Customer Engagement

Articles, Anecdotes and Observations asking What More Can There Be?

Quality in a service or product is not what you put into it. It is what the client or customer gets out of it. Peter Drucker

Welcome
Paradigmantics is passionate about Customer Experience. Its a subject weve spent many years talking to organisations about and delivering innovative training and development programmes on. We believe that an Engaged Customer is evidence of the very highest and most effective levels of Customer Experience being delivered by an organisation. This booklet is a compilation of short articles, offering a sometimes lighthearted look at the issue of Customer Engagement from various perspectives. They represent a combination of previously published articles from our popular blog site* alongside some new material written to more fully round out the journey! We hope you enjoy reading them.

*What More Can There Be? is our blog site and over the past couple of years we have posted in excess of 80 articles on a variety of subjects which we have come across within our training and organisational development work. If youd like to read more, please feel free at:

www.whatmorecantherebe.blogspot.com

What more can there be? is a powerful question. Upon visiting a CEO whom I hadnt seen for some time, I was delighted to find that those very words were still written on his office whiteboard from my last visit... The atmosphere in the organisation was tangibly different

Becoming an engaged customer

Woo-hoo!; Im precious much sought after. and Ive not felt this much in demand since I owned the only football in the playground. Shop assistants grease around me and make outrageous offers. They want to be my friend on Facebook. I can be in the gang. Im even valued (No, not like an antique... Cheek!). And how do I feel about this adulation? ... Im not bothered. You see, they havent quite got it right. Dont get me wrong I am an engaged customer and have been for some time. Every year I make a special effort to go to The Langbury at Blue Anchor Bay, this has got to be the best hotel experience in the world and Ive stayed in a lot. I recommend it to everyone, even hand out their business cards. If you want a bike then the only place to go is Race Scene in Barnsley; my bike supplier. I get beautiful Italian cycling products from highly knowledgeable people; what more could I want? As I ride around the Peak District Im a moving billboard, resplendent in my Race Scene jersey, shorts, matching socks and water bottles. Im not alone, there are lots of other cyclists pounding the local hills in similar kit. So how have I become an engaged customer?

Firstly, I engage rationally. Can I have what I want delivered to me in the way I want? Are they easy to do business with, in the way I prefer? Secondly, I engage emotionally, which is what makes the difference. Some organisations achieve this naturally, some try to manufacture it and fail, others work hard to become the sort of people I like. Once I have chosen to become an engaged customer you can be assured that I will be loyal and rarely take my custom elsewhere. I will have no hesitation in recommending your services to anyone who will listen. Im happy to give you feedback and let you know how I want to use your service, knowing that you will listen and will accommodate my whims as far as you can. Your organisation is mine, part of my lifestyle, part of my identity. Who knows, I might even go as far as showing my devotion by getting your logo as a tattoo. Yes, thats how much I love Codraphenia, my local chip shop!

16% of customers will recommend a company if they received average customer service. If the service was considered to be great then 84% will recommend the brand. People Metrics 2010

Customer Experience What it isnt!

It isnt PR hype. A colleague of mind recently bought a car from a company which has proudly proclaimed in all its advertising and PR that they are better than all the rest because of the experience they give their customers. Highly laudable until she actually experienced what they perceived was great customer experience. So many organisations make these extravagant claims because they see it as a way of differentiating themselves from their competitors. This would be great if they really understood customer experience. It isnt what is written in a training manual. My son has worked for two major financial organisations both of whom make great play on their customer experience credentials. They even publish figures to back up these claims. You only had to talk to him as an employee to quickly realise that they are not talking about Customer Experience, they actually mean Service Delivery which is quite a different thing. He talked about the length of time he was allowed to spend in conversation with the customer and the methods his colleagues used to deal with difficult calls. It was easy to spot that these organisations had no real understanding of what their customers experienced, simply by listening to the language used by their highly trained employees. It isnt apologising when things go wrong. An award-winning phone company apologised to me on 15 occasions over a six week period before they managed to connect my home to a phone line. Every conversation I had with them started with I can only apologise for that Sir. I spoke to operators, sales, customer service, managers and even a

coach, all of whom failed to deliver the bread and butter service of the company. But they did apologise whole heartedly for the failings of their colleagues on each occasion! It isnt surveys and data collection. I had a very interesting conversation with a Regional Director of a major parcel carrier. They were a very good organisation that had made brilliant improvements in their service. When I asked him to prove to me that they were good he quickly produced figures, graphs, measurements, and tables. I was very impressed they had fantastic processes. My experience had been in trying to get into their building to attend our meeting, just as any member of the public wanting to make a collection would do. Poor signage and staff who were happy to assume I knew my way around meant that this was (to say the least) frustrating. They probably just needed another graph for this. What it is, is very simple... As a customer-facing person use this test. Ask from which side of the customer interaction are you looking; that of your organisation, or that of your customer? What is happening to your customer? Did you deliver? What does your customer see? What does your customer hear? What does your customer feel? What is your customer experiencing? That is their customer experience. Weve all been a customer; we all know what it is like to be a customer, so it cant be that difficult to understand your service from their perspective.

