I just had an argument with my son. Not the first. It comes down to a basic difference between what is right and what is wrong. I’m the parent and so therefore, I am right. No really. I am.
But that apparently doesn’t matter as I’m watching him pack his suitcase. He has decided to move out.
The same holds true with our customers. We can be right from morning until night but if that isn’t the perception of the customer, they will also exercise their Two Feet Right. The right to walk their two feet out of our business and on to the competition.
In both cases, I think we might re-evaluate the importance of stressing how right we are in favor of keeping a relationship with our customers.
The stories are coming in fast and furious. I put the question out there: “Has there been a time when you hated your customer – if so, what did you do to overcome the situation? Did you save the day or choose to walk away?”
Here’s one story from Claire:
When I was younger, just starting out in a customer service/training role with an animal clinic, a very crabby couple would come in regularly with their dog. No one wanted to wait on them! I decided to take the challenge and give them the best customer service regardless of how they treated me. Apparently, they enjoyed the service so much that they tipped me! After that, each time they came in, they were a bit less crabby. I still gave them great service and received a tip in turn.
It was my first real “aha moment” with a customer that I didn’t like. I think that many difficult customers have had poor service in the past. Dazzle them and they may surprise you! Today, I am a Quality Systems Manager and still love getting that “aha moment” with both internal and external customers!
Talk about turning a bad situation around. Check out more I Hate My Customer stories at my new blog. Do you have a story to share?
We learn so much more from our mistakes, don’t we? I watch my kids, in particular my older son learn everything the hard way. Wouldn’t it be easier to just learn from others and not make the same mistake?
Not clearly defining what the customer experience is supposed to be.
Designing processes for the company’s convenience, not the customer’s.
Hiring the wrong people.
Not making customer service a significant part of new-hire orientation as well as ongoing training.
Tolerating poor service performance from employees at any level within the organization.
He nails it on the head. I would just add two additional thoughts:
1. Failing to build the company on the needs and expectations of the customer. So often we decide we have an idea for a business but we fail to take our targeted customers on as thought partners. We can learn so much about what they really want and what expectations they have for the experience if we just ask them before we start down a wrong path.
2. Creating a customer-first culture that holds true at every level of the organization and is the first thought in every meeting that determines marketing messages, policies and procedures. We tend to focus our efforts on the employee that has the actual customer interaction and say that they are ones to provide the service. Yet if the management doesn’t support their efforts, it becomes challenging and often impossible to provide that service because employees’ focus is fractured by conflicting messages.
As Dennis says – understanding expectations, hiring the right people and providing ongoing training, feeback and encouragement are key components to providing a great customer experience.
What mistakes have you experienced in customer service? Help us learn from the error of your ways.
“Experience is what you get when you didn’t get what you wanted.”
That quote comes from Randy Pausch and his book The Last Lecture. I’m behind the rest of the world in reading, what I would classify as one of the most inspiration books I’ve ever read. Randy’s book offers so many wonderful nuggets of truth in relatable, bite sized pieces.
In the last section of the book he writes a series of very short thoughts each focused on a different life lesson. This quote comes from the lesson Be the First Penquin.
I’ve underlined so many passages in this book and in this chapter the opening quote – mentioned above – really struck home.
Think about our life experiences and the experiences our customers have with us. We don’t always get what we want. And sometime, unlike the Rolling Stones classic hit, we don’t even get what we need.
But we do get an experience.
Just like the old adage – God always answers, it is just that sometimes the answer is “no.”
So what do you do with that experience? The one where the answer is no and you don’t get what you wanted or needed or expected?
It makes me think of my customers. If I mess up and don’t deliver as promised – do I at least make sure the resolution is a good experience?
Am I proactive in letting them know I’m going to be late or it will be not quite what they expected? Or do I wait for them to call, hoping they forget?
If I bite off more than I can deliver – do I own up or hope they don’t notice?
We can’t always please everyone. So when our customers are unable to get what they want…what kind of experience do we give them?
And now, just cuz sometimes you should get what you want….
They outline what they are doing to fix the problem
Every employee and dealer is involved
Number One Goal – Restoring Trust
I applaud Toyota’s approach to a bad situation and feel confident that they will find a solution to the immediate problem and in the long run, they will continue the relationships with their customers and will probably gain new customers because of how they handle a crisis.
Do you have a crisis management plan for your organization? With Real Time Reviews a number one trend for 2010, you need to be ready to respond to online comments and concerns from customers. Jonathon Bernstein offers 10 suggestions for using SEO in a Crisis situation. Communication is key.
Customer-focused communication, like Toyota is using in their ads is the best.
There is nothing worse than silence. Whoever said “no news is good news” or ”silence is golden” must have been the parent of a new born because as an entrepreneur and the mother of a college student – there is nothing worse than NO NEWS.
It’s Friday. The end of the work week. I should be wrapping things up – preparing for a girly weekend with my middle schooler, but no. Why?
SILENCE.
On a personal front, my son is facing the consequences of his actions today and I’m awaiting news. His phone is turned off – probably to avoid my text messages – and the silence is killing me. So I focus on work. Except, guess what?? SILENCE.
