When there is a problem they want you to solve it
Unfortunately, most companies only get 20% of it right. The logic goes "Give them a discount and God's in his heaven and all's right with the world." When all else fails, cut the price. Forget about the brand's value proposition. Forget about how the interaction will benefit the customer. And, when the bottom line gets tight, cut customer service and trim the front line team because we can operate lean and mean.
While a business worries that it may lose customers, customers have the same worries. They truly feel vulnerable because they believe the business holds all the cards. They do business in fear that they will buy something and if it isn't right, we might not answer their e-mails or the customer service representative will immediately be obstructive and argue that it can't possibly be our fault.
Why do we even need customer service? Because in the customer's mind, something did not meet the their expectations. At this point, it's emotional and that emotion becomes a barrier to continued business because no one wants to feel as though they have no power or control over a problem situation
The Marketing Implications
At the end of every sale, the customer needs to be able to shout to the world, "Look at me. I'm smart. I made a wise choice."
Marketing drives this entire process. Marketing created the strategy and told the story. Sales, manufacturing, operations and all the other functions in the business make it happen, and then marketing circles back with a new call to action for another opportunity to create another interaction and sale.
Customers want to feel good. As a team, our jobs are to remove customers' emotional barriers and the fear of doing business with us. The business of business is personal and it's personal at every level. It's true in the B2C and B2B worlds.
Here's a classic example. We've been doing business with the same copier company for about ten years and have migrated through several new copy machine upgrades. We've always been pleased with the quality of service and the performance of the equipment. Last month, we received a phone call that we owed them $880 and because the receivable is TEN months old if we don't send a check today, we will be in default of our contract. It's a ten-month-old bill, it's due today and we hear about it today? We checked our records and had no invoice and no record of ever been notified that we owed this.
We asked for documentation and got none, and instead were told we would be turned over to a collection agency next week. We contacted out sales person and he said he would determine what the problem was but instead we got another collection notice. Finally, we got documentation that this charge was from the installation of our last copy machine but we still didn't know what the charges were for.
The issue finally got to my desk and I called the collection person somewhere in Virginia and was gruffly told to just pay the bill or be turned over for collection. When I politely (honestly) asked her to come over and take her copy machine back, SHE HUNG UP ON ME. I called her supervisor and he would not take my call. I was told he would call back and that was a month ago. We called the sales manager and he never called back.
I give our sales person a lot of credit. As the situation spiraled out of control he sent everyone an e-mail asking them to back off and he would resolve the issue. The next day, we got another collection call. The sales manager never called back.
And, yes, we paid the $880 AND THEN THEY LOST THE CHECK AND KEPT CALLING US EVEN AFTER WE FAXED THEM DOCUMENTATION FROM THE BANK THAT THE CHECK HAD CLEARED.
In my mind, the issue is not resolved. We paid $880 and still don't completely know what it was for. We were truly harassed and except for the sales person, no one in that company tried to help us resolve the issue. Going back to what we want, a copier that works (it does), supplies delivered on time (they are), timely service maintenance (they do) and a trusting, responsive interaction when there is a problem (they fail). What's next? Our lawyer will be sending them a letter telling them we want to terminate our contract and we're inviting competitors to present their programs.
This week you have a very simple assignment. Call your customer service department with a problem. See what happens. How long does it take to get someone to answer? How do they resolve the problem? Begin watching how you are treated and then ask yourself if you would like to do business with you. If you are in marketing, whatever you do, don't say it's not your problem. It is. I continually tell our team that their job is to make callers happy and 98% is not acceptable.
Have a great week.
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