Is the customer always right?

Customers often criticize companies for poor service, poor workmanship, or just being sleazy. But despite conventional wisdom, the customer isn’t always right. Sometimes the consumer is right, sometimes the company is right, and sometimes the answer falls somewhere in between.

Customer interactions aren’t always black-and-white. But if the adage ”the customer is always right” does not really hold any more, companies need a new way to think about how they should treat customers. Forrester's Bruce Temkin provides these 5 principles to use in place of "the customer is always right":

1. “Right” is in the eyes of the beholder. Enforcing a policy that’s in tiny print on the back of a sales slip may be legally correct, but that doesn’t make it “right.”
2. It costs less to solve a problem than you think. Firms build models to figure out how much they’re willing to spend to solve a customer’s problem. But these calculations typically do not factor in the downside associated with bad word of mouth and the upside associated with good word of mouth.
3. The best resolution is a quick one. If you’re going to fix a problem, you’ll get the most goodwill by doing it right away. Customer appreciate the pro-activeness and they don’t have to suffer through a period of anxiety.
4. Not all customers are equal. Don’t use the same rules for treating your most profitable customers that you apply to your less desirable ones.
5. The customer is more often right than wrong. If there’s any doubt; treat them like they’re right.

The bottom line: Right or wrong, you’ve got to love your customers.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

The Five Guiding Principles for Delivering Exceptional Phone Customer Service

According to Nuance Coomunications Inc. the Five Guiding Principles for Delivering Exceptional Phone Service are:

1. “Tell Me The Truth” – While messages such as “Our options have recently changed” are usually well-intentioned, callers frequently interpret them as euphemistic, intended to keep them at arm’s length.
2. “Speak My Language” – Callers often speak of a maze of options presented to them on the phone, in a way that seldom causes problems in visual media such as Web sites. This principle focuses on the unique challenge of clearly offering choices in just a few memorable words that callers can easily interpret.
3. “Don’t Box Me In” – Callers’ most frequent complaint is that self-service systems seem designed to keep them away from agents, a perhaps unsurprising result of a company’s need to stay competitive by providing a mix of self-service and live support. This principle emphasizes that while it’s fine to promote self-service, companies need to address requests to connect with a human being.
4. “Respect My Time” – Customers call customer service with the goal of resolving a problem or completing a transaction as quickly and efficiently as possible. In visual media, caveats such as “caution, this beverage is hot” and “monthly lease does not include taxes and fees” can be added as fine print that the consumer can gloss over or ignore if they choose. Today’s corporations have not yet evolved efficient ways to provide such information on the phone (e.g., “Lower prices may be available on our Web site”) without the caller feeling as if they’re being lectured or having their time wasted.
5. “Check Your Suggestion Box” – The rise of blogs, YouTube, and other social media have made it easier than ever before for disgruntled customers to share their experiences with an interested public. This has, in several instances, proven disastrous for a company’s image. This principle urges companies to substantially promote the role of consumer feedback into the design of phone systems.

The difference between good and bad customer service

It's no surprise to learn that consumers will ditch service providers over bad service nearly as much as they will on price. A Coldwell Banker® "Customer Service Study," prepared in conjunction with Harris Interactive, quantified customer dissatisfaction.

Nine out of 10 consumers surveyed declared that great customer service is "very or extremely" important in deciding whether to give a service provider repeat business. They change providers because of bad service (32%) nearly as often as they change businesses for lower prices (38%).

When asked to define the differences between great and bad service, consumers said the top characteristics of companies with "great service" were:

• Resolving questions and problems (66%)
• Knowledge of the product or service (49%)
• Being easy to reach (35%)
• Understanding requirements (35%)

Conversely, top characteristics associated with "bad service" were:

• Inability to resolve questions or problems (46%)
• Being unavailable/difficult to reach (38%)
• Needing to deal with multiple people/departments to resolve problems (37%)
• Lack of product knowledge (34%)
• Unprofessional demeanor (33%)

What say you? Comments? Ideas?

Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

A dismal view of customer service

"Today, customers are last in line" is an essay by Deepak Seth in the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle of October 8. Once again I decided to include somebody else's views in my blog, because I could not have said it better. And, he has an interesting discovery for us in his last paragraph...


As the leaves begin to turn, the first Christmas trees have started making their way into area stores. The Big Holiday Shopping season is surely round the corner.

What lies in store for the customer? The last year can be described as an "annus horribilis" as far as customer experience is concerned. Long lines, airplanes stranded on the tarmac, numerous recalls ranging from toys to hamburger patties. Why is it that, when there have been tremendous advancements in technology, logistics, communication and others, there has been a steady decline in the quality of "customer experience"?

First, the pendulum has swung too far in corporate America's drive toward enhanced productivity (revenue per employee). Now, it seems to have reached the stage where increase in productivity is being accompanied by a decline in the quality of customer experience.

Second, many companies seem to have outsourced their responsibility for the health of their brands, in addition to outsourcing the manufacture of their products. It is easy to blame other countries for shoddy workmanship or hazardous components. However, the customer is paying good U.S. money to a good U.S. company for what he or she perceives to be a good product.

What can corporate America do to enhance the customer experience?
Develop, monitor and report on standardized measures of customer experience. "What's measured, gets managed." These measures in addition to the other indices like profitability; productivity, etc., would be true indicators of the corporate health and viability. Declining customer experience measures for a company with high profitability would be a sure indicator that the good times are not going to last long.

Consolidate all "customer experience"-related functions under a high-powered Chief Customer Officer. This officer can be tasked to be the voice of the customer at the board level. This new role would ensure that the voice of the customer does not get lost.

