Dethroning the King

Today we dethrone the King. Down comes the crown, down comes the royal gown of velvet and soft felt and down comes the red carpet runway. 

Today we dethrone the King. Down comes the headdress of finely picked plumes, down comes the cloak of vervet monkey fur and down comes the floor mat of intricately woven reed.

But why oh why must the King be dethroned? Why are all the instruments of power, glory and dominance going going gone….reminiscent of the first pummel of the auctioneer’s gavel?

And the answer’s simple – because the time has come. The time has come to debunk the old adage that Customer Is King. And as with all things in life, change is inevitable. Today we graduate from what we've known best and move on to the next level.

Let’s look a little bit at this King business shall we? What happens around the King? Here are a few typical activities:-

•  All subjects bow down and prostrate themselves in awe and honour
• The King is a dictator, decreeing stuff left right and center
• All communication to the King is by carefully selected proxies
• The King’s word is unquestionable, unchallengeable, un-bendable. It is law
• The King is surrounded by a ring of protectors in their suits of armour
• There’s carefully orchestrated distance between the King and everybody else.

So with this in mind, is this really the desirable position of the customer today? Does this adequately describe the ideal customer-supplier relationship? It all sounds archaic doesn't it? Like it should be enshrouded in a time warp and spun back to the medieval era where it nicely belongs right?

Can we therefore shrug off this cloak of royalty and declare that from today The Customer is a Friend? Yes a Friend. And in the spirit of the already started discussion let’s list a few typical activities around a friend:-

• They are greeted very warmly on sight
• They have an emotional connection and have a special place at heart
• They are treated with respect and dignity
• Their needs are well understood, tapped into and met at all levels.
• Their feedback is genuinely sought and treated with  importance.
• When things to awry, acknowledgement of failure is done with a promise to rectify the error and immediately improve.

So……. Do you agree with me that Down Comes The King and Up Goes The Friend?

If so, then from this day forwards the 'Customer is Friend' and we get down to work to convert all the King’s subjects to fast friends. Quite a task lies ahead yes?

Right? Righteous? Righteousness? Right?

I have been asked the question ‘Is the customer always right?’ countless times, and when I respond NO, the askers are without fail taken aback. Quite taken aback actually, of the mouth agape variety. But YES indeed contrary to old age belief, the customer is NOT always right.

We've continuously been taught in the past and made to believe that the customer is always right, and the customer service school of life has continued to embed that belief. But let’s just take a step back and think about it…….. are they always right? Really truly, is the customer always right?

Staff who interact frequently with customers will tell you that in very many instances the customer is wrong. The customer may either have incorrect information, or may in some cases have expectations that are out of this world, like say for example, expecting to waltz to the front of an already existing queue and get quick service with the expectation that the serving staff should know they are a very important person.

Very often as well, customers are quite crafty and looking for ways in which to get away with free products or services, and will cause a mighty ruckus in an attempt to get away with as much as they can for as little payment as possible or not at all. Sometimes too, customers may be misinformed about service offers, product deliverables, service fees, guidelines, timings etc.

So NO, the customer isn't always right.

So now that that’s out of the way, and we've established clearly that yes, despite that little mantra in our heads, the customer isn't always right as per the commonly decreed philosophy, and is often incorrect in assumptions and judgements, what next?

The critical questions still remain……… Does the incorrect customer deserve to be listened to? Does the incorrect customer deserve our patience? Does the incorrect customer’s point of view deserve a hearing? Is the incorrect customer still the source of business revenue both current and potential?

Seeing as to it that the common answer to all these questions still remains an emphatic YES, the only reasonable proposal in the event of a challenging customer situation, is to indeed acknowledge that the customer isn't right but is still an important customer anyway, and then to  proceed to provide excellent customer service. It is undeniably more often than not, that that unreasonable customer will perform a complete turnaround when faced with a respectful response to their ranting and raving. Their fighting spirit will deflate for there’ll be no paring opponent with whom to clash glinting swords.

So if we are to go by Dr. Phil McGraw’s philosophy captured in his award winning book Life Strategies, we need to stop getting our knickers in a twist about  ‘who’s right or what’s right’ and move beyond that to actually ‘do what works and do what matters’.

I therefore now throw down the gauntlet that the next time you have that challenging customer situation unfolding, to quickly think - what is it that works and what is it that matters the most? Focus on that and the outcome will undoubtedly be win-win.

Of Banking Communication and 'Sharp' Ears...

My bank recently sent me a notification to let me know that an account that I had with them was declared dormant as there had been no activity on it for the past six months and that to reactivate it, I needed to go into the bank and fill out a form and pay up the reactivation fees. I felt irritation wash over me at this communication and called the help desk where I spoke to a lady who was very quick to let me know that their customer service manager would call me to give me answers. 

