Customer service betrayed by those pesky details.

We are all familiar with customer service. We interact with customer service representatives, we ask to be connected with them, and we hear of or take part in initiatives to improve it. Companies tell us how great theirs is, or even ask us to help them improve it by taking a survey. Do they really care? Of course they do, but do they really get it? What is it anyway?

Some companies think it is a process. Some think of it as contact points with customers, and that those should be improved. Still others think of it as a metric to be measured and improved. It is really much more than any of those well meaning definitions can encapsulate. Customer service should be a mindset that drives the basic premise of how a company should envision its customers would be most satisfied. And satisfying a need is what marketing (business) is all about. So how does a company’s well intentioned mindset get derailed?

The details will betray company mindsets that are not truly systemic. I’ll offer just two examples of companies, one large and the other small, that think they are offering truly great customer service but are failing miserably.

The first is a bank. Now we all know the problems plaguing the banking sector, so we don’t need to stretch our imaginations to realize they could use some customer loyalty right now. The bank I have in mind has done the traditional “me too” types of promotions such as free checking, but do they really have a customer service mindset? As it happens, this particular bank has a front and rear entrance. In the rear there are two parking spaces right at the door, with about twenty more a short distance away. I noticed that there are always the same two cars parked right by the door so one day I asked the branch manager, with whom I am friendly, just whose cars were parked there. She responded one was hers. I asked why she would park in the best parking space instead of leaving it for customers. Her answer? “Well, you wouldn’t want me to get my shoes dirty, would you?” (There was some slush in the lot from an overnight storm, but you can bet she is there on sunny days as well). Clearly this manager does not have a customer service mindset. She is the most important person in that building and she is going to make sure everyone knows it, including customers! Oh, and to whom did the second car belong? Why, the assistant manager of course! These people just don’t get it! (You might be thinking at this point that most customers will not know who is parked there anyway. You would be right, but those customers will never experience the feeling that “hey, this is really a convenient bank that lets its customers park right here by the door. I’m always going to use this bank.”)

The second company is a smaller business; a dance studio that has done relatively well in recent years. They’ve done so well, in fact, that they moved into a larger building with its own parking lot. You’re seeing a theme here, right? Yes, you guessed it; the owner and instructors park right by the door leaving all the customers who drop off their kids to park further away. But there is decidedly more to this story. Just to make sure each and every customer knows who is the most important to this company, they erected signs (two of them) right by the door. What do they say? One says “Reserved for Jane Doe” (name changed to protect the guilty), who is the owner of the studio. The second sign has her mother’s name. Her current customers may be putting up with that but how about the visitors that check out the place before signing up. How many of them get the message and end up going elsewhere? Clearly the owner will never know. She obviously doesn’t care.

And, that is the point of customer service. A company…no, strike that… a company’s employees must know their customers are the driving force of their success and they must care. If your company directors think customer service might be important to bottom line results, then it would be wise to pay attention to bottom line interactions with those customers. If you are communicating one thing to your employees, yet they are communicating an entirely different message to your customers; it is probably the insidious details that are betraying your efforts. The next time you look at customer satisfaction surveys and customer retention metrics, ask yourselves if you have included the small details that can have large effects on the mindset of your employees. Do the customers truly rank higher in importance than “clock out time” or “key in the door” time? If the phone rings at 1 minute after hours, does it go unanswered? Are your customers’ calls left on hold for 10 minutes before a human answers? Do your employees “park next to the door”? It’s not the acts themselves but the mindset that will eventually create a negative spirit in both the company and its customers. If you truly value your customers, you sometimes have to get your shoes dirty. Do your employees go the extra distance?

© 2009 Best Business Associates – May not be reproduced in whole or in part without written permission and attribution.

