Can You Hear Me Now? It's Your Customer Calling

Does anyone still breathing believe that we can succeed without customers? I didn’t think so. If people don’t want what we’ve got to sell, we’re toast. So, there should be no argument that customer satisfaction and loyalty are goals we should be eagerly pursuing since the pundits tell us that it costs five times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to keep one.

I know, some of you are saying satisfaction and loyalty, yes, “but not at all costs” and “not the wrong customers for our business”. Exactly. So how are you managing those customer issues for your benefit and theirs?

Hello? I’m Out Here and Here and Here…: There are so many channels from which to collect customer feedback and each one potentially provides data gold. However, what is interesting may not be useful. Before buying, jettisoning or adding onto your business intelligence platform, a game plan is imperative.

Customer orientation is a critical part of developing a business strategy. It’s hard to describe competitive advantage and competencies unless we’ve defined how we will deliver products and how we will serve our customers. Business intelligence needs to be aligned with both strategy and customer needs. A company’s market research used to be private; now it is open and available on every social media outlet and search engine just by mining customer comments. We shouldn't ignore the qualitative nature of data and fail to integrate that into other customer data sets as it is necessary for ongoing strategy development

See Your Company Through Your Customers’ Eyes: It’s disappointing to deal with companies that seem to have no idea how many customer touchpoints they have and infuriating that they are not integrated. It’s inexcusable that frontline employees are neither selected nor trained for a service job. If you invite some of your co-workers into a room with a big white board and start mapping customer interactions, it is a mind-boggling exercise. Or, just read your customer comments online.

Create a Single View of a Customer: I’ve said it before: customers do not care about our silos. It’s not their job to sort out which department is responsible for resolving a problem. A fragmented approach rather than Outside-In customer experience design means that your employees have a perspective of your customer based on their job roles not on customer expectations.

It’s Called Voice of the Customer: I design a lot of feedback and research surveys and I am sent a few as well. It takes me less than 30 seconds to decide whether or not I’ll complete a survey depending on how it’s constructed. Questions should be properly worded and of an appropriate length; be free of bias; be actionable and be linked to the customer experience as well as the company’s metrics and Key Performance Objectives.

I’ve been on a data and analytics soap box for a while and there is no doubt that through collection of behavioral, rational and experiential data, we are doing a better job of knowing who buys from us and why. To understand what we didn’t sell and why requires tapping into customer emotions. Maybe someone will develop an App for that. Until then, we have to collect, aggregate and understand qualitative data to hear what are customers are feeling as well as saying.

To paraphrase a line from my newest favorite film, The King’s Speech, your customers have a voice. Yes, they do.

Who Does Our Customer Experience Satisfy: The Customer or Us?

These days, who isn’t looking to create efficiencies in every work process, transaction and function? When we evaluate our options to be more efficient, can we quantify the impact on the customer and the employee?

I read a good article on the Great Brook website about customer experience management, which, the author contends, is looking from the wrong angle: the experience is designed; then managed to greater effect for both customer and company.

The article cited the notorious example of the JetBlue (ex) employee who went ballistic because of a rude passenger and, while he may have 90,000 “friends” on MySpace, he doesn’t have a job. The article examines the system from two perspectives: the customer (JetBlue actually refers to its passengers as customers) and the employee. The ultimate issue is not employee engagement per se or customer loyalty; JetBlue comes up well in research into both areas. It’s about how well the process has been designed to promote more harmony and less frustration; more engagement and less bad behavior; more loyalty and less attrition (or banging of stuff into overhead bins).

The crux of the problem in so many industries is that workflow and processes are designed from the Inside-Out, and the fact that the customer is actually a key component of the process isn’t factored in. All our side of the ledger shows is how much time and money saved and wasteful steps eliminated -- for us.

The burden of negotiating our unhelpful web sites, hellacious voice mail systems and confusing online storefronts calls falls on the customer; but when is the ensuing frustration accounted for as a cost? And, who measures the impact of (dis)engagement when customers’ anger and frustration are taken out on the front line employee?

