Customer Service or Bust

Years before the Great Recession, I was alarmed to see a change in behaviors: as if a strange malaise had overtaken the working world, most organizations were becoming indifferent and even punitive toward their customers. Incivility marked the way work was handled between internal customers.

During economic lean times, it’s easy to take an “every man for himself” attitude but a couple generations of consumers were altered by the recession. My prediction? Recession-weary consumers would become exacting and more demanding about how they’re treated by their suppliers. This has come to pass.

“Relationship” and customer loyalty will be more important than ever. Your granddaddy’s “the customer is always right” has evolved—thanks to the Internet, social media, and m-commerce options—into questions like: How consistent is our branding? Do we have the right interaction mix so customers can easily find and stay engaged with us? Will our call center folks respond knowledgeably when queried by a customer who’s just pulled info off our Web site? 

Ask not how to make the customer more accountable to you; ask how you can be more accountable to your customer. How easily can your employees see a profile of each customer they’re talking with? An associate told me he stayed with his mobility provider because even after he’d called to explain why payment would be late, they were understanding and never failed to thank him for 15 years of patronage. How well have we been using analytics to understand our customers’ values and purchasing behaviors?

Do you have a strategy for becoming a preferred supplier? Just getting enough work to make revenue goals is not enough. Customers are shopping for relationship now more than ever, and it takes a whole different set of ideas and behaviors to garner preferred supplier status than to merely “make nice” with one’s customers. How good’s our ability to give our customers an intelligent, customized response?

What’s Your Emotional Capital?

If you attended our Relationship-building Strategies webcast series in 2010, you know Linda Bishop (www.thoughtransformation.com) and I talked a lot about trust and how customers equate value with care. Trust, value, and care each carry an emotional charge. Now consider the consequences of ignoring that. The following is based on a real organization:

Twenty years ago, XYZ began with a groundswell of public and private support, answering a real need for international insights and services. As a 501(c)3, it occupied a crucial niche in the hearts and minds of its constituencies, but despite this promising start, over time XYZ fell victim to its own complacency.

Captains without a compass. As the board and management believed themselves to be experts, eventually customers became characterized as whining loons. Board members micromanaged daily activities. Management treated themselves to generous pay hikes and travel opportunities, but cited operating-budget shortfalls as justification for rate increases.

Customer service…? Routine customer questions and complaints were treated dismissively while threatening issues were given perfunctory attention—then left unresolved. Mistreated customers scoffed at any positive news released by XYZ. Its culture became famous for dysfunctional relationships — expressed by the number of litigations brought against XYZ by staff and customers. The company sought to suppress negative PR by presuming to put customers under a gag order. Roles and protocols became murky: employee relations with customers were marked by constant strife or, at best, the sort of cooperation brought on by an informal and inappropriate system of personal favors.

Consequences. XYZ embarked on an expansion campaign requiring new capital. Customer queries re: this new expense were never adequately answered. Demoralized staff either left or stayed long enough to undermine such initiatives. Customers also defected.

At this point, XYZ’s leadership is baffled. They blame the U.S. recession for diminished donations, relying on an ad hoc “strategy” of large single donors versus a coherent case statement and mass appeal to its publics. Its board and management continue to be coddled while staff and customers remain unheard.

What began with a few routine customer complaints — easy to fix; opportunities for forging deeper bonds with customers — has become a ship that’ll need to turn on a dime in order to survive, much less thrive. And yet it’s not really about the money, which is only a symptom of the emotional capital XYZ squandered over the years—by proving themselves to be uncaring, untrustworthy, and ultimately of diminishing value.