Customer for life?

This article featured in the Hindu Business Line dated 14th September 2012.

As I have often said, I spent six years of my life counting other people’s cash and writing other people’s fixed deposit receipts. Even after leaving the banking industry, I still talk about it as I am still a customer of one bank or the other.

Today, I am not merely a customer but someone who perhaps knows a little more about customers than when I was a callow youth in the banking counter hoping for a typhoon or a flood on Saturday morning so that I could leave in time to catch a movie rather than be flooded by customers! One of the first things I have since realised is something called “lifetime value of the customer”, which I knew nothing about or cared even less for in 1973 when I first started working with Grindlays Bank.

LIFETIME VALUE

This is one of the most frequently quoted phrases that marketing people spout. Very simply, this term denotes the profits an organisation makes from dealing with a customer over a period in time. So, if you are my company’s customer for twenty years (bless you) then the profits we make from servicing you over that period add up to this number and clearly you have tremendous value to me and my organisation. Now I teach management students and they bank with one nationalised bank or the other because of convenience. They rarely ever have money, live hand to mouth and often have difficulty in meeting the minimum balance even. Soon they graduate, get jobs and grow in more ways than one.

In some time they become “high net-worth” individuals and every international and private sector bank woos my former students actively (and without a second thought, they switch camps and banks). So what has happened here? Here was a customer well within the fold of a nationalised bank and that bank messed up because it really did nothing to retain them.

Now is this unique only to nationalised banks? I am not sure as it happens too often in my own company. I am sure it may be happening (sadly) in your company as well even if you may not be forthcoming in accepting it as I have been.

ACQUISITION OR RETENTION?

Let’s understand why this happens. The reason is obvious. Companies are busy acquiring new customers. This is where the rewards and recognition are. Your bosses write to you. Your colleagues envy you and your career invariably moves north. And yet some questions are in order. Are we spending more time looking at new business and clients at the cost of our existing customers? Is our output better for prospects than for existing clients?

The constant gripe of clients in the advertising business is that their agencies churn out better work in creative pitches than they do for their existing clients and I can vouch for this – that agencies seem to be pumped about pitches but seem flat when it comes to ‘demanding’ current clients. I do hope that this is not the situation in your company.

It is worthwhile to remember that it is a lot more profitable to hold on to existing clients than spending on attempts at new business acquisition. This is not to diminish the value and importance of new business acquisition as growth is what we are looking for.

The smarter companies ensure they don’t jeopardise the service offered to their existing clients when they prospect for new clients. They have teams in charge of acquisition without depleting the resources on servicing existing clients.

PROMISING MORE THAN WE DELIVER?

Let me end by coming back to the banking sector. I have every international or new generation bank wooing me because they are under the mistaken notion that I am a high net-worth individual. They mail me, call me, message me and meet me frequently. If I were a girl that a guy was wooing with the same energy, I would have succumbed long ago. And yet when I do give them the business I find that this energy is no longer in evidence in servicing my business.

My constant refrain is that my Relationship Manager does not even last for a quarter on the average. So much so that if a new Relationship Manager asks to meet me, I invariably tell him to come three months later if he is still with the bank! Clearly there is a gap between what is promised and what is being delivered.

In fact the Relationship Manager is the brand to me and he is the one who lets it down, in my view at least. And in my view, despite all the hype surrounding the foreign and private sector banks, my good old nationalised bank is vastly better. It knows me and will somehow reach me when either of us needs to.

KEEP IT SIMPLE

So what are we saying at the end of all this.

Customer acquisition is important. But in quest of this elusive Holy Grail, are we jeopardising our existing relationships?

Are we promising and trying to be more alluring in the courtship phase? After marriage, we suddenly realise that the person we married is a different animal from the one who courted us.

It boils down to treating our customer as an individual who matters, like the manager of my nationalised bank does.

Customer service is not easy. But the gains are phenomenal, if you hang in there. It is not easy to hold on to existing customers for years. But when you do the rewards are phenomenal.

Are you gearing up to reap the benefits?

Ramanujam Sridhar is Director of Custommerce and Founder CEO of brand-comm, a communications consulting company.http://www.ramanujamsridhar.com

Customer aspiration based service design

When Henry Ford was asked if customers’ desires had anything to do with his path breaking Ford Model T, he had this to say, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” Understanding that latent needs of a customer, which strongly revolves around a deep seated aspiration, can sometimes be the key to a product innovation, it can also be the building block of your organization’s service design.

