How Do You Make Customers Feel Valued?
“People will forget
what you say but never the way you make them feel.” says Robin Seiger, the
author of “Natural Born Winners”. I
recently experienced this first-hand with Charles
Tyrwhitt – a men’s and women’s outfitters with stores in the UK, USA and France.
I had ordered some shirts which arrived with minimal delay
and have enjoyed wearing them since.
What I didn’t expect was that one week later a letter would arrive in my
letterbox. This was signed by the head
of Charles Tyrwhitt and started by thanking me for buying. It then went on to tell me about the
company’s ethos and asked if I had any comments that I would like to share
(giving an email address for the head of the company).
Enclosed with the letter was also a voucher offering me
£10 off my next purchase.
I sent some comments off to the email address and thought
that I would hear no more. How wrong I
was. Within the same day, a charming
reply came back thanking me for my comments and answering the points that I had made.
In short, Charles Tyrwhitt took the time to make me feel valued.
There are very few companies that actually manage this critical part of
customer relations. Of course, some have
thousands of transactions a day, so could not possibly be expected to write to
each and every buyer (or could they, given modern technology?).
What did Charles Tyrwhitt do? They:
·
Delivered high quality goods quickly;
·
Thanked me for my business;
·
Asked what I thought of them;
·
Replied instantly after I had sent my comments;
·
Made me feel valued.
It made me wonder how often I make my clients (actual and
prospective) feel valued when they deal with me. Do they feel valued, or like “just another
number”. I want to ensure that it’s the
former. I’ve also listed what I must do
to make sure that they always feel this way:
·
Always take the time to listen (you never know if
they’ll be the ones to recommend you to others);
·
Always take the time to thank them for their
enquiry or business;
·
Do it quickly;
·
Do something extra to show my gratitude (not
sure I can afford £10 every time);
·
Thank them for feedback (both positive and
negative) promptly and act on it.
Just because a company doesn’t write to thank me every time
I buy from them doesn’t mean I won’t continue using them, but the ones that go
that extra mile will be the ones that I remember and recommend to others.
What better (and free) PR could you have than
a loyal customer shouting your name from the rooftops?
I have spent more than half my life working in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy and work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy, Teamwork
Banks Need To Change...
“Banker bashing” has
become a national sport in certain countries, taking over from estate agents,
journalists and politicians. Some of it
(as always) is “scapegoating”, but a lot of the ire seems justified, given what
we are seeing.
As a former banker myself, I
feel both ashamed and annoyed at the antics we see. When I joined the UK banking industry over 25 years ago, it was a respected (if not that lucrative)
profession. There were standards
of conduct, and the “bonus culture” had not yet arrived. If you were lucky, you received an extra
month’s salary near Christmas – a most welcome relief, but nothing like the
“telephone number” bonuses paid out these days.
You were taught that you had an ethical
as well as a professional duty.
Since then, much has
happened. The UK deregulated its
financial services markets in 1986 (“Big Bang”) and cross-fertilisation and
mergers became the order of the day. You
either survived by merging or acquiring and some players completely disappeared
from the market. As time went on and
transparency increased, performance and financial strength information were
scrutinised more carefully, and banks slowly turned into what some might now
call “businesses” dependent on the goodwill of markets and analysts.
The Bank of England (BoE) had
been in charge of supervision in the UK, but as markets became more
complicated, people began to think that it was no longer up to the task,
especially as it was seen to be “conflicted” in regulating its own.
To end this, the UK Financial Services
Authority (UKFSA) was created as an independent regulator with
four statutory objectives
against which one might be justified in saying that it has failed to
deliver.
It is now to be re-absorbed
into the BoE as Britain’s politicians re-arrange the proverbial deckchairs on
the Titanic in an effort to be “seen to be doing something”.
Finally, 2007 saw the start of
the global banking crisis that has affected every corner of the globe. Where are we now?
·
The global financial services industry is more
complicated thanks to technological and financial innovation. We now have products that we couldn’t have
dreamt about 20 years ago - and delivered at a lower price.
·
The global financial services industry is
“global” – with banks in one country connected to others as the current
financial crisis shows.
·
The sort of person working there now is a far
cry from the “old fashioned” branch manager who knew all his customers intimately and could make lending decisions without referring to a central credit risk unit. Make no mistake, an infusion of new blood was
needed as the UK financial services market seemed at times to be in serious
danger of going the way of the dodo due to chronic “inbreeding”. Equally, as foreign institutions took over
British ones, the character of “The City” inevitably had to change. Staff now have more training and have to
prove that they are competent to deal in products.
·
One of the things that banks have never got
right is their PR – their customers can be just as (if not more) sophisticated
and yet continually see the so-called “Masters of the Universe” ignore
them. This is now starting to bite
back.