When customer feedback says “I want self-service on my schedule, preferably online”, this is not a license to implement any sub-par system on the basis that because the customer has indicated a general preference, anything we implement is bound to satisfy needs.

I’ve spent a lot of time in business process redesign and there is no doubt that there is a smart way to do it and a really stupid way. Let’s outline the smart way and you’ll figure out what the stupid way looks like. When mapping a process that in any way involves customers:

• How are your customer interfaces designed? Inside-Out or Outside-In?
• What tasks are you asking customers to perform instead of you?
• Are you making the process efficient for the customer or just you?
• Are you saving yourself time at the expense of the customers’ time?
• Have you asked your employees which of your processes cause the most frustration for customers?
• Have you asked your customers the same question?
• Have you quantified the costs and benefits of your processes on your customers or you only?

Part of the employee engagement/customer commitment linkage is having processes that respect both parties who are expected to use them. Bringing a customer to the point of anger with an employee means that everyone loses.

Are you designing your processes Outside-in or Inside-out? Do you measure your own benefits from efficiency or do you think about the cost to your customers?

Hot Customer $ervice in the $ummer Time

We’ve been sweltering through a crispy summer in Atlanta and I finally had to bite the bullet to install a new HVAC system.

Of course in these new days of austerity, it wasn’t a matter of picking the prettiest system; oh no, I had to do my homework. Onto the web sites I went, looking at systems, any deals that could be available and, most importantly, what my friends and neighbors are saying about the two contractors I short-listed.

While I had used a locally well-known provider for 15 years, I had a very disappointing experience with one of the company’s executives last year. However, I decided to give them the opportunity to make a service recovery and quote for my business. And, I added another local contractor that had very positive online reviews. Both quotes were very similar but I couldn’t shake the bad experience I had had with my current vendor.

After dithering for a month (it’s $10,000 after all; not exactly an impulse purchase), I phoned the sales person for the second contractor. We discussed scheduling and the fact that in this Sahara-like summer, I couldn’t do without air conditioning for a day and a half. Without hesitating, he arranged to bring a room air conditioner 5 days before the work was due to start because “there is no reason why you have to be uncomfortable”.

Do I have to tell you who got the business?

Bill was on time and dutifully dragged the unit upstairs and down until we found a window that would accommodate it. He installed it, tested it and ensured there was no escape of precious cold air into the outdoors. And he did it all cheerfully on a day with a 106 -degree heat index.

I’ve told everyone who is even mildly interested about my customer experience and why I didn’t select the first vendor. Of course, if anyone asks me, I’d happily recommend Bill and his company. I’ll also be doing online reviews because I found them very helpful when I was looking for a new HVAC contractor.

Lessons learned?

• It takes only one conversation to lose a long time customer so if you have the words “Customer Service” in your title and you don’t live up to it, be prepared to lose your revenue base over and over again.

• What your web site and marketing materials say had better align with how your employees behave with customers; it’s becoming easier to spot the differences. And, in this economy, people are fed up and aren’t putting up with sub-par service.

• It only takes one small thing, in my case, the offer of a loaner air conditioner several days in advance of the installation, to completely surprise and delight a customer. We are so hardened to expect customer “no service” that when the unexpected happens, it produces multiples of satisfaction versus the actual expenditure of resources.

• Online reviews are routinely part of a customer’s research. Ignore them at your peril. Google never forgets!

• Word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations are incredibly important for any company.

• Going above and beyond, often in small ways that are personal, is the greatest source of satisfaction, which will drive intention to buy, refer and repurchase. When everything else is equal between you and your competitors, this kind of differentiator stands out.

What is your company doing to surprise and delight your customers? Do you monitor what people are saying about you – or do you think customers don’t really take notice of other peoples’ opinions?

What If 24% of Your Customers Said, "I'm Off!"?

