Category: Customer Service

Has the economic downturn minimized the importance of the Customer Experience?
In Chapter 5 of my book, Strategy Activation: How to Turn Your Vision into Marketplace Success, I talk about how important it is to improve your holistic customer experience to differentiate your company from your competitors. As products and services continue down the inexorable path toward commodification, it is the ongoing customer experience that drives customers to choose one vendor over another.
However, in the past two years, as the economic downturn has forced significant changes in customer behavior, many have questioned the importance of the overarching customer experience. These naysayers claim that in tough times price is the only thing that matters. Customers, they say, are more likely to accept a bad experience as long as they are getting a good deal. This perspective, however, is not confirmed by the data.
When Money is Tight, Customers Expect an Even Greater Customer Experience…
The most recent Harris Interactive Customer Experience Impact Report surveyed consumers on how they engage with companies both online and via phone, what they find frustrating, and how negative and positive customer experiences affect them.
They discovered these facts that are startling to most business owners today…
* 87% of the surveyed consumers stopped doing business with an organization or company because of a negative customer experience. That’s up from 68% reported just two years ago.
* Even during tough economic times, the significance of customer experiences does not dwindle. More than half (58%) of consumers polled said they will pay more for a better customer experience during a down economy.
* Consumers stated that the most important thing companies could do to encourage them to spend more is to improve the overall customer experience
So, it’s clear that even when finances are tight, people still value good service.
Why This Study’s Results Are Not Surprising To Me…
When money is easy to come by customers are likely to be more forgiving. Consider this restaurant dining example…
When the economy was booming many couples found themselves dining out twice per week or more. With eight to ten dining-out occasions per month a single bad experience is easily forgotten. However, when belts tighten, monthly dining-out occasions may settle back to just two or three. With fewer opportunities to “splurge” on an evening out couples and families now demand that each experience justifies the expenditure of limited funds. Thus a bad experience like poor service, long wait times and cold food makes a bigger impression and stays with us longer.
Once you have a bad customer experience, you may wait months before you visit that restaurant again – and that’s if you ever go back. Plus, you’ll probably tell your family and friends about your experience. This will make them think twice before they visit that restaurant.
Real Proof That Bad Customer Experience News Travels Far…
A recently published Forrester Research report, “How Customer Experience Drives Word of Mouth” cites:
* Consumers tend to discuss bad experiences with more people than they discuss good ones
* Gen Xers, as a group, tend to tell the most people about a bad experience
* Gen Yers are the chattiest in general. They are more likely to tell someone about a good experience. They are also the most likely to share a bad experience.
So, don’t you think that you should find out right now exactly what your customers are saying about your organization’s performance over the past eighteen months? Have their experiences diminished in the wake of corporate austerity? As we begin to see the recession bottom out, now is the time to explore this issue; to find new ways to improve the customer experience; to ensure that your customers have only good things to say!
About the Author:
Strategy Execution Consultant Scott Glatstein, President of Imperatives LLC turns market opportunities into record breaking profits even in a recession. Now, with his new book, “Strategy Activation: How to Turn Your Vision into Marketplace Success,” Scott unveils his groundbreaking plan for improved customer experiences and higher strategic profits. Get your FREE Sneak Preview at: http://www.strategyactivation.com