Take firm control of the supply chain process. Retain ownership of establishing and enforcing the design, manufacture and product quality standards irrespective of where the products are made.

Maybe it's time for all companies to reiterate this customer-focused pledge, coming from a person very few would recognize as a management guru, Mohandas Gandhi: "Customers are the most important visitors on our premises. They are not dependent on us. We are dependent on them. They are not an interruption of our work. They are the purpose of it. They are not outsiders to our business. They are part of it. We are not doing them a favor by serving them. They are doing us a favor by giving us the opportunity to do so."



What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Seven Customer Service Tips to Handle Complaints and Keep Customers Happy

Carolina Newswire's guest columnist and author Robert Moment is spot-on with his tips and I wholeheartedly subscribe to them. Hence my choice to include them in my blog. At the bottom you will also find a link to a relevant page of my website.


If customers are the lifeblood of businesses, then customer complaints are the antidote to a thriving business. Or, is it? While many businesses fear the onslaught of complaints from customers, in truth, proper handling of these complaints can work to a business’s advantage. Whenever a customer complains, he is in fact handing you a lesson in how to please others for add-on business. So, take advantage of this opportunity with these seven customer service tips on how to handle complaints and keep your customers happy.

1. Act Quickly
When a customer complains, the best way to appease the customer’s bad feelings is to act on it quickly. Remunerate customers as fast as possible with a refund when appropriate, or offer an apology. Acting swiftly to correct the wrong consoles the customer and imbibes them with a sense of loyalty as well. You can be sure the customer will want to shop with you again because you handled his complaint timely and correctly.

2. Respond to Complaints Professionally
It’s easy to get carried away with a petulant customer and brush him off completely, but that could be costly for your business. Instead, take charge of the situation by being polite and listening intently to the customer’s problem. Taking this approach has a calming influence on the upset customer and more often than not, allows him to see reason and leave knowing that he’ll return again to do business with you.

3. Send Out Customer Survey Forms
This is important to ferret out customers who are unhappy with your business for some reason, but aren’t voicing their concerns. Rather than losing them for good to your competitors, get them to fill out customer survey forms and follow up with a phone call to as many of these customers as possible. Not only will this keep your customers happy, but you will have discovered new ways of fine-tuning certain aspects of your business.

4. Thank Those Who Complain
This may sound odd to many, but customers who complain are doing you a service by helping you improve your business. The least any business should do is to thank them wholeheartedly. It may take these customers by surprise, but a simple “thank you” can lighten the atmosphere and allow unhappy customers to have a change in attitude and become your most loyal customers.

5. Reassure The Customer
Customers who complain very often feel aggrieved that their complaints come to naught because no one is listening. To tackle this situation, recap to the customer what you’ve just heard and then deliver an assessment of how you’re going to tackle the problem and inform him when it can be resolved. Many businesses are too quick to respond with an “Ok, I’ll fix that,” without the reassurances the customer sorely needs.

6. Provide A Space For Customers To Vent Their Frustrations
I don’t mean a physical space, though that could work in the most extreme of cases, but create an avenue for them to vent their frustrations without getting in the way. Only when they’ve settled down, then approach them with your questions to determine the cause of their problems. This works very well to get to the bottom of the situation without getting embroiled in unnecessary confrontations.

7. Track Customer Complaints
Once a customer has filed a complaint, it’s best to ensure that the particular complaint never arises again. The best way to do this is to track complaints, unearth its root cause and make sure it’s addressed once and for all. Tracking complaints can usually identify a pattern, giving you vital information to potential problems and addressing them before a customer can raise the issue. Let your customers know that you have such a system in place and they’ll appreciate the fact that you really care about catering to their happiness.

It’s common for businesses to think that it’s all right to lose one angry customer, but that’s simply not true. An unhappy customer can use word of mouth to inflict severe damage to a business’ reputation, which could have otherwise been easily avoided with a little bit of savvy customer handling. Well, at least now you know how.


And here is the promised link
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/complaint-management.htm


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/

Customer experience needs as much fixing today as did quality in the 1970’s.

This is the conclusion of the research firm Forrester.

Here’s some of what they’ve found through their research that shapes this belief:

Customer experience is critical for firms

85% of customer experience professionals (from their Customer Experience Peer Research Panel) told them that customer experience will play a very important or critical role in their firms’ competitiveness over the next three years. And in a joint survey between Forrester and the American Banker, they found that 97% of North American banking execs see customer experience as very important or critical.

…but they just aren’t enjoyable to work with...

They asked consumers how much they enjoyed doing business with 14 different types of firms. At the top of the list, 73% of consumers enjoy doing business with discount stores. But enjoyability drops off quickly after that – only 5 of the 14 industries are enjoyable to at least half of their customers. At the bottom of the list, less than one-third of consumers enjoy interacting with health insurers and cable TV providers.

… and they deliver poor experiences...

Forrester applied their 57-criteria Cross-Channel Review methodology to the experiences at 16 firms - four of the largest credit card issuers, consumer electronics retailers, PC manufacturers, and wireless providers. While Dell and Circuit City received the top overall scores, none of the 16 companies received a passing grade.

…because they lack customer experience discipline.

When Forrester asked customer experience executives to desribe their company’s overall approach to customer experience, only 11% said that they had a very disciplined approach and 31% said that they had a somewhat disciplined approach. But a total of 57% of firms said that their approach to customer experience was undisicplined.


What say you? Comments? Ideas?


Eric Fraterman
eric@customerfocusconsult.com
http://www.customerfocusconsult.com/