FEATURE
Because these executives see / hear few complaints they do not understand the tip of the iceberg effect .
2 . Not understanding the impact of these problems on customer loyalty . Overall , for every five customers who have problems , one customer will be lost .
3 . The impact of problems on word of mouth – positive WOM is the cheapest and most efficient source of new customers – the most successful companies like USAA , Chick-Fil-A , and Harley-Davidson , get 70 % of their new customers from WOM . Management almost never compares the cost to get customers via WOM and great service to the cost of acquisition via advertising and the sales force .
4 . Finally , and here ’ s the crux of the problem , management views voice of customer ( VOC ) as negative and hates bad news . The bad news is pointing to where more money can be made . One CEO looked at a 94 % sat rate and asked , “ what in the last 6 % can we get because that is all more revenue and profit ?”
We ’ ve found that 70 % of companies have decided to be in the pack as opposed to differentiating themselves via service . They still talk service , but they just compare themselves to the pack and say , “ we ’ re no worse and we want to invest elsewhere .” These executives are not realizing the frustration and turnover that environment creates .
Meanwhile 20 % of companies have executives who are trying but half of them are not empowered and supported . At the same time , 10 % have chosen to compete on price and minimize service offerings .
Things are not bad enough to merit scrutiny ; you can make some money with a mediocre offering .
IS IT ALSO THE CASE THAT COMPANIES ARE UNDER THE GUN TO IGNORE / SQUEEZE CUSTOM- ERS , NO MATTER HOW MUCH THEY COMPLAIN AND THREATEN TO LEAVE , FROM DEMANDING SHAREHOLDERS AND PRIVATE EQUITY OWNER- SHIP TO SQUEEZE MORE PROFITS ?
A : Private equity groups are a huge problem . We ’ ve actually started to help a few venture capitalists to assess the health of the customer base in advance , but most are out for a quick buck over three years .
WHAT ARE YOUR RECOMMENDATIONS TO ORGANIZATIONS TO IMPROVE THEIR LISTENING TO CUSTOMERS , AND TO MINIMIZE AND ACT ON CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS ?
A : Pick your battles . Identify one or two issues that both customers and employees share and fix one with rigorous measurement to show the payoff . Also , identify simple delighters and implement one or two with measurement of satisfaction and impact on loyalty and word of mouth .
Here ’ s my shortlist of other recommendations to organizations :
• Better onboarding and more transparency in marketing and sales .
• Understand customer competence with product area and motivate customer to get educated .
• Get feedback from service on percentage and granular issues due to marketing , sales , and expectational issues .
• Provide an index of marketing quality .
Finally , invest in staff to allow reaching a human by chat and / or by phone , but particularly by phone as it is high-touch : only in-person is higher . Do the cost-benefit analysis of cost of phone contact versus the payoff of retaining a customer who otherwise would be lost .
" FINALLY , INVEST IN STAFF TO ALLOW REACHING A HUMAN BY CHAT AND / OR BY PHONE ..."
WHAT ARE , CRITICALLY , YOUR RECOMMENDA- TIONS OF CONTACT CENTER / CUSTOMER SERVICE DEPARTMENTS TO HAVE CUSTOMER MATTERS HEARD AND FOLLOWED UP BY THE C-SUITE ?
A : Educate management on one or two basic easy issues using the tip of the iceberg and multiplier to quantify the number of customers affected and tie it to storytelling : one or two recorded calls or emails .
Ideally tie the issues to employee frustrations and get a sales / marketing , a quality ( or lean Six Sigma ) and a finance person to go with you and nod their heads . Get a small win and move forward , letting others get the credit . Better a small success than a big disaster .
Brendan Read is Editor of Contact Center Pipeline . He has been covering and working in customer service and sales and for contact center companies for most of his career . Brendan has edited and written for leading industry publications and has been an industry analyst . He also has authored and co-authored books on contact center design , customer support , and working from home . Brendan can be reached at brendan @ contactcenterpipeline . com .
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