85% of companies do not take immediate action on individual customer feedback Aberdeen Group (2009)

The no.1 most important aspect of customer experience: Deliver!

When Im talking with people about what we mean by a customer experience mindset they get very enthused about improving touch points and forget the most important aspect of any customer experience. Deliver. I didnt spend my time, effort and hard earned cash with you just to have a great experience with your sales assistant, call centre order taker or your on-line shop. I want your product, delivered on time and giving me what I expect. I dont think Im unusual in this of course! My seven sources of disappointment are: 1. It didnt arrive: When you order a walnut tree its not the sort of thing that is likely to go missing. When mine didnt arrive as expected I made a call and was told that the system said it had been delivered to my address, on time. After searching everywhere anyone might put a tree; including asking all my neighbours, I had to conclude that I didnt have a walnut tree. The parcel carrier made extravagant claims about my delivery which didnt change the fact that I had no tree. Once this was established there was no hesitation in offering me another tree from the nursery. Great. But it couldnt be delivered for 12 months! Id missed the tree planting season. Its not what I ordered: My seafood pizza arrives with a great flourish. It looks brilliant, but I ordered seafood pasta. Sending it back would mean a long wait while they change the order and my dinner

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companions will have finished their meal by the time it arrives. So I accept the apology and eat pizza. It doesnt work: Imagine my excitement at the delivery of a new lawn mower. Followed by the disappointment of returning it because it failed to start. Exacerbated by the backache from having to cut the grass with shears. It doesnt do what I believed it would (or not as well as I hoped): Im a little embarrassed to say that the Ab Master 3000 has not delivered the six pack as modelled on the shopping channel. (Though, on reflection this may not be the fault of the product). Unexpected surprises: You didnt mention the add-ons. We thought everyone would know that you also need to buy the stand, otherwise, obviously Sir, it will fall over. It needs lots of work to get it going: Never buy a Lego castle. The toy looks amazing in the picture on the box, which also helpfully states that an adult may be needed to assist your child build it. My small boy lost interest after five minutes; it took me nearly six hours hard toil to make the thousand bricks look something like. It didnt help that members of my family (including my junior helper) constantly interrupted asking Is it finished yet! Not good value: The sense that you have been ripped off doesnt incline you towards buying again from this supplier or recommending them to your friends or family.

Once you can assure me you can avoid all the above, then give me a great experience.

60% of customers describe themselves as satisfied just before leaving a brand. Bloomberg Business Week October 2009

Service Delivery Channels

I was behind a Staples (office supplies) delivery truck on the motorway recently which carried the advertising strap line Three ways to buy, with online, phone and in-store the options offered to me by the lorry. Since we had ground to a halt in an M6 traffic jam I reflected that this was indeed an interesting stationary choice! This is nothing new, think tea, loose leaf or in a tea bag which was first marketed in 1904 by tea merchant Thomas Sullivan. There are many other examples; the difference today is the range of options that companies want to offer. Most have recognised the need to move on from a take it or leave it approach, (although this doesnt apply to their automated phone systems) to a this is what we will offer you mindset. Finding as many ways as possible to deliver a service to us is the challenge. Like the razor-blade wars between Gillette and Wilkinson Sword, it appears that organisations have to find one more than their rivals. Is this what your customers want? Have you asked them? Is this really important to people? Most importantly is it worth the investment? Sometimes you need to try something new and completely different to find better ways to serve your customers. I will be eternally grateful to the banker who talked their bosses into developing telephone banking. Internet banking on the other hand may offer benefits but for me the convenience of telling someone what I want is far superior. This is where we see the difference between those companies that do to their customers and those that give people the experience they want. A

subtle yet telling differentiator. Telephone Banking is the opportunity for the bank to give me a personal experience, to connect with me, to involve me in an interaction which is personalised. I can become emotionally attached to their service. This is far more difficult to achieve with an internet experience which is entirely functional. Although three ways to buy is a great idea, will I get three equally great experiences?

80% of executives say their company delivers a superior customer experience. 8% of their customers agree. Bain and Company 2009

I dont want to flash my pants!

