Syed's Customer Experience Blog

The amazing effect of a call for help

While we're all busy trying to figure out Apple's Ping, using Google Instant and trying to get our hands on the new Blackberry Torch - there are people on the other side of the world worrying about where they're going to sleep tonight, what they're going to eat for their next meal and how they're going to get medicine for their sick child.

I'm talking about the floods in Pakistan. A single tragedy that is going down in history as one of the most devastating disasters in the world - displacing more than 21 million people from their homes. This is bigger than the Indian Tsunami in 2004, the Kashmir Earthquake in 2005, and the Haiti Earthquake in 2010 - all combined. Now, that’s big.
Here at Responsetek, an employee initiated an internal challenge to raise money for the flood victims. They had seen firsthand, the beauty of the landscape and kindness of the people, ten years ago when they had traveled to Northern Pakistan; the area most severely hit by the floods.

We took the challenge seriously and in less than a week, we raised over $8,500 in actual aid to help the flood victims in Pakistan with more than 75% of our employees participating. Our chosen charity, World Vision Canada, will be able to provide aid and support to over 140 families and their children in the affected areas.

One of the unexpected outcomes of this process has been a really positive effect on moral. Several employees have taken the time to talk to me about how positively they felt about us, as a company, giving back to help those less fortunate. Although it was merely a week, it was a great experience centered around the simple act of giving.

We spend so much time these days preoccupied with shareholders, sales, expense management, the economy and so on and so forth, that it’s easy to forget that most of us started our businesses in order to make a difference at some level. This past week has reminded me that we can make a difference to those people in need, and that too, in a relatively short amount of time. We just have to look in the right places.

Thanks again to all the ResponseTek employees that helped us support World Vision Canada and the flood victims in Pakistan over the past week.

I hope this reminds or at least, inspires you to encourage your company to give back to those who need it most. Take it as a challenge, and I promise you'll feel good about it.

How do you recognize great service? Meet Frank.

I was recently traveling on a business trip from Vancouver to Kansas City on United Airlines. It was a fairly typical business trip, listening to cab drivers talking about the weather and traffic, witnessing check-in agents typing fanatically into a system that really shouldn't need that much typing, looking at border control officers trying not to judge you while they judge you, etc, etc. Now, I travel a lot so I am used to being treated as a seat number rather than a person and I tend to be on auto pilot. 

On this trip I was connecting through Dallas (one of the most mundane airports I have ever visited) and after my one hour layover, it was time to board my second flight. This is where I met Frank. Frank was the agent whose job it was to run our boarding passes through the scanner and let us board the flight. He was in his late fifties, of African American decent and looked like a long term United Airlines employee. However there was something different about Frank, as I watched him call up the different sections of the plane. He greeted every passenger by their name, shook their hands, and took the time to make a unique comment or greeting. Frank was making people laugh, he was getting high fives and even some hugs from complete strangers! And as I watched, I was amazed and impressed by what this normal employee based in the Dallas airport was doing to delight customers and turn a mindless experience into something that was fun and enjoyable. Now, if I were an executive at United or any airline for that matter, I would spend a day or even a week with Frank to figure out what makes him tick and how I could replicate that X factor.

Unfortunately the reality is that Frank is probably an unsung hero at United, management probably do not know what a unique experience he is delivering, and passengers like me don't have any easy way to tell them. 

This story demonstrates the importance for investing in customer feedback loops that are easy and timely for consumers to use. Forget about comment cards and 1-800 numbers, we are a Facebook and Twitter generation. If I can't let you know my feedback and comments quickly, and preferably through my smart phone, "right now" I probably never will. The disappointing thing here is that all the technology required to be able to recognize employees like Frank exist today, but companies have their heads in the ground and are not embracing the possibilities.  

Until companies start to recognize the role of real-time feedback in their operations management systems, employees like Frank will continue to be overlooked and companies like United will continue to be perceived as delivering weak customer experiences. So you have to ask yourself, how many Frank's do you have in your business? and how long before they leave to join a company that does recognize their contribution?

Finally, I just wanted to say, "Well done Frank, where ever you may be."

Syed

What is the role of the Customer Experience Executive?

Companies started formalizing executive roles focused on customer experience about 2-3 years ago. As someone that has operated in the Customer Experience (CE) arena for over 10 years it was great to see the customer experience getting formalized and my hopes for companies using the "voice of the customer" as a serious management tool increased accordingly.  At the time we never really knew how the role was going to play out but it seemed surrounded by good intent.  Unfortunately the SVP/EVP/VP Customer Experience  has rarely lived up to it's promise and now as times get tough the number of Executive's with a "Customer Experience" title that are being let go is increasing almost daily.

The problem I think is that most, if not all customer experience executives operate in a Corporate Group role rather than in the Operating Groups of large companies. The effect this has is that they become responsible for guidance and best practice identification but the have very little power or influence where the rubber hits the road, at the operating groups.  As a result in my experience very few customer experience executives have been able to transfer their excitement and priorities for monitoring and managing the customer experience across to the executives in the operating groups. 

