I was lucky to be invited to listen to Don Peppers at the Amcham some days ago, co-organized with DMA (thanks Lisa).
Don is a brilliant marketeer and orator and he evangelized the importance of the human factors in business and in companies. Successful companies have a strong culture and are more customer-focused than product-focused.
I totally agree with what Don said. Technology is not a goal; it is a way to reach your consumers. Learn how to speak the consumer language, listen to your consumers and apply a proper strategy to answer his needs, not just your own business objectives.
Don spent some time talking on Consumer Services as well. I was smiling while I was just thinking about three recent experiences as a customer that I had wanted to write about for some time. Thanks Don, you give me the right opportunity… :=)
Don pointed out the importance of ‘Empowered Employees’ in Consumer Service. That is TRUE! How many times are we frustrated because some employees just read the scripts or follow the rules without using their “blain” (brain for the non English Singaporean people) . The most funny part is when the customer service officer was unable to solve your problem and asked you “Is there anything else I can do to help you with?” ARGGGGGG!!! You just want to pull out your gun and do a head shot at this time. “Yes you can !, solve my problem…!” Lol.
We realize most of times, we are just treated as numbers and we hate that! We are not numbers, we are CONSUMERS! We have unique needs and unique problems which require UNIQUE solutions and expertise. We all understand issues happen but we do not understand when a company is not pro-actively trying to find a solution to it.
Here are some of my latest best and worst experiences:
WORST BUFFALO
| Situation |
Hard-disc crash, losing 400GB of data. Hard Disc less than 3 months old. |
| Solution proposed |
Replacement of the Hard-disc, no compensation at all. |
| Is it acceptable? |
Legally the hard-disc manufacturer is not required to cover for lost data. They just exchanged the HD, too bad for you. |
| What is wrong ? |
Typical example of ‘follow the law’. However, taking into account the company took 2 months to come back with this answer and the fact you called the the Head of Consumer Care and talked to the country GM you would expect a solution to be proposed. This is especially true when you think that Buffalo is a Japanese company. |
| What could have been done ? |
At least an apologize letter or replacement of a new unit with higher capacity storage or to propose to have a professional service company to try to recover the datas. |
| Conclusion |
One lost customer forever because the company does not care at all about me and do not try to find any solution |
WORST : DAIKIN
| Situation |
Air conditioning creating a power-trip at my place for the past 8 months. Regularly, every month or three months, power-trip would result from the faulty Daikin air-con. It means I have to turn off air-con at my place in the living room waiting for the Daikin repairman to come, change the faulty spare parts and turn it on again, 2 weeks almost without air con each time. |
| Solution proposed |
Change the spare parts and wait. |
| Is it acceptable? |
NO because the root problem is not identified and because the same issue happened again and again. |
| What is wrong ? |
When the same issue happened for multiple times, a trigger should highlight a more serious problem and a dedicated solution should be proposed. The technician just comes, fixes the problems and goes back home – everybody overlooked the number of issues. |
| What could have been done ? |
After the second problem, the engineer should come my place and replace the entire air-conditioning system as well as propose to get a full study of the faulty unit.
At least, a specific service should be proposed knowing this is a recurrent issue. |
| Conclusion |
One lost customer because the company does not control its repair center. It is clear this is maintained by a sub company which is not properly linked to Daikin |
BEST : VALENTINO Restaurant
| Situation |
We are having a fantastic dinner at Valentino and order to bring home small cakes. Arriving at Home, I realize the cakes are really, really tiny and charged very expensive |
| Solution proposed |
After calling the restaurant to comment about my surprise, the Chef immediately apologize for that mistake and propose to deliver a new cake for 6 persons at my location. |
| Is it acceptable? |
YES of course. Not only the Chef proved to have empathy for my problem but immediately propose a solution. |
| What is wrong ? |
Nothing else |
| What could have been done ? |
Nothing else |
| Conclusion |
Very loyal customer who will regularly go to that restaurant. |
BEST : AMAZON
| Situation |
I wrongly ordered DVD instead of a Blu Ray disc. I made a mistake in my order and received DVDs. I contacted the Service and Support and asked for the returned process to send back the DVDs. |
| Solution proposed |
Keep the DVDs, we refund you! |
| Is it acceptable? |
YES ! Very much. Amazon understood that I live in Singapore, that the shipment back would be too troublesome. They prefer to refund me, accept to lose the 2 DVDs and win a customer. |
| What is wrong ? |
Nothing |
| What could have been done ? |
Nothing more, they even overcome by expectations. |
| Conclusion |
One customer won at life! I will never order anything else online outside of Amazon |
As Don would say it, if your problem is easy to solve, it will be automated !
Our problems are unique and thus deserve a unique solution. Successful companies should empower the employee to THINK instead of only following scripts and make sure they propose the customer a real solution. We understand there are issues and this is not the problem. The problem is when solutions or alternatives are not proposed as a customer recovery act.
The same principles always apply. Remember than an Happy customer will not necessarily talk to many people . However, an un happy customer will talk to 10 peoples. In parallel, the cost of customer acquisition is 10 times higher than the cost of retention ! Make the calculation….
It this fast speed world, it is becoming crucial for companies to better listen to consumer needs. The competition is so fierce, the market pressure is so high, the loyalty so low that you can not afford to loose ANY customer. When a problem occurs, it is critical to solve it or at least to show a good willingness. All problems can not be solved, however, if you show respect to your customers, if you really listen to their needs and try to propose any solution, they will remember and you will save their loyalty.
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