Not Being Sarkari

Last few weeks, I spent studying my competition. How they are better? What good we are doing good? Etc.

Nobody is perfect but everyone is trying hard. Especially when it comes to wooing customers and retaining customers. Tactics may differ for all but goal remains the same.

Time spent in competition also suggested that we are not only clueless on certain things related to customers. Competition is also trying hard to figure it out. People who are in our business for decades are also struggling to keep customers satisfied.

Customer satisfaction is a lofty goal to achieve but it is worth trying.  

Who needs Customer Service demons from some 'outer world' when you have enough inside?

 

There are scarier demons inside customer service departments in the name of 'processes'. There are even more scarier demons inside untrained customer service professionals.

 

The bigger problem is whenever we try to see this demon, we do not kill it. We let it get bigger and scarier. We join hands with these demons and let them run the whole show.

 

In the end, demon does his job efficiently. And we fail to deliver for what we are hired for.   

Poor service by organizations is what I often talk on this blog. But what happens when we encounter some bad customers. Bad in the sense, a customers who just try to be bossy and can go to any length to prove that they are right.

I was standing in queue in McDonalds and waiting for my turn at billing station. A lady came and asked for manager. Manager came and lady started like this. " I bought x item from your guys few minutes ago but it fell down from the tray. Please exchange it with a new one." "Not possible, Madam", replied Manager. "But I am asking you to exchange it or else I will complain against you", said the lady. "Madam, I cannot do much about it and I am helpless", the Manager replied. Then the lady came after sometime and told the Manager that he will get a notice soon as he has not entertained her wish. Then came the lady's husband and gave his card who apparently was an advocate and told him once again about legal notice.

As a bystander, I was kind of pissed off by this customer's actions, though I was not involved directly. And I was feeling bad for the Manager. Why ruin his day for a process which is laid down by his company, and when it was by the customer's own mistake that the food item had fallen down, after she had taken it from the counter. And I am sure the company is also auditing its processes strictly.

When I was witnessing the first conversation, I thought the Manager has just missed an opportunity to delight a customer. If this is handled better then McDonalds have earned a customer for life. He listened to the customer with respect but failed to empathize with the customer. Had he empathized with the customer, he would have given a little more thought on resolving the problem. He might have come up something which was beneficial to the customer. Maybe he would have spoken to some senior for one time concession. Even if his senior had given him same response, then the customer would have understood that it is not the Manager's problem. Problem lies somewhere else i.e. in processes.

But after witnessing the second part of conversation, I guess I was wrong. This customer would be tough to please and even if the Manager had gone out of the way, the customer would have felt that she earned which was her right. The customer may not be wrong in thinking this was her right which she was being denied, but then there are better ways to approach. Showing your power and intimidating the one who is doing his job, is not correct.

When you see such situations, you sometimes feel that the customer can also be wrong. Not wrong in demanding for an exchange but wrong in showing his power to an employee.

Hi Adesh
 
i am sure zoobie has told you that i am working on a project on service quality for **** and i dont even know the 's' of it.. i did go through your blog and found it extremely good- i might be quoting a few lines from your blog - hope its ok with you.

 
nyways might even take your help over the weekend also
 
thanks...


Few weeks back I received above email from one of my friend who happens to be a part of customer service or service quality (organization terminology) team (I am withholding the name of the brand as requested). She wrote me asking to use some of my blog things in her organization presentation. I was glad that someone found something useful in my blog which can be used to make customer service better in an organization.

This happens so often that while working we try to monitor some metrics and feel that they will guide the business to some new heights. If you are in a call centre, your SLAs will be number of calls (more the merrier), average time of call (less is better) etc. In retail, it is footfalls (more the merrier), average value of bill (higher is good) etc. In blogs, number of hits (more the merrier), number of comments (sky is the limit) etc. 

But behind all these defined metric, we tend to forget the true meaningful conversations which are building blocks of any business or blog. We never measure in call centres whether relationships with customers got stronger or not. No track of bonds getting stronger or weaker with customers in your retail store.

This mail just showed that there are 'soft metrics' which makes keeping blogs much more worthwhile. I am happy.

We all have heard following about customer service

that it helps in earning new customers

it helps in getting new business

is a cost and if used in right way it help you earn a lot more

and much more...

These are some truths about customer service but it sounds so cliched.

However, Zappos is selling their customer centric culture to others. They are holding office tours for other companies so that they observe Zappos customer service representative doling out customer service. They are holding quarterly seminars to teach others on various aspects running a business like them. They are also planning to launch a monthly courses on their customer service culture, accessible via Internet. 

And all these things are paid.

In nutshell, a company which is redefining customer service is now earning not only because of their good customer service but will also earn by their selling their customer service culture.

