Category: News

Recently I was working with a client who sells a high-value product to consumers and we were reviewing the state of his business.  The review included a look at customer satisfaction – as he seemingly “got” the importance of satisfied customers.

 

When I probed this with him he told me proudly that it had been 2 years since they had received a complaint.  It wasn’t said smugly – just in a pleased and self-satisfied way.  He took it as an affirmation – and to a degree he was right.

 

But guess what?  When I probed some more it became apparent that, besides having a small amount of anecdotal feedback, he was unable to answer any of the following questions:

 

• What do his customers appreciate about what his company does?
• In the eyes of his customers, what distinguishes his company from its competitors?
• Why is he losing customers?
• What is he doing badly that he could improve upon?
• Is there anything he’s failing to offer his customers that they are looking for from him?
• Might his customers be interested in the other products and services that he offers?

 

So – why was he flying blind?  Simple.  He hadn’t asked the questions!  In the eyes of his customers he was actually guilty of perceived indifference!

 

And guess what that does?  Yep – it loses you customers!

 

So you know those customers of yours?  Avoid making them think you’re indifferent to them!  Get in touch if you feel you may need help in this area.

 

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In your business what do you do when you have a failure? Do you recognise it as such? Or do you make excuses?

 

If you do recognise it as such, do you diagnose what it is that you did wrong?

 

If you do diagnose what you did wrong do you plan to remedy whatever is within your control?

 

And do you follow through on those remedial plans?

 

All of us can and should be able to answer YES to those 4 questions.

 

We (Ireland) have our work cut out this evening to get a result in an important Soccer World Cup qualifier in Stockholm against Sweden – a Swedish team including Zlatan Ibrahimović – one of the world’s top strikers.

 

Are we the stronger team? No.

 

So – should we just roll over and surrender? No.

 

Can we win? Yes.

 

Should we aim to win? Absolutely.

 

One thing is sure – we have zero chance of winning unless our attitude is right. So I was disappointed this week to read one of our players – Sean St. Ledger – making excuses for why we were beaten in the Euros last summer by Spain. Ok – Spain are a wonderful team. But so what? Is that any consolation? It shouldn’t be. Particularly as we played badly against them. Our sharpness was lacking. We sat back too much and invited them on. Our marking was woeful – in particular for Cesc Fabregas’ 4th goal.

 

So – you may have significant challenges in your business – challenges that are intimidating and which you’re tempted to hide from. But you can face those challenges – and focus your efforts on those areas where you do have control – like maybe assigning someone to man-mark Zlatan like a leech for 90 minutes!

 

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For your business you’ll nearly always want to know why something is happening – not just that it is happening.

 

You don’t want to know why simply out of curiosity.  That’s useless.  You want to know why so that you can take action.

 

Imagine a customer satisfaction survey shows you that your customers are less happy than they were before.  Ok – that should set the alarm bells ringing – as you can expect a downturn in sales – and you could suffer reputational damage.  So you need to find out why they are less happy.  You need to know what’s going wrong so that your remedial action can be correctly targeted.

 

Or you’ve run an employee workshop and have learnt that your employees are more engaged than they were before.  Why?  What have you been doing to cause that?  If you can identify that then you can be sure to maintain it or maybe even do more of it.

 

One morning recently I was listening to the radio and a woman was being interviewed about a survey that showed a reduction in the number of women employed in Ireland in senior management positions.  I’m not sure whether she was involved directly in the research or if she was simply there to talk about the results.

 

In any case, the interviewer thankfully asked her what explanation she had for the observed downward trend.  She said she had none – but that they “surmise” that it was because of the recession.

 

Now before she went too much further I began to tune her out because of firstly her honesty over not having an explanation but also secondly because of her use of the word “surmise”.

 

I’ve always thought that “surmise” means the same thing as “guess”.  I checked www.dictionary.com and yep – the “guess” word is there – as is “conjecture”.  The site also says that to “surmise” is to “think or infer without certain or strong evidence”.

 

When I’m designing a questionnaire for a client, whether it’s to be used in an online survey, focus group or interview, I always use the “why” word to probe.