Article Contributed by Michele DeKinder-Smith
How will YOU respond when a customer threatens to leave?
Maybe it will be due to a gap in communication. Maybe it will happen due to increased pricing competition, a poor fit, a service problem, or a new product your competitor creates. Regardless of the cause, every entrepreneur faces the risk of losing customers at some point. But what we know from our research is that it’s very likely different types of women business owners will respond to this challenge in different ways. This article looks at how three of the types will respond to customer loss.
Jane Dough
As we’ve seen Jane Dough is an entrepreneur who enjoys running her business and makes good money. She is comfortable and determined in buying and selling, which may be why she’s five times more likely than the average female business owner to hit the million dollar mark. Jane Dough is clear in her priorities and may be intentionally and actively growing an asset-based or legacy business. It is estimated that 18% of women fall in the category of Jane Dough.
Overall, Jane Dough has a fairly pragmatic, business-minded approach to everything that happens in her business, so when she encounter a problem with a customer loss, she most likely won’t get flustered or panicked. Instead, she may take the attitude, “It’s just a business decision on their part. Customers come and go based on what they need. We have to stay focused on growth and not let this get to us.” In some ways, this pragmatism is very good, because it keeps Jane Dough from becoming distracted by one-off events so she can continue moving toward her big goal – growing a thriving and profitable business.
However, Jane Dough should monitor (or have someone on her team monitor) her company’s on-going customer retention rate. Also, she should have someone take the time to conduct an exit interview, if her departing customer is willing. Why? Because Jane Dough often will delegate work to other people, she may not immediately be aware of a systemic problem in the business. Let’s say, for example, that she starts tracking customer retention and learns that roughly 15% of customers don’t return and half of those are because product delivery takes too long. Jane Dough could work with her team to find ways to address delivery challenges to improve the process and retain more customers. But she’ll only know what to focus company efforts on if she’s tracking the reasons customers leave and the magnitude or rate at which they are leaving.
One other word about Jane Dough – if it turns out that customer defections are happening as a result of something her company has fallen short on, she may be the type of leader to become angry with the person responsible for managing the function where the breakdown occurred. I have seen several Jane Doughs react with a rapid, “Fire them!” mentality, thinking that the problem is the person, not the system. Although there are cases where the problem IS the person, it is also true that systems can be at fault. Before taking extreme personnel action, Jane Dough should carefully dissect the system itself, along with other processes that feed the system, first. This is the better way to understand how and where breakdowns are occurring and prevent the problem from arising again if a new person is hired to do the job.
Accidental Jane
Accidental Jane is a successful, confident business owner who never actually set out to start a business. Instead, she may have decided to start a business due to frustration with her job or a layoff and decided to use her business and personal contacts to strike out on her own. Or, she may have started making something that served her own unmet needs and found other customers with the same need, giving birth to a business. Although Accidental Jane may sometimes struggle with prioritizing what she needs to do next in her business, she enjoys what she does and is making good money. About 18% of all women business owners fit the Accidental Jane profile.
Because Accidental Jane tends to have started a business based on her personal networks and through referrals, the loss of even a single client may be difficult for her. First, she may worry that she’s let someone down (either the client or the referrer) – and this may cause her to doubt herself or her abilities. Secondly, because Accidental Jane’s business is often dependent on deep relationships and word-of-mouth referrals, she may worry about the negative impact on the future of her business of losing a customer – because each customer may represent a significant chunk of her income.
Accidental Jane would do well to speak with this lost customer herself to understand their reason for departure. Because her relationships are often with personal contacts or strong referrals, she has a fair chance of reclaiming the customer with an open dialog. This may mean changing the way work gets done so that the customer’s needs are better met. But, following this discussion, Accidental Jane should process what she heard with her business mind, not her heart. Sometimes, customers are just a bad fit. Other times, she may make the decision that it’s not worth it to change her process to fit a particular clients’ needs. In the end, even a lost customer can turn into a potential referrer for Accidental Jane if these discussions are held in an open, honest manner where both sides walk away with renewed respect for each other, even if they have “agreed to disagree.”
Secondly, a lost customer should always serve to remind Accidental Jane to not put all her eggs in one basket but instead to keep her eye always scanning the horizon for potential new customers. Therefore, it may behoove her to develop specific marketing systems (such as email newsletters, systematized referral programs, affiliate networks, etc.) to help her continue building a steady list of prospective customers, even if she has no plan to work with them in the immediate future.
Tenacity Jane
Tenacity Jane is an entrepreneur with an undeniable passion for her business, but who tends to be struggling with cash flow concerns. As a result, she’s working long hours, and making less money than she’d prefer. Nevertheless, Tenacity Jane is bound and determined to make her business a success. At 31% of women in business, Tenacity Janes are the largest single Jane type.
Because Tenacity Jane already tends to be struggling with cash flow, the loss of a client may be a substantial source of stress to her. She may wind up feeling that she needs to work even harder to gain and keep her clients. She may find the experience discouraging and not be certain what to do about it.
As with Jane Dough and Accidental Jane, Tenacity Jane would do well to speak with the lost customer candidly about what went wrong. Rather than doing so in an effort to “rescue” the customer, however, she should interview with her ears listening for the truths she can learn about her business. She should look for the clues that may help her understand why her business is not currently delivering the income she desires. Are there competitive pricing issues? If so, Tenacity Jane needs to understand how her competitors are able to deliver at a lower cost. Are there product, service, quality or delivery problems? If so, Tenacity Jane should listen carefully for opportunities to make improvements within the business itself. Is there a breakdown in communication such that customers expect something different than what is actually delivered? If so, Tenacity Jane should revisit her marketing and communication materials to see if they need to be clarified. In short, a lost customer can be a wonderful learning opportunity that provides the exact information to help Tenacity Jane’s entire business improve.
Next week, we’ll continue this article by looking at how Go Jane Go and Merry Jane would handle this issue.
Interested in learning more about the five Jane types? Check out www.janeoutofthebox.com
About the Author
Michele DeKinder-Smith is the founder of Jane out of the Box, an online resource dedicated to the women entrepreneur community. Discover more incredibly useful information for running a small business by taking the FREE Jane Types Assessment at Jane out of the Box. Offering networking and marketing opportunities, key resources and mentorship from successful women in business, Jane Out of the Box is online at www.janeoutofthebox.com