That alarming statistic in the title comes from a Satmetrix study of UK customers who left buying relationships in the previous 6 months because of a poor experience.

Here is a breakdown of the customers’ reasons for leaving:

How many of these reasons are beyond the companies’ ability to control them? We don’t know what the 7% "Other" is, so let’s assume the companies were not responsible for those; which leaves us with a whopping 93% of the reasons for defections that could have been anticipated and corrected. While this was a UK study, having lived there for almost 20 years, I can tell you that the British become more Americanized every day; that includes customer expectations and buying experiences.

At a time when every profitable customer is a nugget of gold, what were these companies thinking? Is no one asking why such a large percentage of revenues coming from new customers are going to replace income from those who have defected?

How would your company quantify such recurring losses? In addition to lost revenues that must be replaced, there are acquisition costs and lost opportunity costs when you cannot cross-sell to an existing customer (cheaper than acquiring a new one) and when the defecting customer tells ten people face-to-face and thousands online.

The Satmetrix study also reported that while 49% of respondents trusted referrals from friends and family as their primary source of information, only 2% trusted the company’s advertising; what they labeled the Recommendation Generation. It seems that this might be a budget item that could be revisited in the current economic climate.

So, add it all up, assuming 24% of your customers leave annually or whatever percentage you believe is true for your company:

• Lost revenues
• Lost market share
• Acquisition costs
• Loss of cross/up-selling opportunities
• Lost Customer Lifetime Value
• Negative word-of-mouth
• Ineffective advertising

Now ask your department heads and others:

Why would we spend our budget on advertising instead of improving the customer experience? If you can’t have both, the latter seems to be much more a more effective use of limited resources.

How can we afford to hemorrhage so much money in this economy when most of the reasons for customer defections are within our own ability to change the game? What do you think the cost of a good customer experience is? What is it worth to your company?

What Business Are You In? Really.

I’ve got a whole key ring full of bar-coded plastic tags that designate my “loyalty” to a particular store; I’ll bet you’ve got fistfuls as well. Are they an indication of my loyalty? Can you measure my loyalty with that piece of plastic?

Companies like Southwest Airlines and Zappos know they are in the customer service business; they just happen to fly airplanes and sell shoes. We all are in the business of serving our customers and that is a tall order when, for years, we organized our businesses around products.

I don’t know about you, but I have a list of criteria that my brain churns through in the midst of a buying decision. If someone wants my business, they have to demonstrate that they know me, respect my needs and provide an experience that suits me.

If you say you’re customer focused, show me. Nothing wears me out faster than marketing messages that bear no relation to the actual experience. Who thinks of this stuff?

Have you ever listened to your own voice mail or help desk systems? Finding the balance between efficiencies and customer experience is a challenge but there is no excuse for making it so hard to talk to a human that we have to Google to find out how to do it. What’s more important than a customer anyway?

Your web site may be great but your (fill in the blank) department lets you down. There are so many ways I can touch your company and if all the touchpoints aren’t designed for my buying experience, I may be leaving and you won’t even know it.

Why can’t the person I’m talking to make it right when there is a problem? As Mick Jagger said, “I try and I try and I try but I can’t get no satisfaction.” Why is there more chain of command in Customer Service than the Pentagon? If your customer strategy spells out how you’re going to deliver a customer experience and the culture supports it, employees should have the tools and skills to make the decisions.

Why are your marketing “campaigns”, coupons and emails so generic? Is it that you don’t really know me, or that you don’t care? You collect so much information from me with that plastic tag and yet you don’t connect the dots.

Please do not expect me to complete a survey foisted on me by an employee who is asking me to give him top marks. This is no way to reward employees or to gather valid customer data.

Loyalty programs are part of customer relationship management but they don’t guarantee that you have hearts and minds. I don’t think loyalty is bought; it’s earned over time by designing the experience customers tell you they want and ensuring the company is aligned around it. What are you doing to earn the loyalty of your customers? Is it more than another piece of plastic for my keyring?

