My Take - Gary Lemke's Official Blog
Chief Customer Advocate, CRMAdvocate
Welcome to my blog.
You are probably here because you care about the customer experience. That makes you an advocate too!
"My Take" is a collection of daily vignettes covering my spin - perspectives, opinions, epiphanies - on the customer
experience, CRM, and the contact center.
I've been involved in the customer experience for the better part of three decades. I've worked in support operations on the front
line. I've managed the development of customer interaction technologies. And I've served as an industry guru covering best
practices, business processes, and technology.
With
1,549
"takes" (and counting), I invite you to follow my customer
experience conversation. Please join CRMAdvocate and I will delivered "My Take" via email.
Get ready to expect the unexpected. And, don't be shy about sharing your take.
Look up. OK, I didn't mean look up to the sky. Rather look up to the top of this page. I want to draw your attention to the current list of events and webinars. There are currently 65 opportunities for you to learn, network, and discover. And we are adding new ones every day.
These virtual and physical opportunities include thought leadership from some of the best and brightest minds in the industry - all willing to share a bit of their knowledge and experience.
That's the question most organizations ask. What a shame because it's the wrong question.
We've got to pin this failure on someone, right? Wrong. Playing the blame game seems cultural. But there is a lot of energy in finger pointing and witch hunts. In the end, it's an investment in the negative.
So let's place the blame in a hurry and move on to making a real difference. It's the customer experience's fault. OK, now that we have that out of the way, we can stop the witch hunt which only motivates self-preservation rather than customer recovery and improvements in the customer experience.
Blame the customer experience and your investment in time and resources creates an environment of safety where meaningful improvements can be achieved. Do your customer-facing people feel they are part of the problem or part of the solution?
For those of you inclined to watch the Super Bowl last night, I hope you enjoyed the game which was hosted in my back yard - Indianapolis. Last week, I wrote about how the city aced it as host and their super CRM strategy. Such self-congratulatory applause before the big game is like spiking the ball on the five yard line. But I was that confident Indy would shine on such a national stage.
To be fair, the city had a bit of good weather karma that made the visitor experience that much better. Planning and serendipity aside, Indy was destined to succeed in a way that cannot be emulated by just anyone regardless of planning and resources. The secret sauce that differentiates the Indy experience from other host cities is genuine pride in the form of Hoosier Hospitality.
It's difficult to adequately explain what I'm talking about unless it is experienced firsthand. Maybe the best way is to compare these two greetings: "Welcome to our city, now leave" versus "Welcome to our city, we can't wait until you come back." It's a pervasive and genuine pride that people can't wait to share with others - especially others they don't even know.
When your customer facing employees interact with customers do they exude a pervasive and genuine pride? If so, I bet you have a super customer experience in the making.
Yesterday, I shared a bit of insider info about what's going on in Indianapolis ahead of the Super Bowl game. The city is on fire setting new high marks for attendance. Countless media types have written and broadcast rave reviews that Indianapolis isn't just passing its Super Bowl test, it's acing it.
National sports radio personality Jim Rome boasted on Twitter that "Indy is going off." Forbes' Patrick Rishe predicted that Indy would "nail its first shot at hosting a Super Bowl." He was spot on. So what's the secret?
Here's Indy's Super CRM strategy: First, they started decades ago defining the objective to become the sports capital of the world (first and foremost in the amateur world). Second, the goal was integrated into government and business priorities. It became a source of civic pride via citizen involvement. Third, investment in infrastructure at the heart of the city made downtown an attractive place to visit.
Consider there are currently more than 8,000 volunteers stationed around town simply to serve the Super Bowl visitor. They've been in training for months for just this weekend. Does it really take that many volunteers? Probably not. But the number could have been much higher as more locals wanted to be a part of the celebration.
A scheme, a team, and a downtown dream - from Naptown to Super City. Dedication and focus can apply to your next super customer experience. That's how to ace it.
I flew to Indianapolis Tuesday well ahead of the Super Bowl scheduled for Sunday and I plan to stay in Indy well past the game. Die hard football fan? Perhaps. Native Hoosier and current resident? Yes, born and raised with a long Silicon Valley stint in between. For me, Indy is home.
Rightfully so, the spotlight is on the event itself but many are discovering this little corner of the world I call home. And they are pleasantly surprised, actually delighted is a better description. There are traditional big event venues like New Orleans, Las Vegas, Miami but Indy knows what it takes to host a big party.
While visitors might be surprised, the locals are not. Heck, this city has been hosting the largest one day sporting event by attendance (the Indianapolis 500) for a century along with six NCAA Final Four basketball tournaments in the last few decades . . . . among countless smaller events.