Once organisations have discovered that delivering what their customer has ordered is the first step towards giving them a great experience, then they are ready to take the next step. At this point they usually ask what further services can be offered to potential customers to differentiate themselves from their competitors; which quickly becomes a list of features and benefits. Let me give you an example: This weekend, my son was showing off his new phone. It was the size and weight of a brick. I suddenly realised why there is a fashion amongst young men to exhibit the top few inches of their pants (considering the number of times Calvin Klein and Dolce and Gabbana waistbands have been flashed at me and I hadnt realised why!). I postulate that it is because their phones are so heavy that gravity is continually pulling their trousers towards the ground! Its nothing to do with fashion and everything to do with technology. Keen to find out more I asked him to explain why his phone was so much better than mine. Apparently it can wake him up in the morning, when he can check Twitter, Facebook and his e-mails before he gets out of bed. He can set off for University guided by GPS all while accessing the internet, which considering he cycles to lectures must be dangerous. Texts are no problem using the

tiny keyboard, and anything of visual interest can be attached as a photo or video. He can even video-call me via Skype if Im online. Is this is what all new phones are like? Is this is what I am to expect when I change my handset? I started to hyperventilate. I only want to make phone calls! An answer machine is useful but I dont want all these other things. I want to use my phone to talk; if I wanted to text Id buy a typewriter. Most importantly I dont want the world to know that my underpants are from Asda-Walmart, made by George! To compound the issue, my phone provider recently offered me 300 free texts per month. I told them I really only wanted a contract for making phone calls, so they could knock off the 300 texts and do me an even better deal. Alas, I was told they didnt do this and I would have to have the service, texts and all. Often organisations fail to distinguish between customer service and customer experience. They give their customer the service whether or not they want it. They operate from their perspective rather than viewing the interaction from their customers perspective. Only when they are able to put themselves in my position and tailor what they can offer to what I want are they attending to my customer experience. So a phone that is just a phone... is this too much to ask for?

By 2014 Smart phone sales will exceed 1.7 billion. Jim Morrish: Analysys Mason 2010. At this point nearly every man woman and child in the western world will have one.

Exactly what it says on the tin...?

There is a great TV ad for Ronseal Woodcare products which has the strap line does exactly what it says on the tin. If only that were true of all the products and services we buy. How often do we fail to get the delivery we were expecting, when we were expecting it and to the standard we wanted? There is no way an organisation can work towards giving their customers a great experience if they cant do exactly what theyve said on their tin. This has to be the very bare minimum starting point for any customer experience. Yet this fact seems to have passed them by. Take the phone company who I contracted to reinstall the connection to my new home. They took my order, arranged the date and sorted a contract. I had clearly told them they would have to send an engineer to fit a phone socket because there was no longer one in the property. A few weeks later when they rang to check on my experience so far and to make further arrangements, I was told that if the connection didnt work at the appointed switch on date then I could call them to arrange an engineers visit. How would I know it hadnt worked, I had no socket to connect a phone to? I had asked for an engineers visit at the time I made the contract with them and now I am told this could only happen if the connection couldnt be done from the exchange, which they wouldnt know until they switched me on. Why wont they believe me when I tell them it wont work because I have no socket! My phone line would not be delivered at the arranged time to any standard. I had a negative customer experience.

It is easy to spot the customer focus of an organisation by playing a simple game. We call it the Blame Game. All you do is listen to the reasons given for the failure in delivery. Have a go yourselves, its a lot of fun. Here are some examples to get you started: The systems down. We deliver in your area on a Thursday. Im not there on a Thursday I reply. In that case you will have to make arrangements to be there so we can deliver. We are not authorised to tell you how to complain. It is not possible to tell you the name of our Chief Executive. They havent filled in the field.

This tells you loud and clear that people are wedded to a process which is far more important than you, the customer. They have likely been given targets for implementing the process. They are accountable for their role in the process - not for the way they help their customer. Thus the process is the customer experience. So lets have some honesty. Dont talk about how focused you are on the customer experience if you really mean your team is focused on service delivery. Lets all understand that delivering exactly what it says on your tin has to be the very minimum standard for any customer experience.

