Delivering an exceptional customer experience - 10 Reflections from 35 years of listening to customers

Dear son

sorry i wasn't able to pick you up last night. I was sleeping when you texted at 2:36am and I had my phone on mute. So anyway, somebody dropped you off so that's ok. But next time, please call us on the home phone or try mamma's mobile as well. I felt bad that I couldn't pick you up.

Anyway, here's the interesting bit which I read today. As I have said before, this is part of my job, to make sure that one of the bank's business improves its sales function. But as you might be considering yourself to be a banker or actually setup your own firm, this is crucial to remember. Everybody sells, son. Mamma is trying to sell her books. I might be an academic and I am trying to sell my ideas. I might be a service provider or a call centre person. Doesn't matter, we always have to sell something to somebody. So its good to learn about these points.

Now usually i find these 10 point plans facile. They are far too generalist and easy to write, son. But the real challenge is to actually implement this. That's where most of the people fail. But many don't even think about these basics, son. Simple things and a great checklist for you to know whether or not you are actually dealing with your customers in a good way. Nothing wrong with this, but yesterday, at an industry dinner, I did a very scientific survey of 6 people who were at my table. They were from different organisations in various industries. All of the FT100 people and we are talking senior managers there. Did you know that pretty much everybody said that they wont be able to tick off more than 2 perhaps 3 points on this list? Points to ponder son, points to ponder. Think about Virgin or Apple, the top firms in customer service and you will realise why people are ferociously loyal to them.

Build better customer service and the world will beat a path to your door.

Love

Baba

 

Just before Christmas, Alex Matthews (customer experience guru for HSBC, M&S and many others) decided to change the pace of his working life and stepped down from HSBC to pursue a portfolio of consulting projects.  Having spent the last 3 years getting to know Alex really well I can say without doubt that when he talks on the topic of “the customer” it’s time to sit up and take notes.  I am therefore delighted that Alex has been good enough to share with me his collected wisdom from 35 years of listening to customers and working to deliver an exceptional customer experience.  Collated below are his top 10 reflections for business leaders looking to get the customer experience spot on.
1.  Know Thy Customer – And I mean KNOW
A recent study showed that on any given day the front line were aware of 100% of the customers’ issues... the average UK CEO at the time could name only 4% of them.   The smart CEOs seek out real (as opposed to stage managed) opportunities to get in their stores, branches, call centres etc and actually talk to and serve their customers.  There is no substitute for this.
2. Know the difference between what the Customer Wants and what the Customer Expects
There are always elements of any product or service that customers just expect and there are some that can absolutely delight them.  Being able to distinguish between the “everyday” elements that tend to drive “satisfaction” and the handful of “wow” elements that enable a business to truly differentiate itself is essential. It enables the business to put its energy and resources into being better only where the customer needs it to be great. Don’t try and beat the competition on the everyday stuff.  It’s OK to be as good as the best of the rest on the everyday stuff.
3. Understand exactly how the customer makes you money
Understanding that whilst the overall interaction and impression the customer has of the organisation is important it is often how the customer is dealt with at one or two “moments of truth” that will determine the customers’ loyalty and advocacy.  Being able to identify what parts of the interaction you have with your customer are truly the “moments of truth” and then aligning your resources to deliver a phenomenal customer experience is essential to maintaining a profitable relationship with your customers
4. The BIG things are often the little things
The “wow” aspects of the customer experience, whilst not always easy to identify are often the easiest to implement by the individual e.g. acknowledging a customer by name, smiling at a customer and saying thank you to a customer in their own words; little things yes but the hardest things for the organisation to implement.  It requires a lot of effort to be expended on developing the culture of the organisation to the point where the “little things” are natural.
5. Talk about customers.  About what they would think, not what we think of them
Does the leadership at all levels, but especially the top, have conversations about customers?  Not high level strategic presentations about customer segment migration (important though these are) but just plain simple conversations. They might be about last week’s complaints or about last week’s store visits (M&S ‘s board would all be in stores at the weekend and those comments would form the early part of the Monday board meeting. Tesco used to have an empty chair at its trading meetings to represent the customer and what she, yes she, might think about what ever was being talked about).
6. It’s about people!
The most important cog in the machine is the person you speak to. I know, I know we can all have wonderful digital lives now but businesses that treat their employees as real human beings tend to find those human beings transferring that feeling to customers.  Are staff required to use a script or are they trusted to use their judgement? Are they empowered to make a decision on your behalf or does it have to go to a higher authority? Does the employee look like they enjoy being there??? Old fashioned stuff I know but amazing how often that really is all you need to know!!
7. Look after the middle managers
And of course there is now oodles of research to prove that happy employees deliver a better customer experience and the biggest factor in the creation of happy employees is the quality of their middle managers. They are the biggest influence on how those who serve customers feel about their life at work. How are branch managers, team leaders, etc assessed? Are those who get promoted the best examples of the brand values and are they rewarded on their ability to performance manage?  In Disney 50% of a leaders’ performance rating is generated by how they bring the Disney values to life... as judged by their direct reports!!
8. Make it easy
Customers don’t want complicated.  Life’s too busy for that already.  Numerous channels, numerous products, loads of small print…  Over the years, we’ve managed to make it all so complicated.  Customers just want it to work.  There has to be a cost and profit component to what we do, but we also need to ensure that it’s easy to use and easy to buy.  Metro and other new entrants are picking up on that, and building simplicity into their business.  The chef Gordon Ramsay is a stickler for a trimmed back menu at all his establishments – learn to think like Gordon
9. Bring the customer in – live transparently
The beauty (and horror) of our digital age is that the customers will be inside our organisations whether we like it or not – the smarter businesses have learnt that trying to keep them at arms’ length is pointless and have thrown wide the doors to invite them into improve all manner of processes including sales and service, product design, ethics and compliance, complaints handling and organisational governance.
10. Now and again, let people err on behalf of the customer
The people who interact with your customers, for all intents and purposes, tend to be the most junior in the business.  Yet it is what they do that wins or loses those customers.  You need to give clear guidelines and support for what decisions they can make – but in the end it’s their decision and they won’t always get it right.  Accept it.
http://businessdigitaltransformation.blogspot.com/2012/02/alex-matthews-delivering-exceptional.html?utm_source=Level+Up+-+6th+Edition&utm_campaign=375357b790-Innovation+Update+6th+Edition&utm_medium=email

