Frustrated Shampooers Unite! Are you tired of reverse torpedo shaped bottles that rocket out of your wet and soapy grip? Would you hoot for joy over an easy-to-open bottle? Have you winced upon discovering a bottle left open now upside down above a colored streak wandering drain-ward? Listen up Suave, Fructis, Herbal Essence, Pantene, Aussie, Salon, Flex, VO5 and more! Please make shampooing easier! This innovation and customer satisfaction opportunity is brought to you by Uncommon Clarity, Inc. On the web at www.uncommonclarity.com.
Have you noticed hair color incongruities? Camouflaged slow downs? Attention seeking, albeit reluctant, talk of pain? Weight gain? Debates over gravity vs. discipline vs. new priorities? Poorly disguised flatulence? Discernible stair-top breathing? General angst? If not, you haven’t been listening! The Baby Boomers are aging. All of them! And that represents a lot of change and opportunity for businesses that are paying attention!
A visit to Verizon’s website one day when I was furious with them, provided the inspiration for this series of postings. It was there that I saw “Customer Service Innovation” and immediately thought “Lip Service Innovation” more apropos. I post my customer service experiences here in the hopes that other businesses can avoid committing similar offenses. And for those of you thinking of pledging great customer service, as Verizon did, you may want to read my article, “Keep Your Mission to Yourself!” Transgression #1: I have reservations to fly Northwest Airlines to Minneapolis in 2 days. I recently received an email from NWA promoting a great sale for the holidays. I decided to run a price check against my ticket, just out of curiosity.
I was on the Chesapeake shore recently looking for one gorgeous night on the water before sailing the next day. I found a Hilton practically surrounded by water and told the receptionist I wanted a balcony and the best view. She was excited to quote me a great special rate and checked us in. The room was great but the view from the side of the hotel was disappointing. I could not believe there were no rooms on the back where the view would have been fabulous. When walking to dinner on the adjacent wharf, I discovered there were. Why hadn’t we been given one of those rooms? They certainly weren’t occupied. Was the receptionist so sure price was paramount that she was deaf to my request? I essentially told her I wanted to pay more and I was ignored. This is not uncommon these days. In fact, my husband is quite tired of me pointing out the frequent occasions where we’ve had to press a clerk to give us information on something other than the cheapest option. Check your own assumptions and those of your employees! Have you convinced yourself that price is all your customers care about? Now, more than ever, with this economy in turmoil, I hear businesses talking themselves into this doomed mentality. Focus on your customer and what they value, not on price. Listen carefully to their wishes and needs. Don’t make this Hilton’s mistake. They lost money AND made me unhappy!
More and more organizations are talking about value. This is good, because business success depends on offering something of value to those who value it and thus, are willing to pay good money for it. But then I hear those same organizations talking about the tough economy. Suddenly, it isn’t about them and the value they provide. Business is down because of external factors beyond their control. Of course there are external factors beyond their control! Always have been. Always will be. Always a little different from the time before. Change is inevitable. Neither good, nor bad, just inevitable. And a tough economy is just one type of change.
Keep your mission to yourself! Your vision too, for that matter! And I don’t want to hear about your values either. As a customer, I’m sick of all the words. I prefer evidence. Give me good value, helpful service, on-time delivery, and a reliable product or service that fits my needs well, and I will be back. Furthermore, I will tell my friends. But tell me how great you are, and how great you are determined to be, and I will just wish you spent all of that talking-time answering my questions, getting the job done, and preventing problems. Deliver on your mission! Doggedly pursue your vision! Live your values! And then you won’t have to tell me about them. I’ll be able to tell you.
How do you win and retain customers? Perhaps you are better than the alternatives. With superior or breakthrough products and services. Providing more value for the money. Exactly what your customers need. Maybe you are convenient, easy, friendly – a standout for all those “free” intangibles that customers enjoy when doing business with you. Or perhaps you are someone’s habit. The phone number on the notepad. You once had an edge – a superior offering, the best location, a great brand – but now you are not so sure. Inertia and familiarity may be your greatest assets.
Quality is not a strategy. Books, strategic planning websites, and executives may all provide numerous examples to the contrary, but quality is simply not a strategy. Nor is process improvement. Nor productivity gains. Nor employee development. Nor improved marketing. Even growth is rarely a strategy. If these are typical outcomes of your strategy formulation, your operational focus is overpowering your strategic thinking. You are caught up in the “how,” particularly, the “how well,” and thinking too little about the “what” – what kind of value can you offer and what kind of organization could you become. You can’t expect significant gains by mostly doing the same old things a little better.
Operational excellence requires focus. We must know our customers and focus on their needs. Resources must be unleashed on the priorities and pried away from wasteful efforts. Processes must be tuned to ensure costs are controlled while simultaneously boasting top quality products and services. But at times, that same focus can be an enemy. Every time you describe your business to someone you verbally trace the boundaries of a box that defines your business. This box is not two dimensional. No, there are many dimensions. For each dimension, you have selected a segment for your focus: markets, customers, industries, products, services, production capabilities, core knowledge, distribution channels, sales channels, supply chain models, technology, natural resources, geography, and more.
Ever been left with a bitter taste in your mouth despite receiving a great product? Ever felt the anxiety build as a supplier provides you with a steady stream of reasons to be worried about your order? Ever been left on hold for 5 minutes just to learn that the person able to answer your question is out? We are all customers and we know what we hate. But do we know what it is like to be our own customer? A great product isn’t good enough if the effort needed to obtain that product is painful. A great service will disappoint if even more was expected. A question without a quick, complete answer will send a customer looking elsewhere. What are your customers experiencing?