Customer Feedback is Pointless

Guy Arnold — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 09:01:31 +0100

Hardly a day goes by without people talking about the importance of gathering customer feedback.
Of course, this is true, but the real question is: when we have this feedback what do we do with it?
Because, if we don’t take any action from the feedback, gathering it is at best pointless, and at worst destructive (because the customer will be expecting you to do something with it and will feel let down if you don't).
So what do you do with your brand-new feedback to make it valu...

The 'Customer Experience' Gap

Guy Arnold — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 12:02:33 +0100

Here's a great piece of data for you:

According to recent research:

91% of managers and leaders think they are giving 'good' customer service or better.
But only 8% of customers rate their experience of these businesses as 'good' or better!

This is called the 'customer experience gap'.

Customers aren't in the slightest bit interested in your 'customer service' ... they are only interested in their experience.

It's their experience that will determine:

Whether th...

Virgin will win in the customer service stakes

Guy — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 05:56:06 +0100

I just read this, this week from Virgin Money.

(We aim to be) a Bank which aims to make everyone better off: our customers, staff and shareholders, our business partners and the communities we serve: imagine that.

(Imagine that indeed: this is just a statement of good business practice, but it shows how far traditiona...

Traffic Wardens: what are they there for?

Guy Arnold — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 22:02:53 +0100

It was great to read in the papers last week about Hakin Berkani, a traffic warden who did his job properly (and warned a motorist to move, rather than issuing a ticket) and was sacked, was reinstated into his job.

He angered his bosses by refusing to honour a secret quota system (allegedly) which dictated that wardens should issue at least 10 tickets per day: the court heard that, as a result of this pressure, some wardens adopted a 'predatory and in some cases dishonest approach'.

Beware the 'Customer Loyalty' Team! You're too late!

Guy Arnold — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 12:52:56 +0100

I have heard many people say to me that if you have a problem with an Organisation, don't bother with 'customer service', just go straight to the sales number, or even better, to the 'customer leaving' number and you'll get a decent response.

This of course sounds a bit dysfunctional, but the following happened to me this week.

I am leaving O2 to get a new contract with Orange, so I phoned up the relevant O2 number to get my code to transfer. I followed all the steps stating 'If...

Sainsburys get it right: customer service in the age of the empowered customer

Guy Arnold — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 20:15:04 +0100

Here is a great example of a supermarket getting it very right in the age of the empowered customer.

http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?q=sainsburys+letter+tiger+bread&hl=en&biw=1366&bih=643&gbv=2&tbm=isch&tbnid=cPpQErJm-Y5qAM:&imgrefurl=http://thedrum.co.uk/news/2012/01/31/sainsbury-s-renames-tiger-bread-giraffe-bread-following-social-media-response-lily-s&docid=DvxkiTCNxQWe_M&imgurl=http://thedrum.co.uk/uploads/drum_basic_article/86229/additional...

The Value of ONE Customer: Customer Service & Sales

Guy Arnold — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:10:21 +0100

It's incredible how much bad customer service can (and will) cost you, and how much great customer service can (and will if you take the right actions) make you. This is a fun exercise you can do with your people to make this point clearly and effectively.

You are NOT in charge of your Business!

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0100

Your customers are!

Whether you like it or not, your customers are already talking
about you, either directly to their friends, or, and of course now much more
common, and potentially infinitely more powerful … on the Internet.

The Internet is empowering your customer unlike anything before … you can either use this fact to you...

The Value of One Customer: Customer Service

Guy Arnold — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 05:52:02 +0100

Tesco: is the party over?

Guy Arnold — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 21:40:28 +0100

Curious about todays poor Christmas results announcements from Tesco, I decided to visit my local Tesco Superstore, as I haven't been there for a while, to see if I could notice anything different, that might help explain their problems.

And besides: it's sale time and my wife's birthday in a month so they might have some cheap hoovers or ironing boards!

Amazingly, I immediately noticed some glaring issues: they have really lowered their game (and there were very few bargains co...

Trip Advisor: they are the saviour NOT the enemy! Get wise not mad!

Guy Arnold — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:57:48 +0100

There's much shouting about how 'unfair' Trip Advisor are and how annoying it is to get bad reviews, so I feel compelled to put the record straight. Here goes:

> It's not 'unfair' everyone has the same issues!

