A business can feel familiar to its owner while leaving customers with a different impression. In PwC’s 2025 Customer Experience Survey, 29% of consumers said they had stopped buying from or using a brand because of a poor customer experience, online or in person. That finding raises a practical question about how closely a company’s view of its service matches the experience of receiving it.
The same research suggests those perspectives can diverge. About nine in 10 executives believed customer loyalty had increased in recent years, while roughly four in 10 consumers felt their own loyalty had grown. These responses suggest that confidence inside a business may need testing against customers’ experiences.
PwC’s analysis points toward examining the steps people take when discovering, choosing, and using a business. Looking across those interactions may help leaders identify difficulties that remain less apparent when each department considers only its own responsibilities.
Taken together, the findings suggest a useful starting point for owners. Before assuming that customers are satisfied, consider what the business requires of them, how clearly it communicates, and whether its everyday routines make sense from the other side of the transaction.
Investor and Founder of Flash Direct Inc., Mario Nicolaou, reflects back on how that perspective began with a lesson from his father while he was running his brother’s liquor store in his early 20s. His father taught him to step outside, pause, and return with fresh eyes, paying attention to the surroundings as a customer would. Nicolaou believes the same exercise can be valuable for CEOs and business owners who become so immersed in their operations that they stop seeing the business the way their customers do.
“Leave the store, take a breath, and then come back in with a fresh pair of eyes,” Nicolaou explains. The exercise prompted him to reconsider the surroundings he had grown accustomed to, from the smell and displays to objects he routinely walked around without noticing.
That lesson extends to how a business uses its space. Nicolaou observes that for a CEO, that lesson extends beyond the physical environment. The longer a leader operates inside a business, the easier it can become to accept inefficient processes, confusing customer journeys or outdated practices simply because they have become familiar. “The customer experience is a 360-degree cycle. Owners need to look at every touchpoint, from the first interaction and website to sales, service and follow-up, not just one part of the business,” he explains. Stepping into the customer’s perspective can challenge those assumptions and reveal what the people running the business may no longer see.
That principle shapes how Nicolaou approaches every client he works with. He treats each one as his “only customer,” giving their needs his full attention without assuming their business is owed. For him, that comes down to understanding the role of the business: “You are there to serve the customer, not the other way round.” As a business grows, he believes that humility becomes increasingly important because past loyalty should never be mistaken for a guarantee of future business.
For Nicolaou, that humility is ultimately about remaining valuable and wanted rather than assuming any relationship is guaranteed.
Across the businesses he has been involved in, Nicolaou says the same principle continues to shape how he thinks about the customer experience. In one of his vehicle-rental businesses, for example, one of his employees was unable to manage a booking, which led Nicolaou to step in. “After returning from a business trip in the late evening before, I had to drive to a car wash early the next morning, prepare and deliver a vehicle for a relatively modest booking,” he says. For him, the size of the transaction does not change the standard of service: if a customer has paid for an experience, the business should deliver on that promise.
For Nicolaou, that approach can extend well beyond the original business transaction. Treating people with respect and making the effort to serve them well can build relationships that continue long after a job or sale is finished. His own experience has shown him how professional relationships can develop into lasting connections, referrals, and new opportunities. These ideas also feature in a podcast, Beyond the Last Mile, where he discusses his approach to customer service, managing delivery operations and the practices behind his performance in the industry.
The lasting value for Nicolaou is his father’s lesson in the willingness to look again. However familiar a business becomes, owners should remain willing to step outside their routines and see the experience from the customer’s perspective. Returning customers may offer reassurance, but their loyalty should never be taken for granted. As Nicolaou puts it, “The customer doesn’t owe you anything. You have to earn their business every time.”
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