When you aren't happy with a product or a service, what do you do? Are you a screamer? Do you yell at the desk clerk for a discount because your room didn't have enough soap? Do you think the world is full of idiots? Are you like me and just walk away vowing never to come back? I have on rare occasion blogged about my issues with other business and only once did I ever hear about it. Intuit had a rep track me down to help fix my Quickbooks issues.
I stopped blogging about negative experiences by name a little while ago. I wish I could say a long time ago. Now I am trying to blog by the adage “If you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all”. Occasionally a reference will slip in here or there, and I am trying to quit. I used to start some of my magazine articles out with a reference to a bad situation, and work it in to a positive result. The negative starts were a method to connect to the reader so I could lead them to an answer. That practice stopped when a couple of editors turned away my work for being negative.
Looking back I am impressed that Intuit actively seeks out unhappy customers on the web to try and fix the issues. There is a lesson here that most leaders and small business owners forget.
If you want to know, you have to ask. Intuit asked.
Let's think about this for a moment. If you want to know what you kids are doing after school, you have to ask. You can't just ask once, you need to ask every day. The same is true for the rest of your family. It is also true in business. If you really want to know what your customers think of your business, or want to know how you did, just go ask them.
We all know this is a lot harder than it sounds or everyone would do it. When an employee quits, the exit interview is the very best time to understand what the company is doing that would cause someone to leave. I know a McDonald's with several employees that have been there over 5 years. Another chain down the street is filled with fresh faces every time I stop by. Training all of those people doesn't come cheap. Ask what you need to do to get people to stay. If you want to know you have to ask.
In business the single most important asset is your people. Second is your customers. If your people are not attracting and keeping the customers, you won't have a business for long. Ask your customers and they will tell you what they like about your people and what they don't like. Once in a while you get lucky and a screamer comes in and tells the world what you are doing wrong. You just have to be ready to listen. I have to admit during my 25 years as a business owner and leader, I have had more than one customer who “let me have it” verbally. Being open minded and listening to everything they say can be some of the most valuable customer feedback you will ever get. I am also slightly embarrassed to say everything they said was true. All of the events that made them angry really happened. At the point they are screaming at you out loud, they aren't sugar coating their thoughts. The rest of my customers I have to ask.
This is why employees are so important. If you trained them right and your company has a valid mission, your employees will do three things when they encounter a screamer. First they will listen closely and take notes on everything they say. Second they will make a change that calms the customer or better yet makes them happy. Finally they will use the information the come up with a solution or process so there isn't another screamer for the same reason. This is why employees are first, customers second. Without your employees, the customers will never come back.
Never once have we finished a project to have a customer say “Gee Scott, this was the most wonderful experience of my life, you made it so easy for us, all we can say is Thank You.” Every time we find out something that we can improve. One of the major things for our residential installation business was the amount of time it takes to install and program a larger system. Many dealers tell me that they do it at the job site so the customers know why 50-70% of their jobs cost is labor. We now try to shop build and program as much as we can. We asked our customers and they told us they didn't like all the time they had to be there for us to do our job. It turned out they felt we weren't respecting their time.
We also figured out that a couple of brands weren't as easy for our customers to use as we thought, and others were more so. Guess what we sell now.
Anyone can take the easy way out at the end of the transaction with the customer and let them leave. The people who want to get better and be more successful will chase them down and ask the questions other people are afraid of. Success is all about the willingness to do what most people won't. You will be amazed at how fast you can separate yourself from the pack by calling a customer after you have finished the job. Unless the job went really bad, they probably won't call you.
The willingness to do what others won't is a major step in separating yourself from everyone else. Start by asking what you can do better. It doesn't matter what the subject, business, marriage or friendship. Malcom Forbes once said “With all they getting, get understanding.” We get understanding by simply asking questions. The team that Lee Iacocca brought in to run Ford in the 60's and save Chrysler in the 80's were called “The quiz kids” because they asked so many questions. From today forward, go out without fear, open up your mind and ask the questions your competitors are afraid to ask. If you don't ask, you may never know and worse your competitors might ask.
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Thank you for your insights.