The other factor that has led to the lack of impact a typical customer experience executive has on changing the business is where the budgets are held. Most group level CE executives have a small budget which is focused on addition market research, consultants, etc. However, the budgets needed to truely transform customer experiences are much larger and typically owned by operations or the contact center. As a result most CE executives never get into the real issues around measurement, consistency, systems or behavioral change because they do not have the mandate or resources to affect change.

I am disappointed to see that so many CE exec roles are being cut these day's but I also recognize that the role as it has been used in most companies today is ineffective. The role and responsibilities of a CE exec needs to be revised if they are ever going to impact large organizations. Perhaps the role should sit in the office of the CEO, be an extension of the operations role or operate at the board level similar to an audit or compensation committee?

If you have come across a company where the CE exec does have the influence and resources to make change happen please let me know.

Syed

Customer insight strategy: Think Small.

Most small businesses still collect customer insights in real-time.  Every time a customer steps into a store, the owner can watch where the customer goes, offer help, and ensure they’re satisfied. Small businesses ask customers what they’re looking for and what they like, all as part of a casual conversation. 

Informal as it may be, most small business owners will tell you that these conversations are the heartbeat of the business. The information they collect from customers every day influence every aspect of their business, from staff training to purchasing to display.

Unfortunately, most large businesses have lost this connection with the customer. The conversations might still be happening at the front lines, but unlike small business, the customer conversations are not adding intelligence to the business. Valuable customer insights are lost. 

Companies typically think of the value of customer insights in a strategic sense for competitive positioning; hence, billions of dollars are collectively spent on market research to gain some insight from customers, even if those insights are skewed or manufactured due to the built-in constraints of surveys, focus groups and mystery shopping. 

There’s little value in “arms length” relationships that fail to recognize the sophistication, knowledge and technical competence of the customer. Big business needs to recognize that advances in technology now make it possible to capture these conversations once again and use them to make business – and the people who drive it – smarter about the way customers are engaged, every day.

Given the chance, customers will use phones, IVR, SMS, email, the web – and yes, even face-to-face interactions –  to tell you what they want, when and how.  At ResponseTek, we are helping our clients absorb, collate, analyze and distribute customer insights – both structured and unstructured – so they become part of your company’s customer intelligence  By opening up as many channels of communication as possible to collect customer insights, companies can stop viewing insights as problems, and start seeing them as opportunities for innovation.

We have seen that companies that recognize the need for continuous front line customer insights ( example: Lastminute.com) have a greater chance of getting back to the mentality of the continually improving and adjusting small business owner. The biggest challenge? Getting companies to recognize this as the preferred alternative to ‘traditional’ paradigm of periodic, centralized customer research, before it’s too late.

After all, in this economy, there’s always another company out there who’s willing – and able – to listen to your customers.

Best regards,
Syed

When agents get smarter than your customer experience systems

I recently had to call a large hotel chain (the Delaware North Group) to make a reservation.  Before getting through to the agent I heard a recorded message telling me that if I would like to give my feedback about the call I should stay on the line after the call ended.  Of course, being in the customer experience monitoring business, I am always interested to see how different companies handle agent quality monitoring and what kind of information is being collected. 

So after a relatively mediocre interaction with the agent, during which she was not able to address my issue (she didn't seem like she cared either), I waited to go through to the feedback system. As I waited for the system to kick in, I thought about how poor the technology integration must be for the transfer to take so long. After about 20 seconds I realized that I was not dealing with a system problem - the agent was, in fact, still on the line!

At this point the silence became more and more uncomfortable, as I sat in this virtual game of telephone chicken. “It’s my time versus her average handling time,” I thought.  After about a minute of this, I gave up, as much out of embarrassment as frustration. She won!

This story demonstrates the problem when companies with call centers jump onto the customer feedback bandwagon, but don't think through the processes, and how these processes can be compromised by their own staff. If the cost of a truly automated call transfer system is too expensive (as they are for some companies) ensure your manual system has the smarts to quickly identify agents that play the system.

At ResponseTek, we recommend our clients monitor results and completion rates for each agent against a benchmark group to deter this kind of behavior. Alerts are triggered when agent sampling, average score, or handling times move outside expected ranges, which prompt supervisors to take a closer look at the agents call records.

You can never stop agents from playing your systems, but you can make it hard for them to win by building some intelligence into your business rules and monitoring.  My experience is just one of many where companies think they have enabled the "Voice of the Customer" according to industry best practices but fail to pay attention to the technology and behaviors they need for the system to work.  In the case of Delaware North their agents have definitely figured a way around their well intended customer feedback system. Is the same thing happening in your call centers? I recommend you find out.

Syed

Top down vs bottom up improvement strategies

Are you trying to change your customer experience from the top-down or bottom-up? ..........

I am amazed at the number of executives I meet as part of my work at ResponseTek who greet this question with a blank look or a “what do you mean…”?