University customer service?

This is a curious case, is this going to be related to a freedom of speech case or a defamation case. Well, this step by the university is frankly silly. Here's the video. Take a look at the comments, what defamatory comments?

On the other hand, students demanding to be like consumers? Absolutely, why ever not? They have paid good money for it and if the offering does not match what was given, then they have a perfectly good right to complain. I would complain as well. If a student has not learnt, a teacher has not taught. And after having had an MBA, having taught in business schools across the world, recruited from several across the world and having been on advisory boards, I firmly believe that business schools should practice what they preach. And Universities should realise that they are running a business.

But why on earth is the university not listening? I will tell you why, because business schools are almost always looked upon as cash cows by the university. They take the money from the business school and use it to pay for the salaries of people who are investigating the Mongolian cultural significance of the Argentinean blue bean. I am joking, of course, but this is fairly typical of what I have seen.

But again, if you are a business (and lets get this very clear, universities are businesses now), this is your customer complaining. What are you doing about it? Threatening your customer with legal action is NOT a great way to improve reputation or getting additional customers.

Also, what the university has forgotten (or is perhaps stuck in the 18th century) that removal of comments does not mean that comments are removed. This episode has now created an internet electronic footprint which will be available every time anybody searches for Anglia Ruskin University. Not good, their internet, student and media management leaves much to be desired (even if their education and teaching management is perfect).

Technorati Tags: Universities,United Kingdom,Freedom of Speech

What do you do with your dead people on your planet?

Thanks for Chris Skinner, this joke is brilliant. But here's a thought for all in financial services. Why do you think this is funny? This is funny because we all have faced this scenario and can well face it. 10 Questions for you:

1. Customer Services review?
2. Level of responsibility given to front line staff?
3. Level of responsibility given to front line staff's supervisor?
4. Level of automation relating to customer events on credit card systems?
5. Are large customer events (hatched, matched, dispatched) handled extra-specially? that is a high risk event but also a high return event.
6. How do you think you as senior management are capturing events like this? For example, I can type up my conversation with Mesh Computers when I had a gigantic snafu with them and then can send it out on the web and my friends. In other words, the probability of senior management receiving this joke email from outside is higher than them receiving information like this from inside. I know you are taping this conversation, but how is this information reaching senior management? Ok, so the senior management does not get to hear it, who does? beyond the supervisor?
7. And if it does reach you, what do you do? what have you done previously?
8. Have you personally, as a senior manager, tried out your own company's products in an anonymous manner? I realise this wont be possible in investment and corporate banking but you can still do it in asset management, private banking, SME banking and retail banking.
9. Your risk and control people must have asked for many of the risks/controls identified in this conversation. How many of those risks/controls have actually gone through a cost benefit analysis based upon customer service, reputational risk, revenue, etc.?
10. Say this joke email comes out with an explicit name attached to it, say XYZ Bank. And when you are travelling into work in the train, you read this joke in the newspapers and your friends across the train are giggling at you. What do you do when you enter the office? What can you do to address this problem?

