Its been a long long time since I published a blog. This is a promise to be more regular.
Coming back to the topic of Customer Experience and Delight much has happened these last few years.

Last week a thought about service quality standards and metrics struck me as I landed in Bangalore airport from Mumbai. As part of the airlines metrics to show good service one parameter is time to get the baggage on the delivery belt. As I reached the baggage belt, I was pleasantly surprised to see that the baggage had already started coming in from this full service carrier. This  reinforced my belief about the quality of this airline.To my dismay and finally to irritation I found that after the first few bags on the belt the next lot of bags came after almost 25 minutes and it took me a full 30 minutes after the first bag came to get my bag.

This led me to think of how companies might beat the system of presenting service quality metrics. If the airline is measured on the time it takes to get the first bag on the belt they do everything to get the belt moving. But the large part of the bags actually got delayed inordinately.  In this way while the airline will show a good delivery record , the have in fact got the customers even more upset.  Not only  has the baggage taken too much time, but by bringing the first lot in fast the airline has also raised customer expectations and not delivered.

Lesson : Consistency of service delivery is absolutely essential to give customers a good experience and thus build loyalty. Metrics should help us deliver superior customer experience but should not become an end in itself.

FROM DISSATISFACTION TO DELIGHT : THE POWER OF SERVICE RECOVERY

SERVICE/ A good salesperson is one who not only attends and fixes the customer’s complaints , but also manages people and their emotions effectively says Ramesh Venkateswaran

In workshops on Customer Service I  ask participants to share  experiences where they have been  delighted as customers – situations where they believe the sales or service providers made a very positive impact on them and the experience has been memorable for them  .  Some responses from a recent workshop :

O  I had made a booking at a hotel where I was going on a holiday.  When I landed at the hotel with my family late in the night they said they had no booking in my name and the hotel was full. The manager however asked us to wait , called another hotel at that late hour , arranged for a room  and also arranged a taxi to take us there.  We were really very happy  and  felt good and relieved . The manager did a great job.

O  I bought a table top grinder. On the second day the grinder packed up. I called the company with my complaint . They sent me  a replacement the same evening and picked up the defective grinder and sent it to the factory. No questions asked. I thought that was fantastic and I was delighted .

O  I bought some cloth for a pair of trousers and got the trouser stitched at the same shop. When I collected the trouser I found to my shock that the tailor had got the measurements wrong and the trouser did not fit me properly. The tailor immediately apologised and said he would stitch a new pair of trousers for me. Even more interesting , he told me that I could get the material for the trouser from any shop and he would pay for it – I did not have to take it from his shop.  No conditions , no budget. I thought this is superb service .

In all the above situations, the customer felt very good after the incident and the way in which  the sales person / service provider handled a situation. The customer left with a very positive experience with the organisation and the service person. In each of the cases , if you asked the customer if she would buy from the organisation again , the answer is a definite yes. Would they recommend them to friends – the answer is again yes. In short , what we have is a set of satisfied , loyal customers.

Interestingly , look closely at the incidents above .  What do they  have in common ? In all cases there was a failure on the part of the service provider in the first instance. Yet the customer is actually happy after the incident and the net result is very positive , both from the service providers point of view and of the customer.

What have these organizations and people been able to do ?  They have  been able to turn adversity into an opportunity . They have used a service failure situation to their advantage.  In each of the cases above , there was a potential dissatisfied , angry , upset customer . And yet by the end of the transaction through a well executed Service Recovery strategy , they have ended up with delighted and loyal customers. This is a very important lesson for companies  - if managed properly , product / service failures can in fact be used as opportunities to   build customer loyalty .

Organizations will have problems with customers. There will be product  and  service failures . Studies however show that 55 – 70% of customers would do business with you again if you solve the problem . Up to a staggering  95% of them will do business with you again if they think  you acted quickly.

What this tells us is that , what makes customers unhappy is often not a problem per se  but the way in which a problem is handled. Customers – people like you and me – do realize that problems will occur. Products are likely to fail –however rare or infrequent they may be.  We  will make allowances for these failures. We  also know that many failures happen for reasons outside the control of the immediate person handling us – the front line sales or service person.

So what would we really look for in such situations ?  Do they realise the inconvenience they put the customer to because of a failure on their part – either of the product or the service ? Does the sales or service provider show concern for the customer? Is the service person interested in responding to the customer problem   ?  Will the person resolve the problem quickly so that the customer can get on with their  work ?

How often have service engineers promised to come at an agreed time and not turned up. And the customer has had to make a change of plans to suit the convenience of the service engineer. All to get the problem  resolved – which should not have happened in the first place.  We often see customer service representatives jumping  to quick solutions / conclusions on failures without taking the trouble to understand the customer problem or point of view. Typical customer statements that express unhappiness / dissatisfaction are – he did not even bother to call; they don’t even take a little trouble to understand my situation; they really don’t care.

