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The customer is always...
Last? Lost? In line? On hold? I did a story a few years ago about how customer service was going in the toilet. I asked why. I was told that businesses were doing so well, they didn't need to focus on customer service. Well, here we are. Businesses are desperate. The economy's bad. And customer service still stinks?
Maybe the two go hand-in-hand. Maybe once you decide that customer service isn't important, and you have 4 employees patrolling 100,000 square feet of floor space, you've backed yourself into a corner. You did more with less when times were good, so now, you're trying to do even more with even less.
Sprint-Nextel, which is consistently near the top of the Customer Service Hall of Shame list said this week it would lay off 2,000-2,500 employees this quarter. But:
"The company is taking this action in a careful manner to ensure that there is no impact on the improved customer experience that has been reflected in much higher levels of satisfaction in customer surveys and in independent performance tests."
Dilbert responded this way:
On the Marketplace Morning Report this week, LA Times business columnist David Lazarus pointed out that Best Buy has launched a new campaign to tout its customer satisfaction:
I think because Best Buy knows very well that customer service and customer satisfaction has become miserable throughout the retail sector. All you've got to do is look out on the showroom floor and see how confused and perplexed and frustrated so many consumers are. The question then becomes: Why aren't more businesses doing something about it?
Could it be that customers are making things worse? More from Lazarus:
You talk to the marketing experts, and they say they American consumer, right now, doesn't really place consumer service as highly as he or she once did. Instead, it's all about low, low, low prices, and so what we're seeing this holiday season is this massive price war that's breaking out.
Alright, your turn. Have you given up on customer service and only care about the price? Or are you voting with your feet and rewarding good service even if you have to pay more? Are you seeing any change in service, for better or worse?
I'm a sucker for a good/bad customer service story...
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I think that we have all started to expect the bad customer service so that when we find we need it we won't be disappointed.
On top of that so much of what we buy has become commoditized to the point that we didn't care where the product came from or where it was purchased.
The rare "new" thing is what now commands the premium and only for a short period of time unless you are willing to pay extra for the customer servicce (see Apple's AppleCare as a prime example)
When the majority of folks think they are doing well again we may begin to uncommoditize more of our purchases and expect better service that we are willing to vote for with our dollars.
In the mean time we need to look for the niche companies that still care but don't have too much of a premium on their product's cost and hope they (and we) survive.
There is a growing body of research exposing "the customer always comes first" as the fiction it is in most companies. See <a href="http://www.well.com/~art/coregrpconcepts.html"> http://www.well.com/~art/coregrpconcepts.html
</a> for a starting point.
The first rule of customer service is that the customer is NOT always right. That said, bad customers are usually a small minority and not a significant part of the problem.
OTOH, bad customer service structures are. For example, take Sprint. For years they had some of the highest customer service ratings. Then they decided to cut costs and restructured their customer service in such a way that it was dysfunctional. They tried to hire temporary contract employees and foreign call centers as an intermediary filter on calls.
The only problem was that these low-skill employees were not skilled enough to understand unusual problems and get you to the right person - meanwhile, they cut their high-tech staff, so once you weasted 20 minutes convincing the low-skill operator that you needed more help (assuming you were lucky enough to get them to understand your problem), you then had to wait for another 45 minutes on hold to speak to someone who was competent, and there was a chance that they sent you to the wrong person, anyway.
Good economy and bad I personally have always looked for a balance. A REALLY low price will make me forgive <i>some</i> customer services lapses, but there does become a point that it gets too poor. The fantastic price might get me into a store this time, but when it comes to the next purchase I end up thinking about the places I actually received the help I needed.
More general managers should be like the one for Macy's at Chesterfield Towne Center on Midlothian Turnpike in Richmond, VA. I responded to a survey on customer service, airing my complaint (which really wasn't huge), and I got a phone call from the manager asking me detailed questions; she thanked me, told me how important she considers customer service to me and sent me a few extra "Macy's Bucks" to spend in the store.
The next time I was in the store, I mentioned this to one of the clerks, and she corroborated that the store manager (whom she mentioned by name) always made service her top priority. Every clerk in the store is required to sign their name at the bottom of each customer's receipt so that if there are problems, customers can mention who waited on them.
Not in every occasion but probably in most, I think customer service is part of the entire customer experience. Both the retailer and the product manufacturer should keep this experience in mind. A fault with either could negatively affect the other.
A few years ago I purchased two HP notebooks at Frys. Along with the notebooks I purchased what I thought were competent product warranties. Within a month I had an issue with one of the notebooks and had to bring it in to the store. Frys wanted to me to sign a document authorizing them to charge me if they could not find anything wrong with the notebook or the defect was something not covered! Mind you that I had THOUGHT that I purchased a product warranty. Seeing the writing on the wall I decided to have Frys refund me the money I spent on the warranties and chose to deal with HP should an issue have arisen. Over the years both notebooks have shown HP's poor product quality as the wireless card or video card would just stop working. I have vowed never to buy a notebook from Frys again and will also never consider HP for a notebook.
My customer experience could have been greatly improved had HP and Frys coordinated on a sound product warranty scheme. Regardless of what issues may have come up, the right warranty would have shielded me from my poor experience with Frys as well as HP’s product quality issues. I would probably have different things to say about both. But that is not the case now.
In fact, whereas before I would probably buy a new notebook every year, I still have the same one.
Its too little too late after execs took big bonuses for offshoring customer service. How do we get executives to make investments for the future success of the business when they are being judged by short term numbers?
Customer orientation/service is an investment, but is also a strategic strength. It gives an organization special access to information about the customers process that can translate into new product/service designs. It also allows the organization to focus energy more efficiently on the items that will have the greatest impact on the customer.
The automatic response to a downturn to cut costs is the quickest path toward the grave. Customer focused organizations can harness their capacity to capture market share of a shrinking market, not driving away customers and cutting their throats on the next generation product designs with cost cutting.
Also - I concur about the previous post about the HP quality issue. I was lured in by a low cost printer. A few months after my warranty expires, it freezes up. I wont make that mistake again. HP has lost this customer.
I think a lot of customers are too high maintenance. I'll hear a coworker, or friend, or the person cutting my hair complain about how such and such place is always terrible and the service is brutal. When they've listed about 5 places that all have the worst service ever, and I've been to/dealt with these same places and never had a problem, I start to think the service isn't the problem - it's the customer. Either that or they are making it up because of their need for attention.
While I think customer service is lacking in many places, you also make a good point, Joey. Nowhere is this more apparent than at online travel sites. My word, the things people complain about at hotels. They stay at some dump and expect to get a mint on their pillow. It's still generally true -- you get what you pay for.
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