I am presenting a series of four workshops on Social Media scheduled to begin February 10 and follow for three additional Wednesdays. I’m very excited about the events and have receive great feedback from potential attendees.
Using the social media I so strongly believe in – I set up registration for all four classes on Events Bot. It was a fairly simple process and even included HTML code for spreading the word and creating cutsie REGISTER NOW boxes. Except here’s the rub. Sign up for my class and get charged an unexplainable shipping and handling fee of $19.80. What needs to ship? Who are we going to handle?
So I contacted the help desk. The email gave me no answers.
I sent another message to the help desk. Nada.
So I sent a message to the abuse email. Nothing.
I changed my account and paid for premium service thinking that maybe there was a glitch in the free service. I got a lovely canned welcome email. It included another customer service address to contact. So I sent them a message. No return message.
This is my first time using their service and could have been a long and mutually beneficial relationship as I am now using their premium service. But no communication isn’t sitting well with me. I see from the reports that a really good number of people are clicking on the events. If only 10% of them purchased, my classes would have been filled yesterday. So how many are getting to the invoice – seeing an additional $20 charge and cancelling out on their reservation?
Silence from Events Bot is not helping my business or theirs.
I was reading a recent post by Drew McLellan on follow up and the importance of being available and touching base and being responsive to your customers. HA.
How true is that?
So once again, I’m hoping social media will work for one of two things:
1. You might know of a different event site I can go to and set up my events – please share and quickly.
2. Events Bot has a Google alert set up for their name – will see this and finally give me an answer.
Cuz here’s the deal. I’m new. This is my first time. It could very well be my fault. In fact, I’m sure it is. I’ve probably clicked something I shouldn’t have. But TELL ME.
As for my son? Prayers.
Okay. don’t be silent – help me out here. Anyone have advice for me? Thanks a bunch!
I love conversations with Leslie Ungar. You know her. I talk about her often. That’s because she always has some interesting little tidbit to share that speaks volumes. Today it was the retelling of something Bruce Nordstrom (Grandson of Nordstrom’s founder) had to say when visiting Northeast Ohio a while back.
Someone asked him if people took advantage of Nordstrom’s famous return policy. You’ll all heard the story about the customer who returned a tire to Nordstroms and they didn’t even sell tires. But the associate smiled and happily gave the customer a refund.
Well, first off, my Dad - another person who always had great stories to tell, said that there was a Nordstroms location that did in fact sell tires, but the point of the story is that Nordstroms takes their customer at face value and does whatever it takes to make them happy. (p.s. the tire return took place in an acquired store that had sold tires before being owned by Nordstroms)
So how did the founder’s grandson reply? “Yes. There are some people that take advantage.”
He went on to say that only about ten percent of their customers took advantage of Nordstroms policy to make customers happy. “You don’t make policy based on ten percent,” he was quoted as saying. “You make policies based on the 90%.”
I’ve often heard of the 80/20 rule. You know – the rule that says 20% of your customers bring in 80% of your revenue. That 20% of your employees generate 80% of the work. That 20% of the whiners take up 80% of your time.
But here, the rule is even stiffer. Make policies based on 90% of your customer’s needs. Nordstroms has been in business over 100 years and their customer philosophy has remained the same – regardless of the change in economics:
The company’s philosophy has remained unchanged for more than 100 years since its establishment by John W. Nordstrom in 1901: offer the customer the best possible service, selection, quality and value.
What else has remained the same for over 100 years?
Okay – let’s get back to your company policies. Do you make your policies based on the few that try to take advantage or the many that build your business? I can remember in school there would be obscure rules and the teacher would say “It is because of the actions of a few that we’ve had to change the rules.” Didn’t you want to punch “the few” in the nose for making it more difficult or less enjoyable for you?
Our customers feel the same way. Imagine a world where companies created a culture around the many. So look at your customer service policies. Are they based on the few that try to ruin it for the rest of us? Or have you positioned yourself like Nordstroms and created policies around the 90% of your customers who just want a good quality product/service at an affordable price?
Have you ever lost a customer and didn’t know why?
I was talking with Business Coach and Professional Speaker Leslie Ungar of Electric Impulse Communications about customers. She shared a story with me that really helped put things in perspective.
As the economy takes its good old time recovering, the trickle down effect of lower revenues is hitting some of the smaller companies and as such, companies are cutting back some of their vendor/freelance relationships. Each time we loose a customer we have to access the situation.
Is there something I could have done differently?
Was it price?
Was it attitude?
Should I have said something different?
Should I have kissed him?
(That’s what Elizabeth Kitt – recent participant who was eliminated from ABC’s The Batchelor is asking herself today.)
Leslie used to show horses. She told me that at the end of a competition participants could approach the judges and ask for advice on what they could do differently next time to place or win in their category.
“I was always the first in line to ask a question,” Leslie told me. “I wanted to know why I didn’t win and what the judges thought I should have done differently.” Sometimes they would remember, or after refreshing their notes they might have a specific comment, but often it was a general bit of advice that they would share. She listened carefully each time to what they had to say.
