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Hudler shared how to win customers in this new environment:

• Begin by looking through the eyes of the customer: Who is your customer, what does your brand mean to your customers, why do they buy from you?
• Understand what makes your brand unique: What can you do better than competitors? Deliver on your fundamental brand promise.
• Embrace a 360-degree approach to customer experience: Everything from the product and in-store environment to marketing and PR impacts customers' perception of the brand. Be consistent, but also carry the messaging through to the local level, customized to local preferences.
• Engage customers: Cocreate with customers, build community, and participate in the local community.
• Establish a dialog: Using interactive tools like social media to resolve issues, collect feedback, run promotions, and build engagement.
• Create the right guest experience: What's the right experience for your business? For Dunkin it's "fast, friendly, and helpful."
• Harness employees as brand ambassadors: Engaged employees are a tremendous asset in building customer engagement and loyalty. This starts by hiring right and building an environment that promotes teamwork.
• Act on feedback: Gather customer feedback, distribute it to the right staff, and take action on that insight to resolve issues, win back customers, make improvements, and create innovative products based on customers' preferences.

"Customers aren't there to meet your expectations. You're there to meet theirs," Hudler says. "Are you meeting customers' expectations?"