Is it just a habit?
 I settled back into my seat and listened to the pilot tell us his name. Turning
to my client, I asked, “Can you think of one reason I would want to know
that guy’s name?” He shook his head.
The pilot continued to tell us about the upcoming flight while my fellow passengers
continued to read or talk to their neighbour. Like me, they did not appear to
be interested in what he had to say.
I am old enough to remember what a novelty it was when pilot briefings were
first introduced but that was at least 25 years ago. I wonder whether today
pilots do their briefings because airlines know their customers like to hear
them or because that is what they have always done? Is it just a habit they
have fallen into?
Many businesses are wasting money, time and effort doing things that no longer
matter to their customers because managers are so concerned about doing things
right, it does not occur to them to ask their customers whether they are doing
the right things. As a result, these businesses are not creating as much customer
value as they could, which is unfortunate because value is the only thing customers
are interested in buying.
Given that Value = Benefits – Costs, value is destroyed when customers
know they are paying for activities which do not benefit them and may even annoy
them. True, customers may not be paying with money but, as in the case of the
pilot briefings, they are paying with their time and energy. If what the organisation
is doing irritates them, they will also be paying an emotional cost.
If you want to make sure you are creating as much value as you can for your
customers, you need to make sure you are not doing activities that give satisfaction
to you because they are familiar but not to your customers because they are
irrelevant.
It is actually quite easy to discover what your customers think is important.
All you have to do is listen to what they are telling you. Every day your customers
are giving your staff valuable information you could use to improve the way
you run your business. Customers pay you compliments which tell you what they
value and what you are doing well. They make complaints which tell you what
you need to improve. They make suggestions which could lead to better ways of
doing things and they ask questions which tell you they have needs that are
not currently being met.
This feedback is gold but most businesses squander it. To take advantage of
this treasure, you need a customer feedback process. This process must make
it easy for your staff to record compliments, complaints, suggestions and questions,
and enable you and your fellow managers to analyse that information. Proper
analysis leads to understanding, understanding to good decisions, and good decisions,
with the right motivation, result in actions that will improve the way your
business operates in your customers’ eyes.
You could even go one step further and ask your customers questions. You do
not need to do expensive customer surveys. Just get your staff to ask one question
to some or all of the customers they come in contact with each month. For example,
this month, the airline’s management could request each of its cabin crew
to ask three customers on every flight whether they liked or did not like the
pilot briefings. If the crew recorded the customers’ answers on a sheet
of paper that was forwarded to head office at the end of their shift, shortly
after the end of the month management would be in a position to make a fact-based
decision about the briefings. It would not matter whether they decided to continue
the briefings, improve them, or ditch them. Whatever decision they made, they
would be confident they were doing something their customers valued. Next month
they could ask a question about something else they have always done.
If you established a customer feedback system and asked a question-a-month,
you would quickly discover what you are doing that adds no value to your customers
and what you could do to change that. It would cost you very little money to
learn what you have to do to gain a competitive advantage, keep your customers
and persuade them to pay more.
Be warned. Habits can be costly. What worked for you yesterday could the death
of you tomorrow.
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