Assuming that your business has joined the conventional thinking that a good customer experience leads to a higher probability of happy customers (and that happy customers are good), then you have to come up with a strategy that leads to happier customers.

Here is the top down scenario: First you decide hire McKinsey, Bain or BCG…(nobody ever got fired for that). Six months, a million dollars in consulting, and workshops (ad infinitum) later, your consultants of choice will typically deliver you a comprehensive top-down customer experience improvement strategy. It will include marketing messages, slogans for the employees, new compensation plans, a few tracking surveys and some benchmarking with competitors.  If you’re lucky, it might even have an operational framework for continuous improvement, such as customer workshops, panels and focus groups.

So if you spent the money and got all of this, you’ve got your top-down strategy for customer experience improvement.

The good news? You won’t get fired. Hiring big name consultants is always a great strategy to hide behind when you don’t have a clue.

The bad news? Top-down strategies alone rarely work.

To improve customer experience and sustain improvements, employee behaviors must change. Partner behaviors must change. The behaviors of your outsourced suppliers representing your brand must change. Anyone interacting with your customers has to focus on improving the customer experience.

With top-down strategies such as aggregate customer-sat scores or compensation incentives, the behavioral change needed for business improvement is at best temporary. To sustain improvement, you need to ensure your top down strategies are complemented by bottom-up strategies.

Bottom up strategy scenario: Bottom-up strategies focus on making employees accountable for the customer experience every day, during every interaction. Bottom-up strategies take the basic principles of short interval control, used effectively in the manufacturing sector, and apply them to today's service focused environments, such as call centers, retail stores, and field service and support teams.  Bottom-up strategies focus on timely measurement and reporting of customer experiences at the individual or transactional level. By deploying timely measures within a framework of timely, individual reporting, employees can quickly and continuously identify for themselves behaviors that do not enhance the customer experience.  This level of personal awareness and individual reporting can then be very effectively used by supervisors for training or coaching.

The combination of top-down and bottom-up customer experience strategies is powerful…but rarely practiced.  I don't know if this is because corporations lack an understanding of this as a best practice, or because it’s much harder to do than top-down alone. What do you think?

Final thoughts: Perhaps the best way to think about a top-down strategy on its own – that is, without the bottom-up strategy - is in the context of a manufacturing quality improvement strategy. With a top-down strategy, you just have a quality plan, quality targets, quality linked compensation, and monthly surveys of the quality actually coming off the front line. A bottom-up strategy adds a production line quality team that measures quality at every production stage on an hourly basis, and quality addresses issues daily. In today’s environment, no one would try to improve manufacturing quality with just a top-down strategy, without front-line measurement and improvement processes that shadow the production line. And yet, that is exactly how companies are trying to improve the quality of their customer experience using consultants and market research.

I hope this prompts you to ask your executive team about your company’s top-down and bottom-up strategies for improving the customer experience.  Let me know what you find out!

Syed

NPS™:New measure, same problems.

I know that it is almost considered blasphemy to say anything contrary to the simple teachings of Fredrick Reichheld when it comes to NPS™. The pace at which this latest offering from Fred Reichheld has been adopted by corporate america and beyond is staggering. Corporations are getting on board across the globe and customer satisfaction measures are becoming very "yesterday" when it comes to the army of customer experience managers, directors and VP's that have been hired over the past couple of years. For those of you living under a corporate rock for the past couple of years I should explain that NPS™ is a percentage derived by asking customers to answer, " would you refer the company to a friend/family?" on an 0-10 scale, the NPS™ score is derived by subtracting the % promotors(9 &10's) from the % detractors (0-6's).

Now don't get me wrong, I don't have anything against NPS™, as long as you remember it is only a measure and that's all. My problem is when companies get so focused on the measure or the percentage and forget about the customers and the experiences that make up the this new measure that has got the exec's all excited. The problem I see is that just because NPS™ is a simple measure doesn't make it any easier to improve your customer experience. It is just as hard to improve Customer experience in today's world of NPS™ measures as it was when you were measuring customer sat. last year. Companies need to get focused on improvement rather than just measurement. Improvement can only be achieved when your chosen measure, NPS™, C Sat or advocacy mean something to every employee, every day. that is when things don't seem as simple as some of the NPS™ practitioners would have you believe.

The following is a piece I wrote last year talking to this issue. Hope it gets you thinking.
Beyond NPS™ to Advocacy Improvement

ps. To keep the lawyers from sending me more nasty letters I must inform you that NPS™ is a registered trademark of Bain & Company, Fred Reichheld, and Satmetrix Systems, Inc.

Should you focus on managing customer value or customer experience

Here is a piece that I wrote about 18 months ago (pre blog) looking at the challenges for companies that continue to focus on customer value management in a world where all their customers high value or low value are probably networked together. In today's network economy company that try to deliver better service to only high value customers and attempt to "fire" low value customers run a massive risk of destroying their brand reputation.

check it out after the jump. Manage customer value or customer experience?