When a customer walks into a BMW showroom, there are certain aspirations that are attached with a decision to walk in there. From the moment she walks in, she needs to see those aspirations getting fulfilled. Right from the first greeting, to the first question on what she wants. There can’t be questions of budgets and mileage. The questions need to come from the customer and possibly you will see an aspiration being realized. Creating a service design around this understanding of a customer, needs to be all pervasive from the way the salesmen deal with her, to the way billing and post sales is handled. The aspiration remains and possibly grows along with the ownership of the product. These aspirations are not attached only to luxury brands. Even mid market brands evoke aspiration among customers who may find such brands the pinnacle of their current stature and success. Working around these thoughts becomes a challenge as they are not that straightforward, yet, they do exist and discovering them lies in observing customer behavior. Customers tend to ask certain questions, get irked by some objections and are satisfied with specific features. In all these observations, lie the answers to what your customer is aspiring to become. Use those data points to build your service roadmap and watch customers enjoy the treatment in the way their purchasing behavior changes. Therein lies your organization’s reward for going that extra mile.

Customer aspiration has always driven many innovations, from a bulb to a Tata Nano. It wasn’t rocket science that built these products. They all were conceived by men and women who belonged to completely different aspiration levels. Breaking through the clutter of customer data and models, lies the simple art of deduction, of what your customer aspires to be, once she has used your brand. Let’s get started harnessing that power!

Getting Social on Social Media

Social media still manages to be a buzz word. Most of the business world was of the belief that the value of social media in business will soon reach its saturation point. But it continues to surprise businesses both small and big in the way one can approach customers, marketing and customer service. Now grasping the above ideas isn’t that difficult. Also, knowing that you need to be on social media isn’t going to win you any brownie points from your customers. But not being smart and maximizing your ability to give your customers great customer service on social media, can be an opportunity lost.

Studies say that customers who engage with companies via social media spend 20 to 40 percent more money with those companies than customers who don’t engage through social media. This should give companies enough impetus to provide great customer service on social media. The problem many see with social media is that neither is it face to face and nor are you talking to anyone on the phone. It’s a faceless conversation but social media has proven to be a great outlet for customers. People tend to interact more openly and freely online. This stemming from a certain anonymity coupled with a huge audience ready to listen and react. Customers expect companies to be more proactive on social media and this presents companies with a great opportunity to reach out and take action before the customer decides to. Being active by tweeting or replying to queries on your company’s Facebook wall instantly can be a great turn on for customers. It shows that you care and you are there. You can instantly put customers at ease as social media by nature is an informal environment. You can reach out to them faster by openly asking your customer base if they have any problems and then attack each issue head on. It’s not enough to be posting views on your brand and its marketing efforts; you also need to be able to reach out on issues that matter to a customer. And that is something you cannot do as easily from a physical outlet or through you call center.

Social media allows you to socialize with your customer. Chat them up, understand them and react. Being available on social media to address concerns makes you static and boring. It doesn’t help your brand point out any difference between your other customer service channels. Customers expect to be treated a certain way on social media and the foundation lies in the fact, that you got to reach out to them, talk their lingo and solve their problems just as you would do elsewhere. That is when the brownie points will start piling up like never before.

Big lessons that small companies teach

From Nordstrom (a Custommerce blog favorite) to Southwest to Taj, all are brands synonymous with great customer service. Yet these and only a handful of other large corporations seem to be known for their service ethic. But at the same time, you see many small and medium sized companies consistently getting their customer service ethos firmly in place. Many may attribute that to lesser customers or negligible hierarchy but like this article in HBR will tell you, it sometimes just comes down to empathy and common sense. So where else does the secret to good customer service lie in a medium sized enterprise? And what virtues of these companies can larger enterprises look to replicate?

A large hotel in Chennai is known to give its employees Rs.1000 everyday as a limit which they can use to repair any reasons of dissatisfaction with a customer. They can use that money on one customer or ration it through the day but it gives them the liberty to improve an experience. This can involve a complimentary drink, snack or anything that the restaurant offers. The limit ensures prudence yet at the same time it allows flexibility. Now, flexibility is an important lesson that most large companies can take from smaller companies like this hotel did. Small and medium enterprises generally have the advantage of flexibility in the way they can serve their customers. They can tailor their customer service efforts as per the customer requirement. Even larger companies can work past Standard Operating Procedures and bring in some flexibility to allow for a better service experience for customers. Another great virtue which large companies can pick from smaller enterprises is of having a top management which prefers a hands-on-approach. Customers of smaller enterprise are able to reach top management with their grievances much faster then they can reach a middle manager at a large enterprise. With certain protocols in place and by basing cases on priority, even a large enterprise can achieve this objective.