The man who can smile when things go wrong has just thought of someone else he can blame it on. Robert Bloch, American Writer

Role Models
As a schoolchild I had compulsory swimming lessons at the local baths every week. Being quite competitive, I was determined to be in the top set which meant the chance to go in for the hard swimming achievement badges. On the day of group selection I was horrified to find we had to swim across the pool using front crawl. I was a reasonable swimmer but Id never even attempted front crawl I didnt even know the rudiments of the stroke. All seemed doomed to failure. Luckily a new girl had recently arrived in school, she was American and was an amazing swimmer. She glided effortlessly through the water using whatever stroke she wanted. I decided upon a foolhardy, yet with hindsight, quite good plan. I would watch carefully what she did and simply copy her technique. Which I did, incorporating a long dive and holding my breath for the whole distance I managed exemplary front crawl and learned some valuable lessons. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Always do the things with complete confidence, it gives the impression you know what youre doing Technique is everything Be prepared to take a risk, the worst thing that can happen is you will drown Find the very best people and learn from what they do God Bless Americans

People hold the customer experience you get in USA as the role model for customer service. I have had great service when visiting America; I have also had quite the reverse. What you notice wherever you go is that you will get pockets of great practice. If one person is brilliant then usually many are brilliant. People follow a role model. They want to be like the person most admired in the organisation.

Culture is contagious and self managing. Take the example of the fantastic Italian waiter we had at a restaurant recently. He had the accent, the mannerisms, the skills and the look of the other brilliant waiters. When you heard him off duty he had the broadest Yorkshire accent and had no connections with Italy except that he served pizzas for a living. He probably didnt even realise that when he was at work he became Italian! The culture he immersed himself in everyday meant he could give his best, indeed he couldnt give anything else. Managers in particular need to be constantly vigilant of themselves. Their team is a reflection of themselves, they are the role models. Their team want to be like them. If they are not what you want them to be - then you need to look to yourself. People learn by copying the actions of those that look like they know what they are doing. WARNING. This doesnt apply to learning front crawl. If you want to become a master swimmer, get lessons. If you use my technique as a model be warned it could result in being humiliated at the public swimming pool as the lifeguard pulls you from the water.

It takes 20 years to build a reputation and only five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you will do things differently. Warren Buffett, Investor and Author.

Becoming the Disengaged Customer

My car is very clever in helping me look after its every need with interesting bleeps and flashing lights. In this way I can put in fuel before we grind to a halt, top up with oil, fill the washer and organise a service. We are both happy with the arrangement. It works well. However it seems that this isn't enough. All of a sudden the garage has discovered customer experience. When we arrived in the service centre car park we were met by no lesser figure than the manager. He wished me a pleasant day and pointed towards the reception area. He was being slightly too friendly. Rather different from the last time I clapped eyes on his sharp suit when he offered me peanuts in part exchange for my old vehicle. The receptionist was brilliant, but then again, she always has been. I left for home to wait for the mechanics to do their job. As usual I received a phone call to tell me that my brake pads were 30% worn and other stuff which would cost 3,000 to put right, including 30 to unblock a windscreen washer pipe. All of which I respectfully declined. When I returned to collect my car it seems that under the new customer experience regime taking my money was no longer enough. I was urged by the manager to follow them on Twitter and join their Facebook community if I was really to have the best possible experience. Not long afterwards I received an SMS text inviting me down to the showroom to have a special chat with their salesperson about a new car model. This was then followed by a courtesy phone call asking if I was still OK because at my last car

service there was a blocked windscreen washer pipe that I declined to have fixed; touching concern for my safety. Why do I feel these are just marketing ploys? How come I'm left thinking these are not genuine invitations to become involved? What makes me feel like this is a new bandwagon which has my cash at heart and not my welfare? The Manager doesnt get it. He sees this effort as a sales tactic to make me a loyal customer. I was engaged by a genuine, skilled receptionist and my clever car. Now I go to my Kwik Fit for a better deal on servicing and parts, and really genuine, honest people, who are interested in tyres and shock absorbers, not Twittering about it.

There is only one boss: The customer. And he can fire everybody in the company from the chairman down simply by spending his money somewhere else. Sam Walton founder of Wal-Mart

In Summary
We are all engaged customers in some aspect of our lives so we know what it is to become engaged. Engagement is rational and emotional. It has to be both. The reward for having engaged customers is immense and should be treated with respect by companies. Always deliver. This is the very minimum level of customer experience, but organisations should beware of putting their processes before their customer. Creating a wide range of ways to do business with your customers is great. Each, however, has to deliver a great experience. One way cant be better than another. Its also good if they all join up. There is a distinct difference between customer service - which you give to your customer; and customer experience which is the way they perceive your efforts. Its everyones responsibility, at all times, with all your customers and colleagues to give a great service. People dont engage when they receive a great experience from some people, some of the time. Facebook, Twitter et al are a means to engage, but they alone dont create engaged customers.

I now own a smart phone, its a whole new experience for me to make a telephone call. Dave Bradley 2011

Only 38% of business leaders identified leading by example as a key quality for a leader . Grant Thornton Leadership Survey 2005

For every 26 people that experience a problem with a brand, only 1 will report it back to the company. TARP research

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