This posting is continuation of my previous write-ups on customers’ satisfaction
(I &II). In case you have not read
my previous postings on this, do read them first before you read this posting
so you can understand the context and have a better understanding.
In this posting, I want to share my thoughts on customers’ satisfaction
and HRs role.
# More than 70% of the time, customers leave
due to poor customer service: I've read an interesting tweet some time ago
that states that customer dissatisfaction is 14% due to quality, 15% due to
cost and a whopping 71% is due to poor customer service ( based on a detailed
study / research done by Tom peters).
This is quite interesting since more than 70% of the time customers
leave due to poor customer service. Though customer may not expect exceptional
service or quality, when there is a problem, no doubt, they want that to be
fixed on a war- footing
If you look at my experience in the retain show room (that I talked
about in Customer satisfaction -I), I had to physically go there 2 times, talk
to the customer care executives over the phone 4 times, talk to the store
manager 3 times and I had to wait for almost 3 weeks to get a simple job done.
This clearly shows how bad the customer service is. The first person that I met to collect my
jean did not show any value. Instead of
accepting the mistake, he was rather trying convince me with some wrong
reasons. Except the Store Manager, no one understood the customer’s problem and
shown any sense of urgency in quickly resolving the problem. Do you think one
would go to such a place again? The
chances are very less.
Once bitten twice shy is the Customers' mindset: I am not sure if those few executives that I’ve interacted with in the
retail showroom is a good representative sample to say that their employees don’t
have customer orientation and they don’t have a customer driven culture. Similarly,
the one customer care executive that I met in
the movie theater may not be a good sample to arrive at any final conclusion.
However, customer’s don’t look at their experiences in a statistical or
scientific manner. They are sure to get their perception formed based on their
1 or 2 experiences and decide whether they should continue to be your customer
or not. That's how most of the customers will behave.
For instance, being a vegetarian, I always used to have my food in a
vegetarian restaurant, not in a multi-cuisine restaurant. Once I tried having
my (veg) food in a multi-cuisine hotel.
The food that I got was a vegetable fried rice that did not taste like
any other dish:-). A few spoons in to my meal, I got a food chunk that was
different. You guessed it right. When i checked, it was a meat peace. My affair with that hotel ended even before it began. With this experience, do you think I would go
the same hotel or try multi-cuisine hotels??
It's NO. What shaped my behavior as a customer was "Once bitten
twice shy"
# Trust Factor - One common factor that was violated in both
the examples given above - Retail and hotel experience - is Trust. The customer
was taken for granted. The trust the customer had was violated. Trust is the foundation in any relationship,
be it personal, professional or customer relationship. Once it's violated, the
chances of regaining it is less. That's a sure recipe to lose a customer /
cause customer dissatisfaction.
Culture - In any Business where employees are directly
interacting with the end customers, you need to have employees with customer
orientation and build and sustain a culture that is absolutely customer-driven.
One example that I would love to quote is what I experienced in Shell
fuel outlets. Right from your entry to
exit, you are properly assisted and guided to ensure that the customer is
happy. When you step in, you would be
genuinely greeted and directed to a particular gas station / counter. You will have
someone to promptly tell you to switch off the engine and then they fill your gas
tank. Once it’s done, you will be directed to check your tyre pressure and they
really do it without any tip. I've
experienced it many times in the same outlet and various other outlets of shell.
I am not really sure how they could do it.
A standardized customer driven culture demonstrated right from the
grass-root level employee to all levels and in all outlets in a very consistent
manner. This is much more than amazing.
This is the vital link that was missing in the retain showroom
Let us contrast this Shell experience or my experience in the movie
theater with the retail showroom.
# None of the executives have understood the importance of what
customer care really is.
# It looked like there is no such culture as everyone in the customer care
counter failed one after the other and there was no regret or guilty feeling
that they failed in their role. No
clarity on their role and why they exist or no motivation to carry out their
role.
# Nothing happened till it got escalated to the store manager. It’s only the fear motivation that motivated
them to attend to my grievance.
What could have probably gone wrong ? May be the retail chain does not have robust hiring model that maps
customer orientation as one of the important competencies. May be they have not oriented their employees
on their primary roles or how to handle or deal with customers and their
grievances. While the store manager demonstrated good amount of customer care,
all the others down the line failed. May be they've not done enough to percolate
customer orientation down the line or build it as a culture till the grass root
level. Culture is after all how all employees
treat others to get things done (Dan Rockwell) and how employees deal with their
customers.
Social media - Brand maker and brand killer: We live in a social media era which can make or break your brand. Dissatisfied customers do share their bad
experience and it gets shared by many. Big brands out there - do take care of
your brands and treat your customers well.
diD yOU enJOY ReADinG ThIS ArTIcLE?
If yES,
yOU maY sHAre it wiTH Your FriENds tOO
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