A lady died in January, and the bank billed her for their annual service charges on her credit card for February and March. When these were unpaid, the bank added late fees and penalty interest fees on top of the monthly charge. The balance had been $0.00 and is now over $60.00, and increasing every month, so her nephew calls the bank:

Nephew: “Hello there. My aunt died recently, and I am calling to tell you that she died as you keep mailing charges to her.”

Bank: “Well, the account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.”

Nephew: “Maybe you should turn it over to collections.”

Bank: “Since it is over two months past due, it already has been.”

Nephew: “So, what will they do when they find out she is dead?”

Bank: “Either report her account to the frauds division or report her to the credit bureau, maybe both.”

Nephew: “Do you think God will be mad at her?”

Bank: “Excuse me?”

Nephew: “Did you just get what I was telling you . . . The part about her being dead?”

Bank: “Sir, you’ll have to speak to my supervisor.”

Supervisor gets on the phone.

Nephew: “Hi. I’m calling about my aunt and am trying to tell you that she died in January.”

Bank: “Well, the account was never closed and the late fees and charges still apply.”

Nephew: “You mean you want to collect from her estate?”

Bank: (Stammer) “Are you her lawyer?”

Nephew: “No, I’m her nephew.”

Bank: “Could you fax us a certificate of death?”

Nephew: “Sure.”

After they get the fax.

Bank: “Our system just isn’t set up for death, sir. I don’t know what more I can do to help.”

Nephew: “Well, if you figure it out, great! If not, you could just keep billing her. I don’t think she will care.”

Bank: “Well, the late fees and charges do still apply.”

Nephew: “Would you like her new billing address?”

Bank: “That might help.”

Nephew: “Rookwood Memorial Cemetery, 1249 Centenary Road, Plot Number 1049.”

Bank: “Sir, that’s a cemetery!”

Nephew: “Well, what do you do with dead people on your planet?”

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Customer Service example to be avoided by banks

This is unbelievable.

A lung cancer patient has gone to court to stop his bank contacting him about repayment of a loan after he was called 762 times in ten months. David Lloyd, 61, and his partner, Annette Edwards, 57, owe the Halifax about £5,000. Because of Mr Lloyd’s illness, which is now in remission, they ran up an overdraft and got into arrears with their repayments.

The couple, from Manchester, claim that they were called 184 times in August last year and 169 times in September – an average of more than five calls a day. When they changed their number the bank turned its attention to Ms Edwards’s daughter. She received between 60 and 100 calls on her mobile phone in four months. Mr Lloyd said that pressure from the bank had harmed his recovery, made him less capable of working, gave him a phobia of telephones and left him with a stammer.

(Please do not try this at home!)

–– David Cannon, a farmer from Northumberland, sprayed manure over several NatWest branches in a dispute over his account; he later received a £300,000 settlement
–– Brian Jones, a property developer from Bristol, let off 400 stink bombs in 87 Barclays branches after the bank approached a business partner to check his creditworthiness
–– Michael Howard changed his name to Yorkshire Bank PLC Are Fascist Bastards after he was charged £20 for a £10 overdraft
–– Darryl Workman set up the website Shabby National after Abbey National decided to charge £5 for handling third-party bills

How not to win friends and influence people and be known for good customer service, eh?

All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!

Civic Banking - It makes sense

My colleague, James Gardner over at LlyodsTSB has written an excellent and thought provoking post on what civic banking means. Now this is something that British banks can take a leaf out of, see the figures here for bank customer satisfaction.

Further research commissioned to GfK NOP showed that treating customers fairly is at the core of regulation for banks and building societies. Two thirds (67%) of customers agreed that that they are treated fairly by their building society, compared to under half (48%) of bank customers. While 34% of bank customers said they did not trust their provider, just 17% of building society customers said they could not trust the advice they were given – a figure building societies will work hard to reduce even further.


All this to be taken with a grain of piquant salt!!!