 

Try to never surmise.  Doing so might cause you to head off in a wrong direction and perhaps even take counterproductive action!

 

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My mother turns 90 next week.  I’m bringing her to a concert in the National Concert Hall in Dublin.

 

The online booking form included the question : “Would you like to receive details as to events… by Email”.  “Yes” and “No” were available from a pull-down menu – but neither was pre-selected.  However it was necessary to answer the question before proceeding.

 

That was an approach I hadn’t seen before.  The Concert Hall wants its customers to join its email list but there is no cheeky default “Yes” that needed to be de-selected.

 

You’re seeing this blog because you’ve chosen to view it.  But have you ever been added to the email list of a product or service provider without giving your permission?  Or because you neglected to uncheck that little box in the bottom of an opt-in page that exhorted you to “click here if you do not want to receive emails”?

 

Was it water off a duck’s back or did it bug you as much as it bugs me?  For example, I’d love if those check boxes had to be left unchecked by default!

 

And on the flip-side – have you ever added anyone to your own email list without their prior agreement?

 

This topic of emails and permissions comes up a lot with my clients when we’re considering using an online survey as a research tool.

 

It is important to avoid spamming people.  (I just typed spam into google and there were 814,000,000 results.) And it’s desirable to avoid annoying people.  But you won’t go too far wrong if you just avoid doing to others what you don’t want done to you!

 

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I get too many emails. Now most days I do empty my in-tray – but I only manage to do that because I’m filing the emails in a series of sub-folders. And to be honest there are some sub-folders, e.g., the “to be read” one, that I hardly ever look in.

 

Last week, rather than just continue to let the number of archived emails increase, I decided to stem the tide – to reduce the number I receive.

 

So I started clicking unsubscribe buttons. So far it has been fairly simple – usually a one-click operation – though on one occasion I needed to email one company asking to be removed because they didn’t have an unsubscribe link.

 

But there was one that really took the biscuit : the footer in their email said that it was necessary to login in order to adjust email preferences.  So I tried to log in – only to be presented with the following:

 

I was unable to log in because my account had “been locked as a security precaution”.  And I was told I could reactivate my account by clicking on a “reset password link” that was nowhere to be seen!

 

Eventually I got things sorted.  But that’s the point – eventually is too late!  That company made it difficult for me to unsubscribe – firstly through their process and secondly through some performance issue at their end.

 

Do you make life difficult for your customers?

 

If the answer is “yes” then fix it.

 

If the answer is “no” make sure you’re saying “no” because you know it rather than because you hope it.

 

And if you don’t know the answer, or if you’re unsure, ask your customers!  I can help you with that if you want help – just get in touch and we can talk more.

 

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Some of you know I support Leeds.   (We’re talking football here!)

 

And you may remember a post I wrote back in April talking about Neil Warnock – the Leeds manager – and his failure to take responsibility for results. The team’s problems were always someone else’s fault.

 

At the time Leeds were in 12th position – 8 points adrift of the playoff positions.

 

Fast forward 10 months and earlier today Leeds were in guess what position?

 

Yep 12th!

 

And guess how many points adrift of the playoff position?

 

Yep – 8 points!

 

Warnock also said in April that an overhaul was needed. Well he’s had that too –
only 3 of the team from April played in their most recent game last Sunday.

 

But does he accept responsibility?

 

The answer is still no.

 

Instead he says that as the fans “see the opportunity [of promotion to the Premiership] fading the manager has got to be the scapegoat”. So he announces that he’s a scapegoat.

 

And if that’s not enough he also goes on to say “with what has gone on behind the scenes over the last 12 months I think I deserve a medal”.

 

You may (rightly) criticise his attitude. He’s patently failing to look in the mirror.

 

But are you?

 

Are you asking how can you do better?

 

How can you deliver superior customer service?

 

How can you better engage your employees?

 

How can you improve your own effectiveness?

 

Get in touch if you’d like help asking these questions and getting answers that give you actionable insights.

 

One morning recently I tried contacting a government agency.  Things must have been very busy for them because…

 

Their phone was not being answered by a live human being.