Organisations  need to lake a serious look at their ability to manage product or service failure. They need a good Service Recovery Strategy.  This would include :

·       Processes that will capture customer problems and field failures .

·       Systems that will ensure effective response and resolution of customer complaints. 

·       People with the right attitude to deal with problem situations and upset customers

·       People trained to handle failure situations  

In the final analysis, complaint management is not only about fixing problems but also about managing people and their emotions. As was very well said by Xerxes Desai of Titan some time ago  - When there is a failure and  a customer comes for a repair , there are three repairs that we have to do. Repair the product . Repair his feelings. Repair the  image of the company.

Organisations that recognize  and sincerely follow this have the competitive advantage of converting potential customer disaster to customer delight and loyalty.

SATISFACTION IS EXPENSIVE ; DELIGHT IS FREE

 ACTIONS FROM YOUR HEART

We are living in a highly competitive world  today. There is a proliferation of brands in every industry – consumer or industrial. In the 1950s there were 17 brands of cigarettes in USA . In the 1980s there were over 175 brands. Super market shelves are overflowing with products and  variety  The average supermarket tends to keep about 40000 SKUs – stocking units. The average family needs 150 SKUs.  Detroit makes more that 290 models of automobiles. Even in India ,  make the mistake of calling up a car dealer casually enquiring about a car and you are assured of phone calls on your land line or mobile from 8 a.m. to 8.p.m to fix a demo, take a test ride, arrange for an exchange for your current vehicle and so on. Every other day, if not every day, one gets a call from some bank or finance or credit card company telling you that they are pleased to inform you of a pre sanctioned loan and when should they send the  demand draft. Banks are beating themselves half to death trying to corner your business. Rate plan changes in mobile phone companies have almost become a daily affair.

Satisfaction is a given

Look at the basic products and services themselves . They are almost identical in terms of specifications , features and performance. Most of them also have good pedigree. Can we say that a Honda car is far inferior or superior to say a Toyota or Ford or GM ? Is a Nokia cell phone very much different to a Samsung or Sony or Siemens ? Is a Citibank far ahead of Standard Chartered or an ICICI Bank or any of the other leading banks in terms of the basic banking services they offer?  The answer is an unambiguous NO . Televisions , washing machines , audio systems , two wheelers , machine tools  ….the story is the same.

So where does this leave organizations and the customer ? The customer is supposedly in the driver’s seat and has choice. He can dictate terms to suppliers and can demand.  Today, satisfying a customer is almost taken for granted.

Today , what do customers look for from a bank ? ATM’s, internet banking, computerized operations, longer hours of working. Are customers ecstatic with this ? No -  this is the minimum that customers expect from their bank.  Banks need all this just to ensure they are in business. But all this calls for heavy investment in infrastructure, equipment, technology, facilities and the like..

You go to an up market hotel or restaurant. You get clean surroundings, pleasant ambience, clean crockery and cutlery, good furniture and so on.  Are you delighted?  No. You probably don’t give it much thought since this is what was expected in any case. Yet the hotel has to spend a lot to provide what customers believe are the basics.

The air conditioning in your car works , the door does not rattle . Are you thrilled? Most probably-  no. Because that is what all cars offer in any case. And car companies spend billions on research and development   just to ensure their vehicles work properly.

Companies are spending millions of rupees in technology, research and development, equipment , infrastructure , facilities to ensure that their products and services match those of their competitors.  All this money is spent to keep customers barely satisfied.  We all know that companies have to go beyond mere satisfaction to hook customers and keep them hooked. So companies have moved from customer satisfaction to the new mantras of the business world -  customer delight , customer excitement and so on.

Everyone talks of customer delight. What does this really mean to companies and how can they delight customers ? What is the path to customer delight?  What is the secret of this customer delight which holds the key to building customer loyalty and success?  How does one delight  customers? These are questions that companies need to ask . The answer is , paradoxically , very simple and yet very difficult and that is the challenge for organisations.

Delight cannot be mandated

Think back to any  memorable experiences as a customer. Events that remain in your mind – after many years. Incidents that make  you want to go back to the same shop or hotel or bank or dealer  and  often seek the same person – counter clerk, sales person, waiter or whatever. Such incidents would typically reflect times when you were delighted as a customer . Here are some situations shared  by  people who believe they received outstanding service and were delighted as customers.

