What comes to mind when you think about world class customer service? For me the list includes attributes like this:
- Easy to Use
- Professional
- Responsive
- Timely
- Fair
- Knowledgeable
While these aspects are all true, the reality is much different. Customers want what customers want. (Sounds a little Zen, doesn’t it?)
And just like Willy Wonka’s Veruca Salt, they want it now! The stark simplicity of this fact makes customer service such a challenging profession.
Customer Service Differs Between Companies – Dell customers expect a much different experience than Starbucks customers for example.
- Over the course of several weeks you may come to know your local barista, but you may never meet the support engineer who fields your technical questions.
- Product integration at Starbucks is whether you want a scone or a muffin with your latte.
- Product integration at Dell may involve whether a firmware driver enables Wi-Fi communications.
Customer Service Differs Between Customers – As another example, consider that different customers of the same company have different benchmarks of world class.
- Starbuck’s repeat customers may expect the server to remember their name and details of their lives.
- A mother of young children may want the servers to be sensitive that little Johnny may not need a mid-morning sugar rush.
- A business person new to the location may want the order to be filled fast.
Each of these customers holds different ideas of what world class is and the same holds true for our customers. After all, customers want what customers want.
The pivot point is that because customers have different needs/goals our role in the customer service industry is to help our parent companies identify what those needs are and to provide for them in the best way possible. Note that “best” doesn’t necessarily mean satisfying everyone all of the time. But the further we are from that ideal, the closer we’ll be to Veruca Salt’s ultimatum which sounds a lot less Zen in your call center.
August 23, 2010
Sure it was an internal publication. And maybe it was tongue in cheek. But let’s agree that using Osama bin Laden as an example of mobile phone boarding pass technology was at least poor taste, at worst stupid.
Training your customer service representatives is serious business. They are, after all, the face of your brand. So when a staid company like British Airways makes a blunder like this they need to spend some time and energy recovering.
Your team that deals with customers may be the most important group of people that work in your company. It is beyond comprehension that a company would choose to use the name of a man who has sworn to destroy so many innocents.
Shows how far out of touch BA is with its customers. What should BA do to emerge from its mistakes and embarrassment? Read more here.
The pivot point is that how your company communicates with your customer team is incredibly important precisely because that message gets communicated to your customers. Regardless of whether this ill-fated publication was approved by upper management or just slipped by, it makes a statement. One statement for sure is that a company that can’t manage to catch a slip-up like this may not catch the real thing either.
August 10, 2010
Coming on the heels of a shaky 2009, the DJIA performance in 2010 (YTD) is flat. (Flat is the new up right?) What could your company do to get >5% higher revenues this year?
If you answered “serve the customer” you’re right! American Express completed Customer Service Barometer research recently and found that customers spend 9% more with companies that provide excellent customer service.
But do businesses value their customers? Judging from the survey results, no way! Here’s how consumers think companies treat them:
With the economy still reeling and +/-10% unemployment, consumers are spending their earnings (or savings) more intelligently than ever. They can’t afford to do business with companies that do nothing or act as if they are a nuisance. Nor should they.
- Choices are Everywhere – How many Toyota owners (and now Lexus) are considering other manufacturers? (Surprisingly, provided they are loyal owners of the brand, 86% will give companies like Toyota a second chance if they had excellent previous experiences.)
- Information is Plentiful and Accessible – Today’s consumers have more data, first-person input, and insights into the pros and cons of purchasing almost anything than at any time in history. 48% of consumers check out a company’s reputation before making a purchase.
When the service is good consumers deliver repeat business. But when service is bad, 81% of Americans have stopped doing business with a company (50% give the company two chances to earn their business). Less forgiving, I suggest only one chance.
Any company still struggling to justify the added “expense” of delivering great service ought to invest a few minutes to read the entire article. The pivot point is that even though delivering service is NOT free, it does pay quantifiable dividends.
Which business would suffer from delivering better customer service? Or better question, which companies would benefit the most from making immediate improvements?
July 26, 2010
While others write about the Top 10 Reasons to listen to customers more powerful examples are all around us. After all, if Zappos can generate $1B in word of mouth (WOM) revenue why do companies continue to ignore their customers? Satisfied customers are the best sales channels ever!
The Best Sales Channels:
- Generate Additional Business – If customers are willing to speak favorably about your company or its products, they’re likely to make additional purchases. This willingness to purchase more comes at no additional cost, the next benefit of WOM.
- Are Cost-Effective – We often think in terms of acquisition costs. Some businesses measure success with ratios of 3:2. If it costs $3 to acquire a customer who spends $2 they declare victory. This model only works with recurring revenue streams, when the customer lifetime value is considered.
- Reach New Customers – This is the true power of WOM advertising, and why Fred Reichheld ‘s The Ultimate Question have gained such momentum. Once a company has set a positive experience in motion with one customer that good reputation spreads and other customers seek out the company’s products and services.
If WOM still seems touchy-feely (and the $1B doesn’t convince you) then it’s worth considering that any B-School professor would tell you that leveraging fixed assets is a wise choice; it magnifies benefits across a larger number of consumers. The same applies to WOM advertising. Respecting customer’s needs and supporting customer goals is really just good business sense.
The pivot point is that by listening to customers you can continually spread your acquisition costs. Happy customers encourage others to buy whereas unhappy customers actually increase the barriers and impediments to sell.
With one billion reasons to listen to customers, where will you start?
July 19, 2010
In his recent Harvard Business Review post HCL CEO Vineet Nayar raised the interesting point that CEOs deliver shareholder value in vastly different ways today than in years past. I couldn’t agree more. Leaders either create or destroy financial strength through the corporate values they support. The largest impact a CEO can bring to a company is related to the culture.
Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Tony Hsieh (Zappos) are examples of CEOs who have focused their efforts on developing/sustaining a culture that is centered on customer satisfaction.
The nineteenth century historian Thomas Babington Macaulay once said:
“The measure of a man’s real character is what he would do if he knew he never would be found out.”
What do the questionable actions of Bernie Ebbers (Worldcom) or Kenneth Lay (Enron) say about their personal morals and the culture they created? What do the present day actions of Tony Hayward (BP) imply about BP’s values?
Just as a CEO can bring great value to the company by infusing it with a positive culture, so too will a negative culture spread throughout the company.
The pivot point is that a company’s culture, how its employees operate and behave in the absence of rules and oversight, determines its success. What drummer does your company march to? As a leader, have you deliberately crafted a culture that nurtures employees, cares for customers, and creates value for shareholders? Or do you still have work to do to stifle politicking, backstabbing, and self-aggrandizement?
July 8, 2010
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