Customer Service 2.0

Following up from an earlier article on customer service from the February 2009 issue titled: Are You Being Served, I’m pleased and pleasantly surprised by the tremendous response I have received from people that have read it and how much of a wake up call it has been for them to initiate some action.

For example one business owner told me that he decided on doing some market research to gain an insight into how his customers felt about the level of customer service they were receiving, which to his disappointment revealed some disturbing feedback regarding widespread dissatisfaction with the status quo.

This type of feedback although upsetting, is none the less particularly relevant for any business when you consider the findings of the well known and often quoted landmark TARP study on the effects of customer dissatisfaction through poor customer service.

It confirmed what most people suspected to be true about the ripple down effect of poor customer service and the inevitable reaction of the dissatisfied customers.

The study found that every very dissatisfied customer would tell ten people about their experience who inturn would tell another five people on average. Do the maths. For every complaint you know about, up to one thousand people may be hearing about it.

Problem number 1. The same data showed that for every complaint made, around nineteen are not made. This rings of truth to me because most people are conflict averse and will try to avoid direct conflict unless they have no other option.

Problem number 2. The results of the TARP study were released well before the advent of social media tools such as Twitter and Facebook, where we know that around 85% of people are likely to trust their respective peers that they network with. As little Wednesday Adams says in the Addams Family movie, “be frightened. Be very, very frightened”.

As a result these numbers may quite possibly be conservative and underplay the scope of the potential harmful effects of ongoing, poor customer service will bring.

And as for legal remedies, well consider that for deformation to be present, you need to show that the statement being made is incorrect and that the intention of the person making it was do harm. The only real defence is a proactive offence that completely lives, breathes and delivers quality, consistent customer service every time that people will rave about.

Since the earlier article, along with some dreadful examples I wont talk about, I’m pleased to say I’ve also seen some really first rate customer service. Here are some examples. Can any of the principles be applied to your business or brand?

1. Having recently traded my old Nokia for a new Blackberry Bold I one unwanted side effect. Namely that by deleting my emails on my phone (and not on my laptop), I would clog of the server and stop receiving emails.

I asked by my telephone company and the retail outlet for help but was politely ignored by both. Help cam from my ISP of all places (Spacelink Connect) who generously invited me to their office and fixed the problem free. Of charge while I waited. Key take out: When you can help someone, do so.



2. Like a lot of others this time of year my trees have grown and are causing problems with blocked drains and gutters. Accordingly I called Taylor’s Tree and Stump Removals and booked a time. The day prior they let me know they had some people out and would need to reschedule which I did. Later that week a written apology and $20 Bunnings voucher arrived in the mail.

Key take out: When it’s your fault, take accountability and show your remorse.



3. Finally an example around income protection insurance. Now for people not familiar with this area, the bottom line is that once you have formally applied for IPI with one insurer, there is a duty of disclosure to tell any subsequent insurer you approach about it, which they can then check. I therefore wanted to know if someone with my particular (albeit unremarkable) medical history would have any issues obtaining it without having to go on record formally. I’m pleased to say that Halstead Financial Services were very helpful and conducted a pre-assessment, which meant they asked about the profile generically without having to provide a name.

Key take out: Give your clients and customers greater control.



In each of the three examples above, the firms did not know me and definitely had no idea they would be later cited in an article extolling the virtues of customer service. In each case their responses were customer focused, fair and reasonable. No customer could expect any more and no customer should ever have to put up with anything less.