• We went to a restaurant with a small child who was  sleeping.  The waiter immediately laid out a sheet on an adjoining  sofa, gave a cushion for the child to sleep and I could sit comfortably .  The care and concern shown by the waiter is what I would call outstanding service. I was delighted. We are now regulars at the restaurant.

• I had   a problem with my credit card statement – they had  debited late fees wrongly. I spoke to a customer care  rep who promised that she would reverse the entries . She called back the  next day and confirmed that action had been taken and this would be reflected in the next month’s statement .  it was really good of her  to call me back and  confirm. I was really delighted.

• I bought  a book from a small shop. I found some pages missing. I didn’t have a receipt and  I  thought I’d have  to explain to the owner. I had already worked myself into a mental argument with the owner. Imagine my surprise when the owner didn’t ask a question – not about when I bought it , did I have a receipt or anything. She just got me another book and apologised for the inconvenience . I thought that was excellent – she trusted me and  I was not even a regular customer then .  I am one now !

 Let us look at what really creates delight. What can service providers do to make that impact on customers that bring them back to you and helps build customer loyalty.

Delight involves  a personal initiative on the part of the sales / service provider. Responses that create delight cannot be put down in company policy and in standard operating procedures.

Delight does not involve approvals from the head office or from the manager. Delight happens when the response is spontaneous – straight from the heart.

Delight involves genuine responses to customers. The service provider must WANT to serve customers and not look at the job as HAVE to serve customers. Despite all the Missions Statements and Quality Policies, Customer delight cannot be mandated.  THOU SHALT DELIGHT will not work.

Delight  involves doing that little bit more  that what one might normally expect. The difference between ordinary service and extra ordinary service is the “ little Extra.

Hire for attitude -  train for skills

How can companies achieve this? How can they translate their “Customer Delight”  intentions into action. Amongst many things, organizations need the right  people  - people with the right attitude . People in customer facing activities must want to serve customers. They must  enjoy dealing with people and see their central role as being here to serve. They must not see customers as irritants and interruptions in their work. People who don’t have this quality should not be in the customer service business. Organisations will do harm to themselves and to the individuals by not having people with the right attitude.

Organisations spend a lot of time checking out on competence , knowledge and so on. In today’s context , it is relevant to HIRE FOR ATTITUDES and  TRAIN FOR SKILLS. There are enough and more people with adequate knowledge in all spheres of work. If required , knowledge can also be imparted . But do they have the right attitude to deal with customers – that is a moot point. 

It is not enough to have the right people. The next question is do we have the right environment to allow the people to be effective. Does the organization WALK THE TALK from top  to bottom? Do you encourage employees to work in the interest of the customer keeping the organization’s interest also in mind? Do they have the necessary skills, knowledge, competence and freedom to serve the customer? In short are the employees empowered? Or are the customer delight statements meant for corporate brochures and laminated boards that hang in many offices ? Senior managements need to look closely at the messages they send across the organisation – implicitly , subtly – that communicates to the people whether in fact the customer is king or not.

Being good is not good enough

To sum up, in today’s world , satisfaction is costly .Companies needs to make heavy investments in infrastructure , equipment, technology … just to stay in the race. Satisfaction involves  corporate policy, senior management decisions and so on.

Delight on the other hand is in your hands. It’s the personal touch, the care and concern for the customer, the trust, positive regard … the many little things one does which adds up to the big thing – DELIGHT. This is what brings back customers – the loyalty factor. The implications are substantial. Studies show that the chances of repurchase from customers go up from about 55 % to up to 85 % when the rating goes up from Good to Excellent. Good implies satisfaction while excellent implies delight. Thus , in today’s world, companies need to understand that being Good is not Good enough !

 Originally appeared in  Deccan Herald 17 February 2003

TO SERVE WITH LOVE

This year , a long-standing dream of mine was fulfilled. A visit to the Mecca of tennis – WIMBLEDON. Something I’ve wanted to do for  ages .

But  when I look back on my  Wimbledon  experience , what sticks in my mind is not the center court or watching Andre Agassi , Pete Sampras , Llyton Hewitt  or the Williams sisters playing or eating strawberries and cream and having a draft beer in the brilliant London sun but the experience and ambience of the place . It is truly amazing – an excellent  lesson  on  Service Quality and Delighting the Customer.

How hundreds of people – mostly volunteers - get together for two  weeks in a year to give thousands of tennis fans an experience of their lifetime is something  that every business can learn  from the British Lawn Tennis Association . The kind of attention to detail and the extent to which everyone in the tournament  go to look after the visitors – stewards, officials, security personnel, information desks and whatever – is truly remarkable.

What do I mean by this ? Let me share  an  incident .