Given the previous not too pleasant experiences I had gone through with the bank, I politely indicated that I would rather hold and be transferred to the manager as I suspect they may not call me back as promised. After several tries she informed me that the manager would definitely call me. True to form, I received a telephone call a few minutes later from a gentleman who asks for ‘Harriet’. I duly inform him that I am not Harriet and he hangs up surprised. After yet a few more minutes the same gentleman called me and said he is calling from my bank in response to my complaint, upon which I inform him that I am not Harriet and that it is real pity that they do not have the courtesy to find out the proper names of their customers especially those that have registered complaints before they call them up. To cut the long story short, this gentleman went to great lengths to explain to me the security reasons for which they declare accounts dormant, to which I replied I am very happy to know that they take security very seriously and I commend them for having stringent measures in place. However, my main concern is not that the account has been declared dormant, but that nobody had told me about the six months rule. And that if I was aware of it, I would have done something about it. And that it is not in order for me to hear about an account being declared dormant and my having to pay for reactivating it, once it is already done, without my having consented to these terms and conditions. Needless to say my bid to get answers was in vain and I was very politely requested to come into the bank and fill out a reactivation form and that for the month they had waived reactivation fees. My point had gone nowhere, had not been heard and had not been gotten.

What is the moral of the story here? What key element is missing in this communication? What needed to have been said and done to have me the customer appeased? What would have made me less irritable and not inclined to tell this story to a hundred other people, pitting my bank in a very poor light?

The key that unlocks almost all customer complaints and can turn a customer round from a complaining customer to a loyal ambassador is effective listening. In this case, the customer service representatives were extremely keen to notify me of their rules, regulations, security features and all the reasons why the account was declared dormant and fulfilled the criteria for a dormant account. What was missing was the ability to listen to what my complaint was about. What was I aggrieved about, what was I complaining about. They were so busy answering the unasked question. What was key to them was to explain the reasons for dormancy whilst my biggest complaint was lack of effective advance communication.

Now reverse the situation and imagine that the customer service representatives listened to what the heart of my problem was and responded that indeed they can imagine exactly what I must be feeling having an email land in my inbox informing me of something I wasn't aware about and that indeed this must be an error of omission they haven’t thought of previously to alert customers on joining about the six month rule. They could further have indicated that this is indeed food for thought and that they will most definitely pass on this information to the relevant department and have this communication included in all account opening transactions going forwards. They could also possibly have thanked me for bringing this to their attention and that they would endeavour to have no other customer go through a situation like mine. Then continued to further explain that once an account is dormant one really does need to come into the bank to sort out the matter and that they would request me to let them know when I am coming in so that they can give me their best assistance. How does that sound? The end result of this communication is the exact same end result as the previous communication only without the sour taste left in the customer’s mouth. 

Richard Carlson in his award winning book ‘Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff at Work’ talks about seriously listening to customer feedback without being dismissive and defensive. And that if one really listens to what their customer is saying with a receptive and willing attitude, then one can only be successful in business. That we should all be willing to admit that other people can very often see things that we may be too involved in or too routine about that we may not appreciate may be seen from another point of view.

So all that said, what does it take to effectively listen to our customers? Various experts on listening advise on listening intuitively, listening to the body language and unspoken words from the speaker as well as listening to the tone of voice and mood of the speaker and gauging the deeper meaning of the communication coming across. It is said as well that we should listen with our senses. And that for example if one is speaking to us we should imagine the story they are telling and really feel it, thing visually about the picture being painted, hear the sounds of the story being told, actually smell the items being described and reach out and almost physically touch and put your finger to what is being said. If one commits to listening to their customers in this way 90% of the battle is already won. Majority of the customers who complain will feel so much better about being heard and may not even follow through with the complaint. Just the fact that somebody somewhere cares enough to really listen to their point of view, their frustrations and their solutions is good enough.

I challenge you this week to really take time to listen. Sharpen your listening skills by practising listening with your family, friends and colleagues. This way, when that customer shows up who is extremely upset and frustrated with your service failure, your listening skills will be at level 10 on the rating scale and you will have opened that very often elusive door to turn your disgruntled complainant into your brand ambassador. Go ahead, give it a shot…..