 

Neither was it answered by one of those messages that directs you to press different numbers for different departments.

 

And neither was it possible to even leave a message.  No messages were being accepted.

 

And their answering message said to phone back in the afternoon.

 

How about that!

 

So things weren’t getting off to a very positive start!

 

However, because I was in a rush, I decided to email them – just on the off-chance that emails were being monitored even though phone-calls were not being answered.

 

I got an automated reply to that email that included the statement that they “endeavour to respond to 100% of emails within 30 working days”.

 

No – that’s not a typo – that’s 30 working days – or 6 weeks to most people!

 

But there’s more…  Just in case I’d get this crazy idea that the 6 weeks was a worst case scenario, the reply also said that “delivery of this service can vary during peak periods and we appreciate your patience”.

 

So it might even be more than 6 weeks.

 

Someone somewhere designed that auto-reply.  And it’s probable that someone senior to them approved it.

 

Why?  The background may have been depleted or over-stretched resources.  And their motive was presumably to set expectations that they would then try and exceed.

 

What do you do in terms of setting expectations for your customers?  Do you deliberately err on the side of caution to give yourself a cushion?  Or are you aggressive with your intended delivery time?  Or does it depend on the situation?  Both approaches can have merit.  It’s realistic to build in contingencies but giving yourself a real deadline can also be a motivator.

 

Whatever you do be pragmatic – don’t back yourself into a corner on aggression and don’t be too lax either to the point of inviting ridicule like the government agency.

 

And measure – ask your customers what their expectations are – and use their answers to help guide you.

 

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Last Friday my son and I drove by a hotel here in Kilkenny.  We were looking for a hot chocolate for him.  There were three flagpoles outside the hotel – for the European Union, Kilkenny & Ireland.  The Irish flag had fallen to the very bottom of its flagpole and was lying on the ground.  And the other 2 flags were visibly frayed around the edges.

 

The overall impression was one of neglect.  And being Irish I was also upset at seeing our flag treated that way.

 

We went elsewhere for the hot chocolate.

 

Is your business exhibiting any signs of neglect?  Are your customers getting the level of service that they expect?  Are you providing them with the range of products and/or services that they’re looking for?

 

Go to the other side of the counter (literally and/or figuratively) and take a look in at your business.

 

One good way to do this is to ask your customers.  And if you’re worried about them being guilty of idle flattery give them an anonymous means of providing their feedback.

 

What’s the worst that can happen?  Maybe embarrassment.

 

What’s the best that can happen?  Increased sales from customers who view you more favourably.

 

I drove by the same hotel this evening – 3 days later.  Surely the situation had been rectified?

 

Nope!  There had been no change in the flag situation.

 

If you want to avoid losing sales get in touch to see how I can help you see your business as your customers (and prospective customers) do.  Interviews, online surveys, questionnaires & focus groups are among the tools I can use to help you.

 

I’m a big football fan and I’ve just finished a book celebrating Alex Ferguson’s “25 Years At The Top”.  You may know about Ferguson but, if you don’t, he’s widely regarded as the most successful football manager ever.

 

I reckon though that his approach to the management of Manchester United contains lessons that can easily be applied to business.

 

One quote in particular caught my attention : “As manager, it is my job to cut through the emotion and disappointment to reach honest conclusions on which to base our planning and strategy for the future.  I have to analyse what went wrong and what we got right.  I must focus on getting everything into perspective so that we can make the right decisions going forward.  Naturally I must not fall into the trap of making excuses for any shortcomings”.

 

Let’s look a little closer at this:

 

When looking at what has happened he detaches himself from the emotion.

 

He examines what has happened under a bright light – no hiding.

 

He looks for the positives (so as to reinforce them) and the negatives (so as to take remedial action).

 

He intentionally seeks the big picture so as to inform his decision-making.

 

And he avoids self-righteousness.

 

If you want help looking at your business in this way to see how to drive it forward get in touch!

 

PS : I’ll post the results of the President Obama vox pop later today!

 

PPS : I’m not a Man United fan and still thought the book was good :-).