Facing economic downturn in business

When the economy takes a downturn, or if a business simply experiences a downturn in sales, many businesses react by cutting back budgets in order to conserve funds in the face of declining sales. It is an instinctive reaction that is often scorned by would be advisors. They say things like “when things slow down, that is the best time to keep up with your advertising efforts”, citing the fact that there might be less competition in the marketplace therefore one who continues their efforts would logically stand out and achieve greater results.

Baloney! There is a reason that your instincts might lead you to conserve your resources, cut back on expenses, and reduce advertising budgets. Your instincts have probably served you well in the past, why should you start ignoring them now? If you examine your decisions, they are probably based on sound reasoning. If something is not working why would you continue doing it? If your advertising is not pulling its weight and not bringing in the results intended, why continue? Albert Einstein once said “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”. If a smart guy like Al thinks it’s a bad idea, I’m betting you might agree.

So what are these would be advisors thinking anyway? Are they nuts? After all, it’s not their money they’re spending, is it? The answer is…they are both right and wrong. They are right in that one may not be best served by “hunkering down” and cutting budgets and just waiting out the downturn in hopes of “things getting better”. They are wrong in recommending simply staying the course in hopes of the same “things getting better”. Something has to change.

Chances are that when sales decline there are one or more reasons why that has happened. It’s easy to blame it on the economy, especially these days. But so what? That doesn’t change your need to pay rent, payroll, or even, perhaps yourself! No matter what the reason is, it is your job as CEO to examine or re-examine the market and determine a course of action. Your goal when you started your business was probably not just to “ride the market and hope for the best”. It was more likely something on the order of maximizing talents and efficiencies in order to satisfy some market need with a high value proposition. My premise to you is that nothing has changed! At least, nothing should have changed, but it obviously has. That is why sales decline. It is not because of bad economies. It is not because of recessions. Those are all symptoms of what the other guy is experiencing. That is what has happened to the financial markets, the housing markets, construction, and who knows what else. They have lost their value propositions! It just so happens that your market may have been influenced by that, but that doesn’t change anything for you. Your job is still to provide high value efficiently, right?

So simply advertising that which you have done in the past would be kind of crazy if things have changed, right? See, your instincts were correct! And you were half right! You got the part right about stopping doing what was not working. You just forgot to start doing that which you must do in order to grow. You must re-connect with your target markets and find out what they now value most. And by the way, you must continue to grow, because the alternative for any business is ultimate failure or an orderly exit. Either way, that party will be over.

So what should you do? Just what you’ve done in the past…or at least, what you should have done in the past. Your customers form their unique value proposition by combining direct input from their perceptions of your company’s offerings with their needs or desires. If, in their mind, that unique value proposition (UVP) is higher than those they form with alternative suppliers then you get the business. It is that simple. You control the Unique Selling Proposition (USP) which your company exudes in the form of product/service breadth/depth, pricing, availability, personalized service, or perhaps other factors that your customers perceive have value. And this is exactly what I find has changed when sales decline! Through time, a disconnect is formed between that which we feel has the greatest value perception in our customers’ minds. In short, what turned them on in the past is no longer working. They now value something different. It may be similar or quite different. The point is, over time we tend to lose touch with that most precious connection with our customers and also those who are not currently our customers, but could be if we “only knew”!

Getting back in touch with those two groups, customers and potential customers, and finding out just what they most value today in their supplier is often an epiphany. It is rarely that which worked ten years ago, and is rarely what you think it is today. Strategic marketing is not a task. It is not a tactic. It is an ongoing discipline designed to ensure that all your company’s messages and contact points are germane. It is only through knowing what your customer values today that you can advertise messages which are effective in bringing desired results.

When sales decline it is time to cut back on that which is not working. It is also time to dig into the marketing puzzle to find out why and what needs to be changed. USP, VOC, SWOT are tools used to scientifically arrive at solutions to those questions which make your tactical marketing efforts more efficient and productive. Even in a “bad” economy, businesses need to grow. If your company’s sales are flat or declining, take action now before your party is over!

© 2009 Best Business Associates LLC