Call: 01225 851 044
Directors' Centre Website

Get Your Focus Right

Businesses had better watch out, says Robert Craven. Customers do not feel in charge and they do not feel delighted, despite what the rhetoric might say.

 

A quarter of all adults believe that as long as the experience of a transaction is positive, it is not so important how they feel about the product.

This is a statistic that breeds terror in the hearts of all those people who have believed that the product and brand are everything. A new breed of assertive consumer is presenting brands with an unprecedented challenge - consumers have never felt less loyal.

The biggest secret of modern business is not that customer service is bad; everybody knows that. It's that it's harder t deliver good customer service than ever before. And customers are more demanding.

Regis McKenna, Silicon Valley's top marketing guru, calls it 'the age of the never satisfied customer'. The moral is that in an imperfect world of customer service, most customers prefer to cut to the chase and help themselves.

If every company wants to delight its customers, then how come we don't spend most of our time as delighted customers? The reality is that customer service has reached the pits. Call centres leave us hanging on while we listen to piped music.

As customers we feel betrayed. It seems remarkable than an entire business philosophy, a mantra changed across the modern world, is so obviously without substance. Many banks, universities, shops, restaurants, builders' merchants and software companies patently fail t deliver. The customer is not king.

To reflect on what has happened, one of the promises of the new economy evangelists was that the customer would finally be in charge. We weren't supposed to need to call the customer care department because everything would be right first time. But, if we did need to call for help, then (so the theory went) there would be a calm and understanding person waiting to take your call who would be able to solve your problem instantly by having the right information to hand. And the result would be the delighted customer.

Taken for a ride

The reality is somewhat different. How often does the call centre tell you 'We are experiencing higher than usual call volumes' or 'All our customer service operatives are currently busy' or 'You are in a queue'? This first statement is almost always followed by the incongruous comment, 'We value your call'.

If they value my call, then why do I always have to wait? If they are experiencing higher than usual call volumes, then why don't we (the customers) experience higher than average staffing levels?

The new economy was meant to make service better, quicker and more effective for customers. It was also meant to make it easier and cheaper for businesses. So much for the theory.

The gurus and evangelists have taken us for a journey (or do I mean a ride?), starting with 'meeting customer expectations' through to 'delighting customers' and on to 'customer intimacy' and now to 'customer ecstasy'. What next?!

Finally, businesses are starting to wake up to the fact that the customer is actually very angry with them. Customer service ratings are a nonsense - the average score is always 'above average'.

Here's an action list.

- Create a league table of your key competitors. Using a 'customer view', position each business in terms of how well they put the customer in control.

- What things could you do tomorrow to improve your position in the 'customer in control league table'?

- List 10 ways you can make your customers feel they are more in control.

- List 10 ways to actually put your customers more in control.

- List 10 ways to communicate to customers how they are more in control when they buy from you.

Remember, really put the focus on customers and they will be beating a path to your door.

 

About the author

©2007 Robert Craven

publication details

Better Business, November 2007