A good place to be
Since 100% of your profits come from your customers, the best vantage point from which to judge how
well your business is performing is gained by standing in your customers’ shoes. Admittedly, this
is not easy to do. Human nature is such that we see the world through our own eyes and in business that
means we stand inside our businesses and look out. But a desk is a dangerous place to look at the world
because it leads us to make decisions that make a great deal of sense to us and little sense to our
customers. Even worse, this inside-out view causes us to put our needs ahead of those of our customers’.
I started thinking about this the other day when I was at a hotel in Wellington waiting to have breakfast
with my client. A hotel guest walked up to the coffee bar and asked the waitress for a trim flat white.
The waitress went to the cash register and punched over 10 buttons (yes, I counted) while the customer
waited. Then she waited while the machine printed a docket. Then she found a pen, took the pen and the
docket to the customer and asked him to sign it. After getting his signature, the waitress returned
to the cash register, punched another 5 buttons, waited for a drawer to open and put the docket in the
drawer. The she turned to make the coffee. Throughout all of this, the hapless customer just stood there
waiting for his first cup of coffee for the day.
As I watched the company look after itself first and its guest second, I wondered why the waitress
did not make the coffee first and then take care of the paperwork while the customer sipped on the flat
white. I also wondered why someone designed a system so complex it required 15 buttons to be pushed
just to record the sale of one cup of coffee – or why no one had complained when they saw how
the system worked. But, of course, you know the answer. The waitress had been instructed to make sure
the payment was processed first because that is what the hotel management cares about. The IT system
required all those buttons to be pushed so accounts would be easier to prepare and management could
analyse the sales. The questions is, if someone had given a thought to the customer who stood and waited
for his coffee, would they have done anything differently?
If American Express put themselves in the customer’s shoes would they require the customer who
calls, to first enter their card number and then to answer two security questions – especially
when the customer is later asked by the customer service agent (I use the term loosely) to read out
the card number again. Would GE Finance call you up when your account is overdue and then have no one
there? “Please hold, we have an important message for you,” says a recorded voice when you
answer your telephone. “We’re sorry,” the voice continues after a pause, “all
of our operators are busy right now.” Even when they ring you, they are not there! Call your company
when you have finished reading this column and see what your telephone experience is like when looked
at through the eyes of a customer. How does it leave you feeling? What impact does that have on your
brand? Telecom is going to have to spend an awful lot of money running a large number of very clever
advertisements to change my perception that the company is hopeless to deal with. That view comes from
calling Telecom at 5:50 PM one day and being put on hold because “all of their operators were
busy.” At 6PM a recorded voice came on the line and told me, “You have called outside of
our operating hours which are 8 AM to 6PM. Please call back tomorrow.”
After you have tested your telephone system, you might understand why research shows 82% of people
say they have to wait too long when they phone a call centre.
Next, walk around your place of business and look at the signs from the customer’s point of
view. I gave a speech at the Centra Hotel out by Auckland’s airport this week. When I walked in,
I saw a sign telling me the event was being held in the ballroom. I spent 10 minutes walking around
looking for the ballroom until I stumbled across a sign outside the Jean Batten room saying the event
was being held there. They nearly sent160 people on a journey to discover that when the say ballroom,
they really mean Jean Batten room.
Another fun thing to do is to try and do business with your own company. Without any one knowing who
you are, try getting information about your products and services and then try purchasing them. Actually
make a purchase so you can see what the delivery is like, whether the product performs and so you can
experience the billing-payment process. Specific things to look for are whether people know what they
are talking about, whether they are friendly, caring and helpful, and whether they are enthusiastic,
happy and think can-do, will-do. It is also instructive to see whether people deliver on their promises.
To get a real insight into what it is like for your customers, try asking for something unusual or even
making a complaint.
As a former clinical psychologist, I have to warn you that after completing this exercise you are
likely to have symptoms of depression and anxiety. You will probably experience suicidal ideation and
perhaps even show homicidal tendencies. But it will be worth it because you will understand what your
customers experience when they do business with your company. And that could be the knowledge that makes
all the difference.
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