Enemy No. 1

Enemy – Can your customer be your enemy? This question came to mind recently when we had an experience at an up market coffee house in Upperhill one early morning. We had a group breakfast meeting at 7:00am Saturday morning and in good time keeping fashion, my group mate Makena and I arrived at 6:55am and stood in the parking lot catching up. Whilst there, two ladies walked past us, pushed open the swinging doors to the coffee house that were closed, got in and closed the doors behind them. At 7:00am we decided to wait inside the café for the rest of the members. On pushing open the same swinging doors, the two ladies were struggling to open the main door to the café. One looked up, saw us and said in quite a hostile voice “We are NOT open yet”.  No greetings, no acknowledgement, no request to find out what we wanted, just a cold piece of information about their not being open. To which I looked at my watch, pointed to their prominent well branded piece of signage outside the gate and said “Your signage indicates you open from 7:00am and it is 7:00am now?” 

The two ladies looked at each other and one asked her colleague in what I can describe as a bothered demeanor “Sasa tutafanya nini?”(Now what are we going to do?) At which point Makena who had been watching this interaction unfold quickly proposed we leave immediately and relocate to an adjacent coffee house down the same road. We got back into our cars, called up the rest of the members and shifted venue. Needless to say that by 7:05am when we got in, this coffee house was already open the heavenly smell of coffee brewing in place, staff ready at our service, warm and welcoming. We did have a good breakfast meeting, albeit in rather tight circumstances because of the booth arrangement seating style, but a ‘happy tight’. The conclusion here is pretty obvious, the group decided to abandon any further attempt to meet at the former café where we had met once before and permanently relocate our weekly meeting venue to this other café which despite its lack of space convenient to group meetings, has excellent service.

This experience begs one question – Can your customer be your enemy? Can the people you get up in the morning to come to work to render service to, sell goods to or manufacture products for, be your enemy? For all sense and purposes, how as the driver of business can the customer be the enemy? Does this make for business wisdom in your books?

Whilst it doesn’t, many of us in the workplace regard that complaining customer as the enemy. The much dreaded enemy! Especially the loud, brash, agitated customer who is making no secret of their unhappiness with your product or service and making no attempts to hide their dissatisfaction. The same question comes up again – Is this your enemy? In our Saturday morning experience, we were the enemy. We had come to inconvenience the unprepared staff and were not fitting in their late opening plan. The result – the enemy went away never to return. Whose win?

Sunny Bindra in his book ‘Crown Your Customer’ which is a recommended reading for all who value customers as the drivers of business says ‘Embrace the complaining customer for this is your organizations greatest friend’. And while this may sound like a paradox, isn’t it really real that the customer that complains the most and the loudest is your greatest asset? It is said that one unhappy customer with a bad customer experience tells a minimum of twenty three other people. And that each version of the story morphs into an even more dramatic and graphical embellishment of the original story. Imagine the spiral dynamo effect of this situation. 

The unhappy customer at your doorstep, whom you give the opportunity to lash out and express what they are unhappy about and to give you feedback from the customer experience, is your greatest friend. For starters, if the customer has emptied what they want to vent about to you and they feel they have been adequately listened to and appreciated for the feedback they are giving, the likelihood of having this story told to several other people with different more customized versions is greatly reduced. And because stories often must be told, you at least have the advantage of having the end of that story sound like this “and I told off the supervisor and told them how I feel and how I would not stand for such bad customer service and they promised they would do something about it” Everyone loves to be a hero and the complainant will definitely want to show off about how much noise they made about what they were unhappy about and how this noise translated into action. The beauty of this is the subtle message in that communication that your institution or business is one that listens and takes action. And although this may not be the ideal communication messaging that our Pubic Relations firms would jump on as top level PR strategy to project an institution in favourable light, it does work the magic, for word of mouth is the most powerful customer communication tool and if the complainant is concluding that action was taken, then you have won the war.

Now picture the same scenario. We’ve arrived at the coffee shop early Saturday morning, the ladies are caught off guard, not ready and the shop not open. Says one of them to us “Oh hello there, come right in. I’m so sorry you’ve found us running late, we should be open by now but we have just come in. Would you mind having a seat here inside and giving us a few minutes to set up and we will be with you shortly?” I leave the outcome of this interaction to your imagination……………..

So…….. Can we convert enemy number one into ally number one? Can we switch our business thinking and our mindsets at all levels of the company hierarchy to look at that bellowing, frothing, hyperventilating customer, throwing verbal bombshells, barbs and heavily worded missiles at us a friend? I challenge you to take up this strategy. Put on your armor and take up your sword and when the next angry customer comes your way, imagine the words ‘ally number one’ written on their forehead. As you listen to them, and attempt to resolve their issue, I promise you will be much calmer and desist from responding out of line if your thoughts are aligned to seeing the forcefully charging enemy as your best friend, buddy, chum and pal.

I wish you an enemy free month ahead and by all means, grab that opportunity and run towards the angriest client you can see. Scary isn’t it?