Does your company walk the customer service talk? In a 2007 Satmetrix survey 80% or more of executives surveyed said they sponsored customer loyalty initiatives and think that loyalty is linked to financial success (they’re right). But only 70% invest in loyalty programs and even fewer do anything with the feedback their customers provide. Here are some signs that your company may not be as dedicated to customer success as they purport.
You Spend more on Coffee than Training – Come on, really? You invest in your retirement don’t you? Isn’t the performance of your company directly relevant to whether or not you even get to retire? Odds are your financial advisor has urged you to diversify. If your business invests in advertising and marketing, why won’t they spend on serving customers?
You Track Metrics important to Your CFO But Not Your Customers – I see a lot of companies still tracking metrics that don’t matter to customers. For example, call centers often focus on “talk time”, the amount of time they spend on servicing the customer. The smaller that number, the more productivity from each employee… theoretically at least. Do your customers really want you to spend less time on their problems/requests?
Employee Recognition Programs are Merely Lip Service – Your sales team has a rewards program that puts them up in posh hotels on beaches. Your customer service team gets a stack of free pizzas (plus the opportunity to work through lunch). The message here is “it is more important to grow than be healthy” (no hidden commentary on the health merits of pizza).
Employees Need a Compass and GPS to find their Cube – Impersonal cubes are so prevalent now we’re past the point where we can obviate them easily. Veal get better treatment than some of our employees whose workspaces would be more aptly called “solitary confinement.”
The pivot point is that companies must (1) focus on what matters to customers and (2) invest in their employees. The math is simple. Short-changing the team that takes care of your customers impacts your bottom line. Short-term results may look good as your company cuts corners. But over time, customers and shareholders suffer when companies sacrifice their employees.
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.
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 importantprecisely 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.
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?
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?