> If you get it right it's free worldwide advertising for a little bit of effort, what on earth is anyone moaning about?

> Customer feedback is a FACT: this is the new age of the empowered customer: Trip Advisor is just the tip of the iceberg: get used to i...

Cut down on Customer Churn: Customer Service Tips from the Institute of Customer Service

Guy Arnold — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 10:53:52 +0100

I find it mind-bogglingly amazing how Companies get Sales so wrong: they focus on getting new customers, while letting existing customers go elsewhere ... nuts!

Why try and fill up a leaking bucket? Surely it's a better way of doing business to plug the holes first?

Please click on the attached link to see a very good article from the Institute of Customer Service, which includes some alaming facts that every leader and manager should know.

> Cash-strapped consumers sp...

Customer Service isn't getting worse ... customers are becoming more demanding

Guy Arnold — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 12:16:16 +0100

Once upon a time the Expectation of a customer was only the standard GST ( Greet, Smile and Thank You)

As the WOW factor arose companies started implementing addition to the standard GST which is basically raising the bar of the expectation level of a customer.

With worldwide competition increasing daily and companies striving for excellence it has not only improved the services but then increased an expectation of a customer.

So: Customer Service is not getting wor...

The Internet Millionaire's Club: make a fortune online for almost no work!

Guy Arnold — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 20:21:43 +0100

My arse!

Wouldn't it be nice to have money rolling into your bank account without really having to do anything; perhaps an hour or so's work every other day merely to check everything's flowing smoothly?

To listen to this GREAT BBC Radio 4 programme (anout 15 mins) please do click here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b018xy2b

Customer Satisfaction Feedback is a cost Organisations can't afford

Guy Arnold — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 17:52:58 +0100

This is so often the case.

I suggest you do more than this if you want to spend time and money on customer feedback (and you MUST do this in 2012 to survive). Here's my short tips:

1. You don't want 'satisfaction' you want 'loyalty' and 'engagement' resulting in repeat sales, up sales and referrals

2. You want to do it systematically using a proven system that then drives the interaction on to achieve more success and sales

Feedback on it's own, is helpful for deve...

Great or Poor: The Book Now Available On Amazon

Guy — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:48:32 +0100

Great or Poor is a book about Customer Service and Sales unlike any other.

In a nutshell it is a systematic approach to ensuring your Organisation, large or small, public or private delivers a consistent customer experience, keeps on improving it, and systematically uses it to build repeat sales, cross sales, up sales and referrals ... while at the same time reducing costs.

Most work on 'customer service' is reall...

How Tesco won ... through Customer Service

Guy Arnold — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 12:31:36 +0100

The moment that Tesco started focusing on customers and not worrying about what
Sainsburys was doing was the moment that their rise began according to former
CEO Terry Leahy. Too many organisations forget that without customers there is
no business.

The GREAT Service award for 2011 goes to Victorinox of Switzerland

Guy Arnold — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:22:48 +0100

Here's my nomination for absolutely outstanding service in 2011: Victorinox (those people who make those fab Swiss Army Penknives). Here's the story: it's short and sweet.

I was given a Victorinox penknife on my 16th birthday.

Some 30 years later, the tiny metal ring that attaches it to a keyring wore through from over use (everything else was still working 100%). I emailed Victorinox in Switzerland to see if it could be repaired.

One day later I had a very helpful email ...

The Poor Service Award for 2011 goes to Mercedes Benz Exeter

Guy Arnold — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 09:14:46 +0100

Here's my award for the poorest service of 2011.

I am looking for a new car to lease: I fancied a small Mercedes Estate, so I phoned the Exeter dealer: I arranged an appointment that was then confirmed by email.

On the day in question, heer's what happened!

1. Despite me phoning ahead twice (I was running late), the salesman wasn't expecting me and asked me who I was!

2. The Salesman (Michael Graham) only shook my hand, and not my wife's (HUGE mistake!)

3. T...

The Great or Poor System Empowers your People

Guy Arnold — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 19:31:59 +0100

Here's a quote one of my customers sent me this week: this was a quote from his Office administrator:

She said this: “It’s been really helpful to me in my dealings with customers. If we have an issue I am a lot more confident to take control of the situation and make decisions because I know clearly who we are and what our approach should be. I don’t have to run around trying to figure out how to handle each issue and this makes it easier to serve the customer bet...

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