I wanted to locate the umpire’s office on the grounds. I stopped an official with a “steward”  band passing by and asked him . an oldish gentleman , he looks at me, scratches his head smiles and says “ you know something , that’s a question I haven’t been asked  in  all my years here. Well , today is a good enough  day to find out. “  He then takes me to an information desk. The lady doesn’t know off hand.  She makes a couple of calls and gets directions to the office and explains it to me . The official is standing by me all the time. What does the official do? Leave me saying - you’ve got the way and should be able to locate the office ? No.  He says maybe I will walk you to the office so that you don’t get lost. He actually escorts me to the office , wishes  me a happy stay at the tournament and then moves on.

This is the same with all the  officials on the grounds. No one says – I don’t know and turns away. The reply is invariably – I don’t know but let me help and find out.

How do they do it ? How do over 1500 catering staff , 112 toilet attendants , 270 drivers , 425 security staff  and a whole host of others make the Wimbledon visit a memorable one for every visitor ?

The Wimbledon experience brought out clearly the essence of what organizations need to keep in mind at all times. Every institution – government or private , product or services, commercial or otherwise  exists for only one reason. Because someone wants their output -  what they do. Manufacturing companies exist because people want their products, a passport office because people want passports, airlines since  people  want to travel, schools and colleges because people want  education and so on. These  people who want the product or service are the customers. Without these people who want the services – the customer – the organisation ceases to have a reason to be around.

It is therefore the  responsibility of every organization to ensure that all systems and people within the organisation work with only one purpose – to make the customer happy and give her what she expects from you, Anything done which does not add to the customer experience must be questioned and reviewed.

Does this actually happen in the real world? Sadly no. At least not in most areas  . And most  definitely  -  not enough.

What can we do to make it easier for customers to deal with us?  More often than not , systems and processes are designed to “protect” the interests of the organizations. Customers and customer satisfaction are  often victims of bureaucracy and inter departmental politics and conflicts.

How often do we get currency notes in the denomination we want in banks. Or a draft in some reasonable time ? One  often gets the feeling that the bank is doing you a favour by giving you money. And it’s your money !

Look at the queues outside the telephone department or electricity offices – all good , conscientious customers waiting to pay their bills. What about the people behind the counters ? Do they care that you have been standing in the line for hours when in fact you should be doing your own work. Do these departments do anything to make life easier for you ? No.   It’s almost as if  these departments are doing you a favor by accepting your payment and being there.

Credit card companies charge a penal interest for  delayed payments as per their terms of contract . Which is fair.  After all why should they suffer when you make a mistake by not paying on time.   But do they compensate you when they make a mistake? Do they accept responsibility for their failures after making commitments ? What about the customers’ time and energy wasted in undoing the error  – for no fault of the customer.

Some time back, a leading international credit card company did not pass a charge card request of mine because I had not paid the  previous month’s bill. It was a different matter that in the previous month there was a postal strike and I had not received the bill. It also did not matter to the company that in the previous six years that I had been a card member , I had not defaulted once on payment. All that the well-trained customer care representative could quote in a very polite manner  was ” Company Policy “. They not only hot listed my charge card they also did not allow me to use my credit card.  So at 5 in the morning I settled my hotel bill using another card of a competitor. I settled my bill immediately on return to Bangalore along with the penal interest for delayed payment. Two days later when I went to use my credit card I was again told that it was hot listed. On checking up I found that they had released my charge card but not the credit card. I again used the card of the other company and promptly came back and terminated my membership of this card. And what  did I get from this multinational world-class company. No compensation , no acknowledgement of the inconvenience . Not even a word of apology . In fact , not even a question as to why I was closing my account with them after so many years. Did they care about service or the customer ? If they did , I could not see it . 

I am sure we have all gone through the experience of being shunted between people to get a clarification or information to a query. Why? Because of the - its not my job - attitude.

In today’s world most  products and services are  almost identical .What differentiates the winners from the also ran  is Customer Service . Companies need very strong mechanisms to acquire and retain customers for continued growth. This can only happen if each person in the organization is tuned to concept that the customer is everyone’s   responsibility .  With this approach  things become very clear within the organization. Process design becomes easy and roles and responsibilities become obvious.

The question that organisations need to ask themselves is do they realize that the customer is the only reason for their existence ? Do they really enjoy serving the customer ? Does the service come from the heart ?  The ultimate message is that everyone in the organization is in effect a Customer Care Representative. All other job descriptions and responsibility are to help them to this end. As Sam Walton of Wal Mart said – “ There is only one boss – the customer. He can fire anybody by spending his money elsewhere. “  The quicker that organizations acknowledge and reorient themselves to this reality the better.

Or else it will be Game, Set and Match to Competition.

( Article appeared in Deccan Herald 16 December 2002 )