“If one person told me something, I would listen but I might not make a change. I was listening for patterns that I couldn’t ignore. If I heard the same comment from different judges or multiple times then I knew that was an area I needed to address.”
She was looking for patterns.
We need to do the same thing with our customers. Of course that means we have to engage them in conversation – exit interviews – follow up surveys or phone calls to ask about the service and experience and then listen for patterns.
Customer complaints are another great place to look for patterns. Some times you just have a complainer – but often, if you listen closely enough, you’ll find out about an area of service you need to address because it impacts the customer’s experience.
Have you lost a customer lately? Do you know why? Has it been the first time you’ve heard the reason or has a pattern begun to emerge?
Listen carefully to those patterns you can’t ignore and then start to make some changes!
According to Trend Watching – one of the top ten trends for 2010 will be customers leaving tweets about your business. What will they say?
Real Time Reviews takes into account that people around the globe are jumping on the band wagon of telling anyone who will listen what they are doing right now. Whether they are using the status updates on LinkedIn, Facebook or tweeting away in 140 characters or less on Twitter – they are sharing their opinions.
Last year we asked “why would anyone care what I’m doing?”
This coming year we are going to be asking “what are people saying about us and what can we do about it?”
Gone are the days when a dissatisfied customer grumbled on the way out the door and maybe told 15 of their closest friends. Now they are on their mobile device sharing their bad experience with the world – or at least the hundreds of friends, family and various and sundry other folk that follow their updates.
Companies need to quickly get on board with reading what is being said about them on line – hopefully it is ALL GOOD – but on the off chance it isn’t, Twitter will become the fastest, easiest, most visible way for companies to “nip it in the bud” and show consumers they are on top of their customer service.
As more people are reviewing and contributing, the sheer mass of opinions will lead to a real-time stream of information, findable and viewable to all. In addition, online access and device convergence will allow more on-the-spot reviews. Twitter is the much-deserved poster child for real-time reviews: it has established itself as the real-time snapshot of what people are thinking/feeling/experiencing and yes, reviewing, around the world.
So what can you do?
Make sure your company name, your name, your top product names are set up with Google Alerts so you receive an email the minute someone writes using those names
For Twitter – consider the Twitter Beep for alerts about your company
I’m struggling to regain my composure. I have just been made to feel more stupid than dirt and it isn’t a feeling I enjoy.
You may have read that I joined a gym recently - happy one week anniversary to me – and I’m using this TechnoGym thingie that keeps my workouts on a computer chip. I insert the handy-dandy thumb drive into each piece of equipment and it tells me the seat height, number of reps and weight I should lift. At the end of the session, I put my thumb drive into a main computer and it tells me how many pounds I lifted (15,680, thank you very much) and gives me more charts and graphs than I care to look at.
But what happens when you have to use one of the old fashion, non-computer pieces of equipment because the fancy stuff isn’t available? Well, that’s what happened to me yesterday and today. It isn’t a prob – I just used the regular equipment, but it messed up the computer thumb drive.
So today I decided to ask for help to fix the problem. The staff member shall remain nameless (but it sounds like TROY) lolly gagged his way across the gym in my direction, the tortoise could have beat him and still had time for a movie, and doesn’t make eye contact but mumbles something.
I hate mumblers.
I am already frustrated but I know it is human error, my human error - I just want a work around. Show me how to get credit for the sweat I just left all over the bike.
He put my thumb drive in the machine.
“You didn’t do the exercise.”
“Yes. I did. I already said that. I just did it on a different machine.”
“Well, it says here you didn’t do it.”
“Y..e..s..I know that. That is the problem. How do I get credit for it?”
“You can’t because you didn’t do the exercise.”
I am about to learn a new exercise called strangulation, but I take a deep breath. I decide to take a different tack. Because here’s the deal – if I don’t figure out how to get credit it won’t allow me to access my other workouts.
“How can I get out of this computer mode?”
“You can’t until you do the exercise.”
URG.
So, what did I do? I got on the Techno bike and RE-DID my exercise so the computer would feel better.
He came over and said. So did you figure it out?
AHHHHHHHH.
I felt like he thought I was stupid. I felt like the computer thought I was stupid and now my legs are like rubber because I did the exercise twice just to make the computer feel better. How stupid is that?
And guess what? I AM PAYING FOR THIS!
I am not a happy customer right now. I am not happy that I paid EXTRA for this computer support and I definitely don’t feel like I experienced good customer service. I limped out of there bordering between anger and tears over a stupid exercise.
How often do we follow the rules and policies to a tee and make our customers suffer the consequences? When we talk down to our customers, use company jargon, don’t listen carefully to the issue we run the risk of making our customers feel stupid. What customers wants to pay their HARD EARNED MONEY to feel stupid?
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The stories are coming in fast and furious. I put the question out there: “Has there been a time when you hated your customer – if so, what did you do to overcome the situation? Did you save the day or choose to walk away?”
I’m struggling to regain my composure. I have just been made to feel more stupid than dirt and it isn’t a feeling I enjoy.
