Hi there and welcome to this edition of Arizion’s customer service news letter.!
 
In this issue you will find:
 
1) Customer feedback
2) Recruiting for service
3) The “boomerang principle”
4) Heroes & Rogues

1) Customer Feedback

In the September issue of this newsletter we talked about REALLY getting to know your customers by listening to them, as a result of which you can continue to develop your products and services to meet their requirements.

 Here are a couple of examples of “light bulb” moments when businesses realized how important listening to their customers was.

The two founders of Infinite Ideas, a publishing and licencing company initially suffered a number of setbacks, one of the biggest being that they focused so much effort on administration that they forgot about their customers! They said “We stopped being entrepreneurs and started counting paperclips, the failure was in not talking to our customers enough”. They have since gone on to sign a 20 book deal in America.

Ford COO and President Sir Nick Scheele said:

When I was in charge of Jaguar, I used to use the trip home to listen to tapes we had made of customers calling in with a complaint. I remember driving home and cringing as I listened to one particular call. It was a woman describing how she had to climb out of the sun roof of her car, in the pouring rain, slide down the windscreen and off the bonnet, because the electronic door locks of her Jaguar had seized up. You can imagine the state of mind she was in, the distress that our product had created, and it was only through hearing directly from the customer that I partially shared that state of mind – was allowed into it. If you have intermediaries between you and your customers, your markets, then you are too far removed from their pain to take swift action”.

Customers can be one of your biggest resources to enable you to understand the impact of your products and services, and yet many organizations do not take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. How do you listen to YOUR customer’s feedback? Why not share your thoughts with others by sending a reply to this newsletter?

2) Recruiting for service

In the majority of businesses, the most expensive line on your profit and loss accounts is the wage cost. This can be either your most effective investment, or your biggest drain on resource dependant on how you recruit your people. Historically, when recruiting for a vacancy, businesses have scanned the CV or application form looking for relevant work history and experience, however there is a growing train of thought, that it is beneficial to recruit for attitude, and then train for a particular role or vacancy. As one business leader recently described, “I only recruit smiley people – I surround myself with happy people and have built up a really successful team”. It might also be worth considering if you have defined the type of person or people that you want working with you to get consistency across the organization. Once your new member of staff has joined you, how do you maintain that “smiley” outlook? How about a comprehensive induction to make them feel at home, a structured training programme so that they have the skills to deliver the role that you have recruited them for, and what about regular and genuine praise for a job well done? It’s not rocket science, but in this fast paced world, do you always remember the basics. More on appreciation and recognition in the next news letter!

3) The “boomerang principle”

Feargal Quinn founded the Superquinn supermarket chain in Ireland, and has built a reputation as an outstanding service provider. He introduced the concept of the “boomerang principle”, which he describes in a nutshell as:

“running your business as if the sole idea was to bring your customers back to you again and again, rather than to maximize your profit from today’s visit. I believe very strongly that most businesses, and certainly all retailing businesses, should be in the business of creating long-term revenue streams from customers. They should approach every customer, every single transaction, from the perspective of that customer’s value to you over a life time”.

It is worth bearing in mind the well researched statistic that it costs 5 to 7 times as much to attract a new customer as it does to keep an existing customer.

If you would like to know more about Feargal and his philosophies, his book, Crowning the Customer is full of his thoughts about how to create a customer focused culture.
(ISBN 0-86278-242-2 paperback)

4) Heroes and Rogues

How many times have you been to a shop, restaurant, bank, Hotel etc. and  thought how fantastic the service was? Usually when I ask that question, people struggle to think of an outstanding service provider and say “it is much easier to think of some poor service I have had recently”! Perhaps that is a reflection on the distance we still have to go in the UK to make outstanding service the norm.

Well here is your chance to celebrate those exceptional people or teams who have provided something extra special. On the other hand, perhaps by naming and shaming some of the less professional service providers, it might encourage them to do something about the service they provide. If you come across any fantastic (or not) service, drop me a line with some details (which we will validate) and we will post them on the Heroes and Rogues gallery at www.arizion.co.uk. Photos of the service professionals would be great with a few words about why your experience was so good (or not). The first Heroes are on-line from a Little Chef in West Sussex – have a look and let’s build a role of honour!

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Have a great  week
 
 
 
Geoff