Let's Get This Party Started: Winning the War for Customers

I’m officially declaring the Gloom and Doom funk over! I think we’ve all spent too much time examining the lint in our own navels and have found it much too interesting. Maybe it’s the minute-by-minute access to disasters or the endless shouting by talking heads that has us paralyzed but we won’t get better if we don’t get busy.

Business always has been tough, even when everyone said we’d never had it so good. Finding good people; finding great customers; finding terrific ideas: haven’t these always been our challenges? Sure, the pace of change is much faster and there are a lot more consequences to our global business network. There’s always something so why not acknowledge that it is what it is and let’s get going to find new customers and keep those who have selected us as their provider of choice.

So, what’s on our To Do list? I can think of a few positive things to perk up our customer focus:

Paint a Picture: what is your vision of your ideal customer experience and how are you measuring up? Gather information and insights directly from customers and employees (who are very good predictors of how things really are with customers) and indirectly from web searches. There is a lot of comment in cyberspace and some of it could be about you. Ask your customers about all aspects of the experience including, for example, first call resolution, ease of self-service and access to information on your web site and so on.

Get a Plan: close the gaps between what you want your customer experience to be and what your audience says it is. And, execute it! A plan is not action and hope is not a strategy. You might be surprised at how galvanizing it is for your employees to experience the momentum of putting ideas into action.

Tell a Story: current and prospective customers are more engaged by success stories than by product features, brochures and fact sheets. Buying is an emotional experience and stories tap into that reservoir.

Give Them Something to Talk About: Engage in authentic conversations in ways that your customers prefer: social media, your web site, guest blogs, anywhere. Ask them to write reviews and participate in online focus groups. People are flattered by the invitation and most of the time, are happy to provide feedback (note: just don’t overdo the frequency) IF it’s done in a personalized way.

What else should be on our To Do list? Let’s get busy and start the party. End of funk.

Making Customers Matter: Eight Things You Can Do Right Now

We are all trying hard, I think, to get back on track with employees and customers after a particularly difficult time over the past 18 months or so.

In my video blog, I discuss a unique concept that you can apply today to create a positive environment for employees as well as a great customer experience.

Do you see The Spillover Effect in your companies? Are the eight drivers some of the behaviors and outcomes that you focus on for better results?

Why What Customers Want Has Changed (Maybe Forever)

It’s a tricky thing these days to try to figure out what customers want and what keeps them coming back to you. Here are four thoughts based on what I’ve been seeing recently:

· Sometimes “Good” is Good Enough: we got so comfortable with ‘excellence’ and ‘superior’ and other adjectives that define our value proposition; then the world fell off a cliff in 2007/2008. If you have taken your customers’ collective pulse lately, you might be surprised to find out that “good” is fine and that loading them up with features and benefits they might think are nice but won’t pay for, shrinks your bottom line. This is Southwest Airline's strategy and it seems to be working really well for them.

· Customers Want to Buy: Customers are so smart and informed. By the time they contact you or you do a sales call, they’ve already been online, searched Twitter and Google and asked their friends on Facebook about you and several of your competitors (yes, even B2B). They’ve got their shortlist and if you’re not on it, bludgeoning them with a sales pitch, drip emails or telemarketing calls won’t work. They want to buy; not be sold to.

· Faster.Better.Cheaper or Way Cool (or what?) Who are your customers and why do they buy from you? Instead of segments, try developing personas for major customer types. It is eye-opening when you think about customers as people with names, jobs, etc. Tailoring marketing messages and channels for personas is more effective because it's more personal and training front line staff is easier as well.

· Don’t Skimp on the Experience: Customers still want to have an experience that matches their expectations. Using personas can help define what those expectations are and once you know them, you can decide whether this is a customer group you can profitably handle or whether you should target personas that are a better fit with your existing business.

Are you looking at customers with fresh eyes? Are they account numbers or do they have personas?