On the whole large companies need to see how they can bring in initiatives from smaller companies in moderation backed by strong business cases. They can serve customers much better by steering away from rigidity towards incorporating techniques that can improve the service experience. The lessons small companies are giving aren’t very tough to understand or implement. You just need to use common sense to know how much to commit, and remember, that all your customers need, is a little empathy. 

Customer service can save the day

Countries across Europe and Asia are reeling from the effects of a recession that had its roots in the US. Companies in these countries will instantly start looking at the various options available to them to manage the crisis. Options like layoffs, broad based pricing to target more customers and many more value draining methods come to the fore. What generally begins to suffer is always, customer service. But can, a recession, be the most auspicious moment to improve your customer service?

Southwest Airlines, Lexus and the Ritz Carlton are brands known to keep their customer service promise at the forefront even at the dullest of economic conditions. Brands must understand the value of upping their customer service game during the downturn as customers become more sensitive to prices and the way their service provider treats them. Customer morale is at its greatest low at this point. Investing in systems, processes or ideas  that can help build this morale can serve you well not only during the downturn but also post it, as customers will never forget the brand who showered them with the love they needed. We are moving into a time where customers are expecting soft brands. Brands that are more communicative, responsive and ready to speak. Research over the years has always proven that brands who commit resources to customer service during a downturn or who have always considered it a priority, come out of a recession stronger and with a loyal base of customers with negligible erosion over the years.

Learning lessons from companies who are focusing on customer service can be pivotal in dealing with a downturn. It can give many brands an edge over their competitors and create an advantage that in time will become sustainable, recession or not. A recession is the one time in the story of a brand that can help them concentrate on customer service, make it invincible to competitors and lovable to customers. So let’s start planning and acting, now! 

Knowledge ‘works’

Many service providers especially telecom players seem to have the fantastic ability to drown customers with offers that they will never use or have a record of declining. These very service providers are the ones who also have reams of data about their customers, data most of us would think should help them make the right offer to us. But we are often faced by the same static messaging which has ruined many an experience of our service provider for us. The problem does not lie with the amount of data they have, it also isn’t the fault of the lack of desire to give the customer a good deal. It all seems to lie in the much hidden and embarrassing fact that a lot of our service providers do have a lot of data but very little knowledge.

Companies have many storage hubs today. The Contact Center, Point of Sales, customer feedback and many more depending on the company and the various customer programs they have in place. The amount of data available here will be enough to piece together a decent customer outreach strategy. Yet service providers in most cases such as one of our friendly neighborhood telecom providers make the fundamental mistake of not making these hubs speak to each other. Due to this a lot of customer data gets lost in translation as its not being mined to get the relevant data points which can be used to market the right offers to the customers or at least – close to the right one. The key, one should believe lies in converting this data to knowledge which should be shared across relevant departments. A customer complaint may be voiced over a simple transaction related call into the Contact Center, but is that being sent over to the guys at Customer Service? A customer refuses an offer for an upgrade on her current calling plan at an authorized center. Is that then transferred to the Contact Center so that the customer is not pestered about it again?

The opportunities to use customer data are many and can prove to be both profitable for the company and improve customer service. Service providers will be more focused and relevant in their approach to the customer which only involves a better use of resources already available to them. Getting over the embarrassment of having customers come down upon the service provider with all their fury for every unnecessary offer made to the customer can be very easily avoided. And what better then turning that embarrassment into a meaningful opportunity for both?  

The Curious Case of the Online Whinger

The social media has turned us all into a commentator, a critic, a passionate advocate of the good, the bad and the ugly. Customers today, are just scaring the living daylights out of companies. Not sure when they are going to strike, companies cannot choose to be Frankenstein and allow the hoards to overcome them. Complaining and letting the world know what went wrong with your service provider has become a matter of duty today. And in this environment, culling out the complaint from the tantrum creates a unique dilemma, the kind of dilemma you cannot choose to ignore.

Social media forums like Facebook, Twitter and review forums have enabled crowds to converge upon a brand and rip it apart or give it a new lease of life. In an age where response and monitoring mechanisms are evolving constantly, brands do not have a choice but act in the now. Real time. Sifting the tantrums from genuine complaints becomes imperative because even with the vast tools at a company’s disposal, they still cannot possibly address every concern. Attacking the genuine ones with decisiveness and tact, and dealing with tantrums with kid gloves becomes key. Failing which, social media could very easily become a resource draining platform in more ways than one.

Over 1000 complaints turn up every hour across online public forums and social media sites. Right from service delivery to a service executive’s behavior is weighed up and attacked today. The customer is completely justified in venting, but an unresponsive company is not justified in being aloof. Companies need to take this opportunity they have been given by their customers to start owning a forum that has in more ways than one, been created by them. Ignore at your own peril.