“Wisdom is the integration of thought and analysis based on accumulated experience.” – Elkhonon Goldberg

Improvement starts with acceptance that a business doesn’t have to be sick in order to get better.
Some years ago the CEO of a 3rd generation manufacturing company asked that I conduct an evaluation of his credit operation. The company was expanding into Europe and with the expansion came greater demands on the ability to extend credit and cash flow. Following breakfast at my hotel the CEO and I drove out to the factory and administrative offices. On the
drive out the CEO continued the story he’d started over breakfast. His grandfather and father had built the business and now he and his brother, who was the VP of sales, were trying to take the company to the next level in growth.
We parked in the back of the building and as we walked through the production area on the way to the administrative offices, we must have passed by at least 20 production people…and there was silence. Not one of the employees we encountered said good morning, hello boss or even nodded…and neither did the CEO.
We met with the CFO, the Credit Manager, the Customer Service Manager, and the A/R and A/P Managers…all women. The brother, he’d stuck his head into the room and then disappeared.
I’d ask a question of the group and as one of the women would start to answer the CEO would butt in…soon the women shut up and the only voices heard were mine and the CEO’s. After I broke up the meeting I went to each member of the group individually to ask my questions.
On the way to the airport the CEO and I stopped for lunch and he wanted to know what I thought needed to be done. I told him that his people were approaching credit and A/R management in an old an out of date risk management way…like many other companies. I told him that I had an associate who in a week’s time could train his staff on our “profit” approach and that he could help organize and document the knowledge needed to ensure proper implementation.
The company president asked why I wouldn’t be doing the training, and I said to him, “I don’t like you.”
The man was shocked. “Why don’t you like me?”, he asked. I was hoping he’d ask and I said to him, “All the production people we passed were brown or black and you didn’t greet any of them and on their part they looked away from us. All the people in the front office are white and every time one of the women in our meeting tried to say something you cut them off as if what they had to say was of no value.” I went on, “I don’t have to look at any numbers to know that you have a high absentee and turn over rate. Morale is bad because the employees don’t like you and that leads to poor productivity and poor work quality. If you want to expand to Europe
you better know that those folks expect quality.”
All was quiet for a few minutes and I wasn’t sure if I was going to have to catch a taxi to the airport, and then he said, “You’re right , we keep retraining new people and we’ve had a big problem with quality and with employees stealing from us. My father and grandfather were loved by the employees and they would do anything for them but neither my brother nor I seem to have that ability.” We drove to the airport in silence.
In my follow up report I suggested to the CEO that he and his brother find themselves a GM (general manager) who liked people and wanted to be liked in return. To his credit they found such a person and things got better, he also had my associate out for the week.
The Point

Great Customer Service starts with great Employee Relationship Management. It Will Make You or Break You

Marvin Minsky in his book , “Society of Mind” says that the human mind is made up of thousands of learned agents/programs none of which on their own define the mind, but collectively they make up the mind. Every business and organization, including government, is a collection of people and none on their own, including the CEO, define the organization but collectively they are the company/organization.
Three Areas of Relationship Management
1. Employees. The highest priority is good relations with employees because if they are unhappy your customers better look out. An old friend once said to me, “If mama ain’t happy no one’s happy.”
2. Vendors/Suppliers. Vendors are critical to your success and if you disrespect and abuse them they’ll get even, and the word (buzz) will get out on your company and then others will demand a higher price to work with you,… if they‘ll work with you at all.
3. Customers. You might be able to get away with abusing consumers because so many businesses do, because they have short memories and because there’s a lot of them and more on the way. Business/commercial customers are fewer in number and they have generational memory. Get on the wrong side of a business customer and you find that long after the reason is forgotten the bad taste lingers on.
In Closing
In human society all real meaningful change comes from the masses. Institutions fight change even if it’s an improvement. James Russell Lowell wrote, “He who is firmly seated in authority soon learns to think security (their own) and not progress.”
In a business change must come from the management team. Business managers need to take time to seek out improvement or they’ll get lost in the day to day details.
It’s up to the top managers to be leaders and set the example of what great relationship management looks like, sounds like and feels like…and if they can’t do it they need to get help.
Abe WalkingBear Sanchez is an International Speaker / Trainer / Consultant on the subject of cash flow / sales enhancement and business knowledge organization and use. Founder and President of www.armg-usa.com, WalkingBear has authored hundreds of business articles, has worked with numerous companies in a wide range of industries since 1982 and has spoken at many venues including the Shakespeare Globe Theater in London.