This is not hometown bragging. I want to call out a brilliant CRM strategy crafted long ago and consistently executed. Tomorrow, I will share with you the reason this will be remembered as one of the best-hosted Super Bowls and why Indianapolis will be on the short list to host future big events. More importantly, I will share how you can make your own super CRM strategy.
It was as if a light bulb went off in the heads of many CRMAdvocate readers when they read how the systematic use of freebies and discounts creates an unhealthy customer environment. Instead of being a "make right," it has become an incentive that encourages customers to be unhappy to get what they want.
Why is such a profit-sucking, ineffective program so widespread? Because it is easier.
It is easier to pay off the complaining customer than investigate the source of dissatisfaction. It is easier to pay off the complaining customer than offer a unique remedy that genuinely resolves why they are unhappy in the their own way. And it is easier to pay off the complaining customer than make systematic changes to the customer experience in order to eliminate sources of dissatisfaction or improve satisfaction.
It's expedient. It efficiently eliminates the problem in the moment. It's addictive. And it only encourages more screaming.
How can organizations break free of such an unhealthy addiction?
Have you ever witnessed a diner who tells the server the meal was not prepared to his likely only after he has consumed his last bite? Waiting until the end of the meal rather than complaining after the first taste might be done in hopes of a freebie or discount instead of genuinely desiring a better meal.
Feedback to last week's CRM thought that "happy customers are all alike, unhappy ones are each unhappy for their own reasons" prompted many challenges.
While there was agreement that unhappy customers are each unhappy for their own reasons, most do not 'buy in' that happy customers are all alike. The idea goes that customers just aren't all alike, happy or unhappy.
The power of the idea is to avoid the trap of creating rigid recovery processes for the unhappy lot. Once size does not fit all. One reader wrote, "It is dangerous to think so. It is important to know why they are happy so the things making them happy are not unknowingly eliminated. For the unhappy, I worked for an organization that always gave away things when a customer screamed. So, customers learned to screamed a lot. Our relationship with them was not healthy."
One CRMAdvocate reader pointed out that, "It is the attitude behind using the term that is important."
Consider how welcome Norm feels when entering the Cheers pub if the greeting is not energetic and welcoming.
Consider the often used term "user" in the software and technical support arena. Have you ever felt the technician was calling you "user" buy they were really saying it with the attitude of 'loser?' Was there a feeling of contempt and/or superiority?
The first sentence in Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina reads, "Happy families are all alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way."
Denis Pombriant of Beagle Research recently wrote to me with a CRM version of Tolstoy's opener: Happy customers are all alike, unhappy ones are each unhappy for their own reasons.
Tolstoy's statement is certainly worth pondering as one delves into family matters. Does Denis' statement have the same thought provoking mass in the world of CRM?
If so, what does it say about how an organization creates happy customers? And what does it say about service recovery strategies? I often see organizations handle service recovery the same way for all unhappy customers - discounting and freebies. And I think they are giving too much away to avoid understanding the cause of each unhappy customer. Do you agree?
Customers are what you call them. Isn't it interesting how a simple name can create expectations? It may be expectations regarding the service one expects. Or it may indicate the value (or lack thereof) organizations place on their customers?
If an airline refers to the customer as a passenger, are expectations of service levels lower than if one is referred to as a guest? As one CRMAdvocate reader smarmily pointed out, maybe some airlines secretly think of passengers as "captives."
Another CRMAdvocate reader applied the question to the software industry where customers are often referred to as "users." What image do you get when you think of user? Did your mind go directly to the thought of illegal drugs? Now, there's a disconnect.
Is the customer relationship being sabotaged by such casual use of names? How do you get from where you are to that "Cheers feeling?" You know . . . where everyone knows your name.
Now that's the CRM feeling you should be looking for.
What do you call those who buy your products and services? The term 'customer' is most widely used. Among certain industries, 'client' is an popular term.
In other corners, they are referred to as passengers (travel), rate payers (utilities), and guests (hotels) among countless other names.
Employees of such organizations create attitudes based on these names. Good or bad. And those served (the customers), create attitudes about the company based on what they are called.
Is it time to re-visit the name you give those who buy your products and services? Can it be the catalyst of change you are looking for?
It was like a trip down memory lane when I shared my list of CX Hall of Famers. Such fond feelings for Hammer Lady, Biker Mom, and Guitar Man among others who raised their voice via old media and social media to bring attention to their customer experience. However, I received some comments asking if this was really a hall of fame list.
