Business Base Camp

Top three customer annoyances

Note: This is an electronically generated translation. It may not be 100% perfect.Read more.

After I wrote some articles last year about the importance of the customer, take the questions for more information about how to hand over fist.

Last week I gave a lecture about this workshop for annex a professional association. And I have to admit, you hear sometimes bewildering affairs.

Let me give you some “nice” comments;

We are an online organization, this has no importance for us anyway? (so, if you buy online, you’re not a customer?)

You must educate your customers! (upbringing will always lead to rebellion and oppose the compulsory, think a bit on your own youth)

Customers always complain. (??? If your customers are always complaining, where could the problem lie?)

Customers do not understand what it is, to run a business. (of course not, and that is also not expected of them)

No organization would treat his sponsors, banks or shareholders like the average organization interacts with its customers.

Downright mind-boggling, if you realize that customers are the structural financiers of any organization. More still, customers are for most organizations the most scarce good that there is.

In the months of december and January, we conducted a major investigation into the satisfaction of clients about their suppliers. We asked, but not to one specific vendor to customer/supplier cooperation in General.

Unlike a “satisfaction research”, suggested we not suggestive questions. We proposed the participants two simple open questions. “Can you describe the collaboration with your suppliers agree” and “What do you think things would be better”. We had previously agreed that no specific names, but clearly wanted to wanted to talk about the whole. Finally, we asked one closed question; “What score would you give your supplier (10 points) on average? Now…. The average was 4.8 on ten.

If you know that procedures and processes, followed by telephone reception and imposed on the third place lead time of applications the top three annoyances of customers are, how your organization than scores?

Processes and procedures

Flexibility is a word that is promoted by many organizations. Both internally to the employees, if to the customer. But the practice is often otherwise.

Many organizations are flexible, within their own procedures. However, customers expect an adjustment of these procedures to their specific needs. (And Yes, that this often brings with it an extra cost but realize they too well, and even there they have no problems with it).

A beautiful and almost unimaginable example of this is the following. A customer wishes for some strategic Affairs a express delivery within three hours. (not so difficult, if you make an appointment with a courier service provider, and the cost calculation you just by). The vendor would simply allow a delivery the next day, orders before 3 pm. Lost Deal!

Another example: orders must be submitted by fax or e-mail and are accompanied by a customer identification number. (the name of the customer is apparently not enough). The client, who works with various teams at various shipyards, ask an exception, if one of his teams need something urgently and asks for this to be able to do over the phone. The vendor says no. After all, as he loses control, but the teams must call to their Office and someone questions this by fax. That can be so hard yet are not.

Two examples, from 2008, yea. Still more. Two examples of companies that call themselves flexible and customer-oriented.

Telephone reception.

Formerly it was also frustrating. You phoned with the receptionist, was four times five times and had to tell your story tiered.

By the time you had the right person on the line, you were so annoyed that you could tell a meaningful word more. But this is no past time, this still happens, almost daily.

But we also have the miracle der technique; the IVR. Wow! Now you become no longer tiered, now you need as a toddler numbers typing.

Choose one if you wants to go further in the Dutch. For a technical question, press three ….

Please first to give your client number in after the beep (Yes, yes TCI is great … but who has that damn number at hand? Simple, which stands on your invoice …. But who has that at hand …).

Where the hell are the people? All our operators are currently busy …(with each other?).

And when you then someone on the line, is usually the first question; What is your customer number, the same number you have typed correctly! (Incidentally, you seek as easy on a name than a number, it costs just bother to in some cases to ask the customer to spell the name equally).

Turnaround Time

Companies discourage people to pass on personally asking for more and more.

Everything you need to pass as much as possible by email. (for example, did you know that the helpdesk line of Belgacom, if you have problems with your internet connection, you first consult the Council internet????).

Lovely, so per email or webform. You will receive an automatic reply in the best case. Nothing wrong with that, but then you have to wait.

And wait. You know of nothing and nobody can contact. Three days in limbo often seems an eternity. But you can still follow everything per internet Sir? There you can see who is with your application is busy! Well, seems like something beautiful for a trip agent 312 detective story or novel, but gives me little confidence as our customer.

Customers find that the turnaround time of questions, complaints and even orders doubled in recent years. Many companies defend themselves with statistics that indicate the opposite. And I believe them. They will be faster. But that does not diminish the perception of the customer, that everything still takes more time.

You can of course choose what you find important. Your own figures or the customer. Even though your figures show that you better scores, then you will still help if the customer that does not go from his experience here has a different vision about.

A landmark ruling by a participant in the lecture cum workshop may I certainly don’t remember. I started with the question to all participants, what they personally hoped to about to stick to that half a day. A participant told me the following.

“ I hope today to learn how I can get customers so far that they finally understand that everything is not so easy as they think”.

The day after I gave a seminar to purchasers, where someone told me the same question;

“ I hope to learn how I can make it clear that I am a customer suppliers and no necessary evil.

As always, the choice is yours!

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