Are you looking Are you listening
Feedback from either employees or customers is a gift. And it’s a gift that keeps on giving if you use it well. My experience is that most people are not in the proactive process of looking for feedback, are you?
In today’s hyper-competitive B2B world, customers are changing as I write. What was a standard yesterday is yesterday’s standard. The customer’s requirements for speed, accuracy, delivery, customization and competency increase or change every time a new model of business appears. And that is pretty frequent these days.
Last week I was having lunch with the CEO of a successful conference firm. He said to me (the Customer Care Coach who deals in lots of the “soft” skills) that he LOVED buying books from Amazon.com. LOVED it - better service then he ever received in a bookstore, and he never had to leave his desk. I, gathering defenses, countered with, “Of course, if you know what you want, and you don’t need help, that’s great, but...”, “No buts” he said, I find all the help I need online and I can read the reviews other people put in there, I don’t have to interact with a human being, and I have NEVER had a better experience” and then he added, for my benefit, “Sorry.”
His buying pattern had changed, and he was perfectly happy in the new model. I wonder what store or catalog just lost his business. I’ll bet they didn’t even know that he was gone. And who is losing the business that is going to all the other companies that offer such elegant online ease, without the uncertainty of dealing with real human beings? Could it be you? Are you competing adequately?
It is more important then ever before to be getting feedback from your customers on how their buying habits are changing and what it is they are doing in other areas of their lives that could impact their buying habits in the future. Are your customers falling in love with the concept of self-service? Are they bidding for airline tickets on Priceline? Are they researching for things you could be providing them? Have you checked? This is the first time in history that the very models of business are changing at a breakneck speed. It is more important than ever before that we ask our business customers for feedback and set up “Customer Listening Systems” so everyone in the organization is working towards understanding more about what will help you keep the customer.
There are lots of ways of doing it, each way providing a different kind of information:
- Total Market Surveys - Measure the overall assessment of your company’s service and includes both your customers and competitor’s customers.
- Transactional Surveys - Happen right after the service interaction; they focus on the most recent experience.
- Point of Service Feedback - A great way to ask the “How did we do?” kinds of questions. I like to ask “Is there any way we could have made it easier for you to do business with us?”
- Mystery Shopping – Measures individual behavior. It’s useful for coaching, but it’s not one of my favorites, unless it is used without judgment. I’d rather see it done on an informal basis. Have your brother-in-law shop your company, have a friend call in and see how long they are left on hold. Use it for general impressions.
- New Customer / Lost Customer Surveys – Determine why they select, reduce buying, or leave. Assess the role service quality plays in patronage and loyalty.
- Focus Groups – Usually focus on specific topic. Most effective when used in combination with projectable research.
- Customer Dialog – Visits with customers to discuss and assess the service relationship and dialog about where their business is going in the future. I use a formal process with some common set of questions, capture of responses, and follow-communication with customers.
- Customer Advisory Group – A group of customers recruited periodically for feedback and advice.
- Complaint / Comment systems – Processes to retain, categorize and distribute customer complaints and comments, identify most common service failures and opportunities to improve.
- Employee Surveys – Great for measuring internal service quality and identifying employee-perceived obstacles to improving service, track morale and attitudes.
And then of course, there is the conversation. That’s the ongoing dialog we can have with a customer every time they call or order that seeks to listen deeply, and sometimes from the heart, to really hear what the customer is asking for. Because sometimes it is the human element of kindness, or caring or empathy that even our business customers need.
