Copyright 2000 Carol
Ann Waugh
While
all the marketing buzz is about "permission marketing",
"driving traffic to your web site" and "finding
new customers", not too many people are talking about the
old fashioned concept of providing quality customer service. And
yet, this summer has been a horror story of how airlines, phone
companies and public utilities have not only inconvenienced their
customers, but in many cases, acted in complete disregard of their
customers. Verizon even came out and said that their solution
for dealing with the huge backlog of phone installations, due
to their unwillingness to quickly negotiate their union contracts,
was for the customer to have "patience". Patience! I
don't know about you, but I have run out of patience and am actively
looking for alternate supplers!
There has been a significant decline of personal customer service
as more technology enables companies to shied themselves from
real interaction with people and "let the fingers do the
walking" such as "press 1" ad infinitum until the
person finally hangs up the phone and goes away. I ask you. It
this a good way to enhance customer loyalty? Is this a good way
to ensure that customers order again?
I challenge each of you to put yourself in your customer's shoes
and test out your own "customer service experience".
Better yet, ask your friends to do it for you. Some things to
look for are:
-
How
easy do you make it for your customers to contact you?
Many times, the only contact information is available on an
invoice. (Just try calling 411 lately!) Invoices state"
Call this number to speak to your personal representative".
Often, this number goes into an automated answering queue and
it can take 30 minutes to find out you are in push-button hell.
Or, you've found out that by the tenth option, you should have
pressed a different key in the very beginning and you have to
re-dial to start all over again. I've also noticed that the
old notion of pressing 0 no longer works in by-passing the options.
Companies are determined to put you through their system, no
matter what. What do your customers experience when they call
the number of their invoice?
-
Evaluate
the "3 click rule" on the Internet and how it relates
to your phone service.
We know that more than 3 clicks to get to information on a web
site turns people off. Give yourself a real assignment such
as "I'd like to talk to my sales rep" or I don't know
who I should talk to, I just want some information". Find
out how often you actually get to talk to a person rather than
leaving a voice mail. Evaluate your experience and see how your
own customers might be feeling.
-
Look
a your web site.
Because of the high frustration people feel about locating information
about a company through the traditional information services,
many people are beginning to realize that the Internet is a
more friendly place to begin their search. Visit your web site
with only one question in mind. Where is the company located
and what is their phone number. Assuming you don't know the
exact URL, go through the searching process and find out how
long it takes to access that information. And, of course, once
you find the telephone number, go back to suggestion #1 and
evaluate the customer experience by calling it yourself.
I've always been a proponent of having the customer service department
report to marketing because I always believed that while marketing
can take responsibility for generating new business, customer
service had all the power to generate customer loyalty. And that's
the key to future profits.
I remember my first job in educational publishing and when I found
out that the customer service department was located in Altoona,
PA and the marketing department was located in New York City,
I began flying to this small town and developing relationships
with the people who really mattered. Sure, it meant I had to take
a tiny plane (I hate flying!) and leave my New York roots. But
it gave me a lesson I've never forgotten. Customer service people
are among the most important people in the company. They can be
strong advocates for the customer. They can forge personal relationships.
They can be a great source of customer needs and reactions to
the policies established at "corporate". And, they can
help your business grow.
So, don't make their lives hell. When a customer gets frustrated
– just trying to speak to a "real" person and get
their questions answered or their problems solved, don't let your
reps feel their wrath. Don't let the lure of "productivity
software" get in the way of a great, and personal customer
experience. Your customer service reps will thank you and so will
I! And, believe me, this will pay off big dividends in the future.
Everyone's trying to get "new customers" and I'm saying
that if you treat your existing customers well, you won't need
to get so many new customers over the next few years to make those
high revenue projections. Existing customers are gold. Treat them
like it!
My own personal rebellion has been my refusal to fly United Airlines.
Yes, they have the most direct flights from Denver. Yes, I have
most of my frequent flyer mileage with them. Yes, sometimes I
have to pay a higher price for my ticket. But in the end, I'm
willing to make these personal sacrifices because I know there
is a better chance of getting to where I need to go. And, even
when they "fix" their system, it will take me a long
time to forgive them and maybe I'll never come back. This is the
risk companies take when they ignore their customer responsibilities.
As marketers, we know that getting a new customer is more expensive
than maintain our existing customers. So in conclusion, companies
that don't take care of their customers are wasting their scarce
marketing resources. Don't let this happen to you!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
This article was written by Carol Ann Waugh, President of Xcellent
Marketing, a marketing and new business development firm specializing
in the educational and library market. Xcellent Marketing offers
a variety of marketing services to help publishers increase their
revenues and profits from identifying new markets, providing critiques
of web sites and marketing communications such as direct mail,
catalogs, advertisements, etc. as well as developing effective
traditional as well as Internet-based marketing plans. Carol can
be reached at (303) 388-5215 or at cwaugh@xcellentmarketing.com.
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