Does It Make Sense to Your Customers?
October 2009
We live in a world where customers are outraged. Perhaps this is because often what companies do makes no sense to their customers.
Some of the nonsense is funny, like when I had a chicken salad at a restaurant in the USA recently. The waitress brought one large bowl of salad and a small bowl containing only pieces of grilled chicken. I asked, just out of curiosity, why the chicken pieces were in a separate bowl. With a straight face the waitress answered: "Because they come from different parts of the kitchen!" Now, that is funny more than annoying but it is not going to motivate me to tell others how good the restaurant is, or even to go back again for that matter.
Some of the nonsense is irritating such as when my wife and I lined up at the Air Canada international counter at Toronto airport to check in for our flight to San Francisco only to be told we were in the wrong part of the terminal because flights from Canada to the USA are not international flights. They are trans-border! That comment is not only ridiculous, their way of thinking wasted our time. Time is similarly wasted when you call American Express, put in your card number and then get told the office is closed. Why could they not tell you that at the beginning of the recorded message?
But some things companies say and do are outrageous. When we finally got to the right counter in Toronto, we were told they could not assign us seats because we were only wait-listed, even though we were holding tickets stating we had confirmed bookings. The supervisor tried to explain to me that a confirmed booking does not mean you have a seat on the flight! All it means is the airline guarantees to fly you to your destination one day. You can imagine how we felt given we had just under two hours in San Francisco to connect with our flight to NZ where we needed to be the next day. To inflame the situation further, we were told we had a 97% chance of getting a seat but the airline’s booking system would not allow airport staff to give us seats until 10 minutes before the flight departed.
Why do business owners set policies that make little sense to the customer and build systems that make it impossible for staff to help customers? Why do staff say things that sound crazy to the customer? Because nobody walks in the customer’s shoes. What companies do makes sense to those working inside the business but owners and managers often do not realize they make little sense to the customer standing on the outside.
As a former clinical psychologist, I know people are essentially egocentric. To see ourselves, as others see us is a learned skill, called insight. It is easy for companies to talk about being customer centric, and many do, but the words are hollow unless people in that company understand just how difficult that is for humans to do.
Nobody is going to learn that skill unless they see the need to learn it. Here are four steps to motivate you and your staff to learn to see your business as your customers do.
First, put your self in your customers' shoes and review all of your policies and processes. Also, watch and listen as others in the business interact with customers. As you do these ask, "If I was the customer, would this make sense to me?"
Secondly, ask your staff to identify policies and processes they know make no sense to customers. The man at air Canada who tried to explain why we could not check in for the san Francisco flight at his counter, began by saying, "I know this sounds crazy but..." Clearly he realised what he was about to say did not make sense to his customers. Was he not able to tell his superiors? Would they not listen? Do they not care?
Thirdly, invite some customers to come and talk to all staff, about policies, processes, conversations and behaviours that do not make sense to them. Three or four outspoken customers, talking for 10 minutes each will open people’s eyes and make them more aware of the problem. Do this every three or four months to keep it in the forefront of everyone’s minds, including yours.
Fourthly, and this is the most important step, act! T here is no sense doing steps 1 to 3 unless you are prepared to change and stop doing those things that do not make sense to your customers.
A word of warning, you will be tempted to "educate your customers" by explaining why your policies, processes and actions really do make sense. Do not even think about it! You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow's ear. Nobody will ever convince me that, when travelling between two countries, trans-border and international are different.
And why should you go to the trouble of making sure what your company does makes sense to your customers? Because 100% of your money comes from your customers. That is why!
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