The task is identical, but the desired outcome varies greatly.
This reflects today’s marketplace reality: customers have unprecedented choice and can switch suppliers or service providers in minutes.
For example, changing utility providers has become remarkably simple compared to previous years. Customers are willing to move if a competitor offers a better experience, lower price, or greater convenience.
Stubberfield aptly describes this as “the age of the customer.” Businesses can no longer assume loyalty—they must continuously earn it.
Customer experience and employee experience are inseparable
One of the session’s strongest messages is that customer experience cannot be improved in isolation.
Many organisations invest heavily in enhancing customer journeys but overlook the experience of the employees who deliver them.
Stubberfield explains that this disconnect creates a major problem: employees expect the same quality of experience that businesses strive to provide customers. When internal systems are frustrating, processes inefficient, and communication poor, these frustrations affect service delivery.
A great customer experience begins long before a customer interacts with the business—it starts with the employee experience.
When staff feel supported, empowered, and equipped with the right tools and training, customers reap the benefits.
The anatomy of a perfect piece of toast
Stubberfield uses toast as a metaphor to break down business operations:
- The bread represents people and processes.
- The toaster represents systems and technology.
- The cooking time represents leadership decisions.
- The toppings represent customer experience.
- The table where it is enjoyed represents culture.
Viewed this way, business performance becomes easier to understand. If the bread is stale—if people lack training, processes are unclear, or responsibilities poorly defined—no amount of effort can produce exceptional outcomes.
He warns against relying on “heroics” from employees to rescue broken systems. While many employees are capable and committed, constantly forcing them to create workarounds is exhausting and unsustainable.
Instead, businesses should address root causes rather than symptoms.
Why systems amplify behaviour
Technology is critical in modern organisations, but Stubberfield cautions that systems alone do not solve problems—they amplify existing behaviours.
Whether it’s CRM software, communication tools, ticketing platforms, or project management systems, technology’s effectiveness depends on the processes and behaviours surrounding it.
He shares an example of a business with six separate customer databases, some mere spreadsheets, created independently by different departments due to lack of visibility.
This fragmentation caused duplicated effort, poor communication, and inconsistent customer data.
By integrating those systems into a shared source of truth, the organisation improved efficiency and collaboration, demonstrating that disconnected systems often reveal disconnected thinking.
Leadership is knowing when to step in and when to step back
Leadership attention is another critical theme.
Too little attention allows problems to fester, standards to slip, and inefficiencies to become the norm. New employees quickly learn that reality does not match documented processes.
Conversely, too much attention leads to micromanagement. Overbearing leaders erode confidence and ownership, stifling innovation as employees become reluctant to make decisions.
The most effective leaders discern when to intervene and when to trust their teams to solve problems independently.
Stubberfield recounts a case where senior leaders designed a process based on their assumptions of how work should be done. Employees immediately recognized the “happy path” did not reflect real-world challenges, bottlenecks, and rework.
This example reminds us that improvement initiatives must be co-created with employees, not imposed upon them.
Despite the many practical examples, the underlying message is straightforward.
- Business improvement doesn’t always require dramatic transformation.
- Sometimes it starts by asking better questions.
- Sometimes it means clarifying customer requirements.
- Sometimes it involves fixing processes that have quietly become inefficient over time.
- Sometimes it means paying closer attention to employee experience.
Like making toast, every small decision influences the final outcome. Individually, these decisions may seem insignificant; collectively, they determine whether customers leave delighted, employees stay engaged, and businesses grow sustainably.
As Stubberfield demonstrates, improving your business may not require a revolutionary strategy.
It might simply start with one slice of toast at a time.