 

My marriage anniversary was on November 18 and I got a discount coupon from Pizza Hut. I was glad to know that they at least tried to use data which I have filled innumerable times in their outlet. They are not the only ones who gather this data. I have filled such details in almost all places but it was good to know that at least someone used it.

I have started loving local businesses or small business owners. Till few years back, I have always loved to dine-in some reputed national or international chain, always liked to shop with retailer which has national presence or has some phoren tag attached.

I loved these terms. Promoters. Passive.

These terms are coined by Bain and Company and I found them here.

I think Apple thrives because of promoters.

As stated in my earlier post, here goes  second part of practices that should be avoided if you work in a restaurant. As stated in my last post, some of these practices are applicable to most customer service department.

I hope you enjoyed it.

“When I travel I pretend I’m luggage.  From the moment I set foot in the airport, my expectation is that I’ll be treated no better than my luggage gets treated.  As a result, my expectations are so low that any little bit of happiness and politeness brings me great pleasure.”

This one comment speaks a lot about the state of air travel across the world. Travellers world over have given up hope on customer service standards followed in airline industry.

Basic things like smile and hello are luxury. On-time performance is rarity. Pilots are caught drunk while on duty regularly. Employees going on strike or threatening to go on strike.

With such kind of lethargic performance, airlines are fast conforming the fact that they will treat everyone as luggage only.

An interesting article which lists 50 things that should be avoided by you, if you are working in a restaurant. Though, this list talks about things not-to-do in restaurant but a lot of points can be applied to all businesses related to service. 

 

My Airtel Delhi half-marathon is over.

 

At the end of the expo, there was a counter from where runners were supposed to collect the running numbers. For collecting goodies bag, runners were made to rush to some other counter which was outside the periphery and it was almost impossible to reach that counter without asking directions. I asked twice. Me frustrated? Yes. Me dumb not to figure out? Don't think so.

 
It was chaos and I think poor design of expo played an important part in creating this chaos. It was designed for customer inconvenience.
 
These days design of most of malls and stores in India have one thing in common - design it in such a way so that every customer has to visit every corner of the mall or store. In a nutshell, if a customer has to go from point A to point B in a mall, he has to spend considerable time to figure out the smallest possible way to reach that point. And usually, smallest way = longest way = only way. If there is any short-cut, you will not be able to find out on your own. And, if customer is short on patience it might lead to some frustration as well.  

Though, I am not an expert on design but I have visited lot melas as a child and grown up where simple design used to create an environment which was enjoyed by everyone.  

Melas were organized on a huge ground somewhere in the middle of a village and the outlay of all melas used to be the same (more or less). There was usually a single point which served as both entry and exit. Kiosks were placed in a circular form on the periphery of the ground. There was an empty space in the center which was generally used for rides. People came and visited and bought from almost all kiosks and spent whole day enjoying the hustle-bustle of mela.

Customers talk. And , they talk in every possible forum available to them. Facebook. Twitter. Parties. Blogs. Everywhere. You think of a place and probably a conversation will be going around about good or bad customer experiences.

Apple is generally known for providing great customer experience. But they are also not perfect. Apparently, Time Capasule (a Wi-Fi router which also backs up your data) dies after 18 months. Customers are writing to Apple about this faulty product line. Though products are covered under Apple extended warranty plan but that is not enough for Apple fans. These fans do not want that their product to go bad at first place.

Anyways, fans of Apple, who go out of way to show their affection for Apple and its products, have now taken an off-beat route to protest. Fans have setup a website which mourns the death of Time Capsule and all dead Time Capsules can R.I.P. together on this website. So far, 178 owners have registered their dead Time Capsules on this site.

Unfortunately, there is no R.I.P. for conversations around good and bad experiences.

Delhi is to host CommonWealth Games in 2010. Apart from readiness of sports venues and infrastructure, there is one more issue which is worrying many politicians. Behaviour of Delhi junta. Yes, you read it right. Our Chief Minister and Home Minister thinks that in order to host games successfully Delhites should mend their habits. They have to be more polite, behave in friendly manner and if possible, should take classes in mannerisms.

Usually, I spend my Sunday evenings in a particular coffee shop in Gurgaon. This shop is located in a residential market and on Sundays, it is always buzzing with customers. People scramble to get seats and there is hardly any inch which is not occupied. By 6:00 PM, they run out of most of their products. Staff usually struggles to take orders, fulfill orders and service is unsatisfactory on all accounts.

Update :- (This Aloo Kachalu is part of my blog card as well)

Putting customers first is something which not many of us expect from government departments or agencies. But I think times are changing. And they are changing for good.