Busted. No, I can't say this is the best of the best. It just happens to be some of my favorite CX stories from past "takes" shared in this column.
But that got me thinking about a little crowdsourcing among the CRMAdvocate community and beyond.
Let's use this collective experience to share the best of the best. Give me your take on your favorite story the public outcry of a single customer who might have tweeted, YouTubed, posted or who may have been featured in print or broadcast. Or both. Even better are the examples of how organizations responded to individual CX activism.
Years ago, CRMAdvocate hosted a series of weekly webcasts. We were ahead of the times as there were very few other online programs being produced. None on a regular basis. Of course, that all changed.
Then came a tidal wave of new programming from wide variety of sources. We were no longer the only game in town and registrations were being divided and divided among all the programs.
As our differentiation diminished and the number of sources continued to grow, the decision was made to let our readership know about all the sources rather than just promote our own. The same for industry events.
I encourage you to click on the links above to check out upcoming webinars and events.
If you are hosting your own webinar or industry event, feel free to register with CRMAdvocate so we can list it too.
Recently, I have shared my take regarding two public customer experience situations: The Alec Baldwin/American Airlines tussle and the rogue FedEx employee chucking computer monitors over fences. To be more precise, my take has been about how businesses dealt with the situation especially against a backdrop of viral awareness via social media.
These are just two of many stories I have shared in the past. To keep the stories straight, I have given them my own little names. There is Biker Mom who blogged about her disagreement with Burgerville about using her bike at the drive-through window.
There is Hammer Lady who smashed Comcasts office equipment with said tool to get the customer service staff's attention. And, of course there is Guitar Man who wrote of his United Airlines experience.
Let's not forget PG&E's handling of the new power meters that mysteriously caused a concern over accuracy of billing or Dell hiding from faulty components. And perhaps the recent grand-daddy of them all was BP's mishandling of information about the gulf oil spill.
The recent examples show businesses are making very positive headway. Do you agree?
It was a great example of leadership's determination to get in front of the story. When it comes to rogue employees souring the customer experience and, thanks to the speed of social media a damaged brand as well, there really are only two types of businesses. There are those that have been stricken and those that will eventually be stricken.
Admit it . . . it's unavoidable regardless of the safeguards, the business processes, incentives, and/or the training.
When it happens, there are two things that will determine your success in getting in front of the story. First, you need a corporate resolve to not remain silent. Second, you need an established plan that can be executed in real time. Without these two things in place, organizations run the risk of not being able to make it happen.
If your rogue employee's action went viral today, would you be able to marshal the resources for a real time response?
When a customer unjustly tweets or posts about an poor experience, the old model was for the company to remain silent. Businesses are now learning to stay silent no longer. Such was the case with the Alec Baldwin/American Airlines tussle (see kick the customer off and group customer experience).
Likewise, businesses have learned the importance of not staying silent when an employee does something to tarnish the brand. For instance, take the video of the FedEx employee heaving an electronic monitor over the customer's fence.
FedEx promptly took to the same medium (among others) to explain how the actions of a lone employee did not represent the company or the other employees.
The speed and manner in which FedEx responded indicates an understanding that, regardless of safeguards, bad experiences will happen. That understanding was turned into action because there was preparedness to respond at the speed of social media. Unfortunately, the number of views of the incident (8M+) dwarfs the number of views of the company's response (0.4M+).
View the videos and tell me how well you think FedEx handled this situation.
While many organizations talk of "firing" customers that aren't worth it, very few do. In fact, most suffer in silence time after time again. A painful reminder that "this isn't working." Of course, Mr. Baldwin didn't stay silent. He used social media. He even went old school with an SNL skit. All good fun.
American Airlines recognized Mr. Baldwin was not right but that he was still the customer. I guess you could say they "fired" this unruly customer. And rather than taking the traditional approach of remaining silent, they spoke up in defense of their actions.
It was a bold step that was generally perceived by the public in a positive way. Staying silent no longer thanks to social media looks to go both ways.
One CRMAdvocate reader chimed in saying, "Call me old-fashioned but I still believe that you never win an argument with a customer. If there is a real or perceived wrong-doing, our goal should be to rise to the challenge and find a win-win solution."
While another reader offered, "It is clear that sometimes there is not a fit between a company and its customer. Those are the customers that should be 'fired.' I am surprised just how dumbstruck a customer is when I tell them it doesn't seem to be working out. Often this moves to a plea from a customer."
What percentage of your customer base belongs in the "not a fit" category? Most organizations don't really know how to separate the keepers from the losers. Are there common attributes that create the mismatch between what you offer and what they expect?
