Gill Corkindale recently wrote a compelling article titled “Does Your Company’s Reputation Really Matter?” What if your service or product was a monopoly? Would that fact change the answer?
The article picks on how Eurostar has handled their recent service interruptions. Eurostar provides a service that meets consumer needs since it is as fast as flying and is just as reasonably priced. That the service has delays is 1) understandable and 2) acceptable. If those delays were unacceptable no one would take the train, Eurostar would go bankrupt and another company would swoop in to leverage the rail system’s assets.
Returning to the main question… if in the end, nothing is going to change does reputation management matter? If your company has a sustainable monopoly, then why bother with reputation management? Taking the question a step further, if the monopoly is sustainable and protected, why spend time or money on customer service? After all what choice do your customers have?
The answer is that customer service is a necessity, and not an option. That fact is as true in Eurostar’s example as any other. By successfully managing its reputation (the public relations side of customer service) Eurostar has an opportunity to win business from their airline competitors, expand market share, and create a sustainable advantage. Eurostar doesn’t have to be the “best” they must only be “better”. Failing to address service impacts profitability in the short term, opens doors to your existing competitors through word-of-mouth, and is a gold-plated invitation to new competitors.
The pivot point and reality is that, since no company has a sustainable monopoly, customer service (or reputation management as Ms. Corkindale refers to it) is a critical aspect of all businesses. Unless Eurostar figures this out quickly, and acts accordingly, they may soon be kissing their customers goodbye.
You can’t lose what isn’t yours. And if you recognize that your relationship with “your” customers is tenuous at best, you have a good chance of creating lasting bonds and keeping customers. Customers are transient. They are supposed to be transient in a free-market economy. In our Darwinian economy, only the strong should survive. In our economy we should want consumers to make the best purchases for them. I used to feel bad when I didn’t “buy American” until I realized that American’s don’t buy American, they buy smart. Now I only feel bad when companies think of their customers as entitlements. Here are some surefire ways to lose customers:
Hammer them Like a Nail – If your answer to dissatisfied customers is to run a public relations campaign trumpeting how much you’ve improved, you are on the wrong track and wasting money. Customer satisfaction can be addressed only by improving customer service. In the world of social media and connected buyers/consumers, the good news about service will spread. Without tangible customer benefits your PR campaign will seem like you view service as a marketing problem, rather than a service problem.
Treat Customers as an Inconvenience – We focus a lot of time, energy, attention, study, research, and ultimately money on acquiring customers. Who can argue with an approach that lends itself to growing and building the business? Yet we invest very little on retaining those customers we worked so hard to acquire. If our acquisition message of “you are important” is to resonate and remain meaningful, we must back it up with actions and deeds that shout “we still value you!”
Create Processes that Benefit You or Your Company (but not the customer) – I had a surreal experience recently when trying to pay off the balance on a loan with Chase Bank. It took only a few minutes to get the loan. But paying it back required two (2) hours and the involvement of at least four (4) different departments (I stopped counting). Amazingly, Chase Bank had to verify that it was authorized to accept payment. I don’t know about you, but when someone offers to pay me back, I don’t ask where the money came from… I’m just happy to see it again. Now I’m beginning to understand why people think the banking system is broken. First it lent money to people who shouldn’t have gotten any in the first place, and now it won’t take the money back? Quite simply, if your processes aren’t benefiting customers, they are losing customers.
The Pivot Point is that “your” customers have choices. And so do you. If you choose to ignore customers or erect barriers to their success they will take their business elsewhere. After all, customers are yours only as long as you provide a benefit.
What about your experiences? How have the people who are the face of those companies pushed you to the competition? Any good stories detailing the things companies have done to lose you?
Not long ago I returned from a trip to Brussels where we hosted a successful symposium for our customers (100% of survey respondents would recommend the event to others). Ask anyone who has been a part of these events what makes them successful and the answer will be three (3) things: planning, execution, and reacting to change(s).
We found ourselves in a bit of a conundrum when our vendor didn’t meet commitments they made. In our case, they said a conference room would seat one number of participants when in fact it seated 20% fewer. This lack of space was a problem… and we adapted successfully.
But it highlights one of the “golden rules” of customer service. Do what you say you will do. Meet commitments. There are 4 types of commitments one can make:
No Hope of Keeping – Don’t fall into this trap. In this arena, I’m a big fan of a “one strike and you’re out” policy.
Keep – This is the standard. Meeting commitments is perfectly acceptable for customers.
Keep and Exceed – This is the goal. Do better than what your customer expects, or do better than the competition’s capabilities and you’re on the way to dominating a market.
Determine Later You Can’t Keep – The exception… when this happens, fess up early. I have a friend who says “bad news doesn’t get better with time”. He is absolutely correct. If you find yourself in a situation where a commitment will be missed, let your customer know and apologize. (Ideally, have a new solution or prepare a revised timeline in advance of the discussion. That is, come with a solution, not just a problem.) Customers may be angry, but not as angry as they’d be if you surprised them later.
Individuals fear commitment; more so when their organizations are complex and rely on many people to deliver a solution or product on time. But commitments about your products and services are a key component of the value. Without setting and making expectations customers seek out alternative providers who will make and keep commitments.
If your company doesn’t make commitments, or routinely misses them, you know you have a big problem whose solution will depend on whether or not the company (1) views the misses as a problem and (2) whether they are prepared to correct the problem. If both of these cases hold, look for new work – your life will be miserable and your personal brand will be tainted by a poor company.
The pivot point (which I hope you agree is common sense) is that your company’s success depends on your ability to make and keep commitments.
Implementing customer requests is a bad thing. Not implementing all requests, just certain requests that I call “Robin Hood” ideas. You’ll recall that Robin Hood “robbed from the rich to feed the poor.” Unfortunately, the same thing happens today in “well run” companies when they implement unneeded customer ideas, when they implement Robin Hood ideas.
As service professionals do we have an obligation to talk with customers and understand their needs? Absolutely! But we have an obligation during the conversation to think past the request to focus on the desired outcome. Clarifying what the customer wants is necessary, though not sufficient. Companies must also understand what the customer is trying to achieve.
Henry Ford is said to have observed “if I had asked my customers what they wanted they would have said a faster horse.”
Unneeded ideas are toxic to businesses (thus ultimately to customers) because they introduce an inefficient opportunity cost. Implementing ideas with little value impedes your ability to introduce and refine transformative ideas of much greater value to your company and customers. (For more on a related topic, check out Jim Collin’s post.)
The pivot point is that Robin Hood ideas steal resources from innovative ideas with strategic value. Imagine how effective he could have been with a Model T!