·
Banks now have to submit to sterner oversight
and to increased capital requirements to ensure that taxpayers don’t have to
bail them out to save bond and shareholders, as well as to prevent a systemic
loss of confidence. We are belatedly
beginning to realise that we don’t
have all the answers to risk management – whatever the business school
graduates (and I have worked with a number of them) may tell us.
It’s not only banks, but
governments, businesses and individual consumers who have learnt the hard way
that the global financial services industry is in serious need of repair. What’s missing is a global solution as
nations take their own, sometimes contradictory, action. Very few focus on the fiduciary element mentioned earlier in this article.
Banks occupy a “grey area”
between businesses and public sector companies.
They are essential to an economy’s health and confidence; one might
describe them as “strategically important assets”. Treat them as any other business, and they will behave accordingly, with the risks that go with this.
Banks need to go “back to basics”
and re-establish trust with governments, regulators, investors, the media and
their customers.
The era of being able
to say “We know better” is over, and the sooner that everyone realises this,
the better.
It may mean that banks
become more “boring” and that everyone will have to lower expectations in all
areas but trust and stability, but it’s worth it.
I have spent more than half my life working in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy and work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.Labels: Career, Regulation, Social, Strategy
Are You In A "Gold Medal" Organisation?
The current
excitement over the London Olympics makes me ask this question. The
current crop of athletes now vying to win any one of 302 competitions and earn
a gold medal makes me think of how businesses compete in the market to win a
slice of business.
The athlete
standing triumphant on the podium is the symbol of sporting excellence, but
like any business, there’s a vast team behind him or her making sure that he or
she is in the best possible mental and physical condition to win.
A “gold medal
business” doesn’t just happen. It takes months and years of training and
honing skills. Athletes don’t “burst on the scene” – they’ve been
practising for ages. It’s the same with
businesses. People “grow” into companies
– but more often than not, they’re expected to be “rainmakers”
immediately. Some achieve this, others
don’t.
The team has
coaches, doctors, physiotherapists, nutritionists, psychologists, planners, tacticians, observers, administrators,
logistics managers, drivers and others. Around them are the organisers
judges and volunteers of the Games (similar to business groups and regulators). People will tell me that business is the same
with its accountants, lawyers, IT staff, administrators, HR managers, but
unlike the athletic world, one corporate worker hardly sees their “physio” from
one year to the next, except possibly at appraisal time.
Everyone in the team is focussed on one thing and they all know what it is: to get the athlete/team into the best possible physical and mental shape possible to take gold. It's a simple mission, easily communicated and understood. Everyone knows exactly what they have to do. They know who the competition is, their weaknesses and what they may do. Feedback on results is immediate and unambiguous both in practice and in competition. Results can't be fudged (unless doping is involved).
Performance in the stadium, on the road or on the wateris affected by any number of factors (temperature, wind speed, condition of track, light, current, changes in rules, for example) - just as happens in business. The athletes who win do so because they can overcome these, or because those around them are less successful in managing them. They may have control over some, and little or none over others
There are
winners, losers, surprises and disappointments. As in business, we
occasionally see abuse of the system in the behaviour of a very few
athletes. These have (rightly) been publicly shamed and dealt with
swiftly. Would that it were as easy elsewhere…
Even “office politics” can rear its head, as inter-team disputes come
to the fore (this happened with at least one of the teams at the London
Olympics).
For the winners,
there’s a medal, recognition and other rewards.
Interestingly, these don’t, for the most part, consist of obscenely high
amounts of money. In this writer’s
opinion, gold medal winners achieve far more than many of those in corporate
life and at much higher personal sacrifice.
Medal level performance costs: athletes spend years focussing on their goal, spend large amounts of time away from families and have little time for other pursuits. There are plenty of “work widows” who would say the same about the business world.
So looking at your business or organisation, ask yourself:
· What are our goals?
· Is it easy to remember them?
· Have we communicated them to everyone so that they understand them as I/we at the top do?
· Does everyone know what they themselves have to do to ensure that we reach them?
· What support is available to ensure that our “athletes” are in tip-top condition?
· How do we know if we’ve achieved our goals?
· How do we reward our “athletes”?
You
might be unpleasantly surprised at the answers.
I have spent more than half my life working in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With more than 20 years in the world financial services industry running different service, operations and lending businesses, I started my own Performance Management Consultancy and work with individuals, small businesses, charities, quoted companies and academic institutions across the world. An international speaker, trainer, author and fund-raiser, I can be contacted by email . My website provides a full picture of my portfolio of services.
Labels: Career, Strategy, Teamwork
