COVID: Here to Stay
… at least for the moment. The coronavirus pandemic is shaping up to be a long-drawn-out affair. We have the perfect virus here: one that mutates regularly so that it can’t be eradicated quickly. It still needs to move on one more stage which is not to kill its host (that way, it would shed the need to mutate so often), but perhaps this is nature’s way of ‘thinning out the herd’?
Whatever happens, governments, businesses and institutions the world over will have to look at how to ‘live with it’, rather as we do with the perennial ‘flu bug’ that grips certain countries at a regular time every year. The best we can hope for at present, it seems, is to develop vaccinations and boosters to build up sufficient immunity. Perhaps even now, children are being born who have ‘natural immunity’.
So, assuming that the virus isn’t going away anytime soon, how do we adapt? Much has already happened in terms of social distancing, working from home (WFH), remote learning (that was something predicted in sci-fi movies of the 70s) and almost constant mask-wearing (again, predicted in earlier post-apocalyptic sci-fi, but for different reasons).
As business leaders, we need to ask how we need to (and can) adapt to a new order that is likely to be with us for some time. What will we need in terms of (among others):
- People?
- Technical skills?
- Soft skills
- Leadership skills?
- Equipment?
- Premises (and refurbishments to cope with social distancing)?
- Staff needs and scheduling as they cope with the impact on their families?
- Rostering?
Businesses specialising in food and goods deliveries have seen their income grow. Tools like Zoom for teleconferencing are also in high demand. PC and laptop sales have also seen heavy growth as people WFH and students update or purchase laptops for the first time. Internet providers will also have seen an increase in demand and (hopefully), income.
Many have accepted the need for masks, social distancing and vaccination. A minority of die-hard ‘freedom expressionistas’ have decided that society’s duty to them and their ‘rights’ outweighs their obligation to their community, but that’s the price of free speech and democracy…. Some will, sadly, succumb to coronavirus (we have already seen examples of this). How do we ensure our businesses and people aren’t among them?
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I 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. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Financial, Leadership, Social, Strategy, Teamwork
Choose Your Words
We see it all-too often – the ill-turned phrase that results in unintended consequences. From King Henry II’s ‘Will nobody rid me of this turbulent priest?’ to the latest gaffes by politicians, businessmen (remember Gerald Ratner’s classic ‘People say to me, “how can you sell this for such a low price?” And I say because it’s total crap’?), people have said things that provoked reactions no one could foresee.
I’m now watching a situation where a politician has said something as an illustration and warning, but which resulted in panic buying, a quasi-retraction and another warning. The person in question has a very difficult job, and there’s plenty of opportunity to misconstrue anything said.
Be that as it may, we need to ‘watch our words’. Ignoring the politically correct lobby who will always be on the lookout for the most minor faux pas, we need to remember that timing is everything and that those listening to us may be in a very different frame of mind. At present, the world is battling the coronavirus pandemic, some countries and industries are falling into deep recession and people can’t pay their bills. Many people’s ‘sense of humour’ has gone out of the window and they could be prone to react to any dire news regarding the pandemic.
When I lead public speaking workshops, I have a section on audiences and sensitivities. Not only do we have little control over those in the crowd in front of us, we have even less over our ‘wider audience’, that is those reporting our speeches on TV, in the news, on YouTube or on Twitter. Everyone will put their own slant on what we say because they’re filtering it through their own experiences, both past and present. What may seem a harmless quip to us may be mortally offensive to another – who is to say one is ‘wrong’ and the other ‘right’?
Sadly the doctrine of ‘be reasonable’ no longer seems to apply and we will forever be playing catch-up in terms of what-we-said-versus-what-we-meant.
To use Robert McCloskey’s words, ‘I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I’m not sure you realise that what you heard is not what I meant.’
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I 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. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Risk, Social
How To Lose Goodwill - Fast
One of the keys to remaining in business is keeping our customers happy (the other is to keep our workers happy). Some organisations (monopoly providers, mainly) may be lucky enough not to need to worry about keeping people happy, but as the business world evolves, technology and its penetration into the ‘mass market’ increases, and peoples’ needs and priorities change, businesses need to stay alert.
One sure-fire way of driving business away is to keep changing ‘the rules’ (but without telling anyone). This ‘salami-slicing’ with continuous requests for more/another something-or-other is guaranteed to send customers running into the arms of any competitor who proves themselves more reasonable or less demanding.
At times, we have no choice - ‘The Law’ changes. Think of the aftermath of 9/11 – suddenly banks were asking customers for information for which they had never asked in the past (some of it quite intrusive). If they didn’t gather this information, your account could be closed, cutting you off from financial services – one of life’s most basic necessities. The tragedy here was that increased scrutiny didn’t really result in fewer terrorist attacks or atrocities in other parts of the world. The terrorist mind, ingenious as ever, simply devised new ways around the problem.
Where we have no choice, the issue then becomes one of how we deliver the news. When customers understand why something has happened, they generally tend to be more forgiving (especially where we, as the ‘enforcer’, must implement or else…). Simply saying ‘It’s policy’ isn’t going to cut much ice, particularly if customers have a choice of going elsewhere. Even if they don’t, we’ll have to work to regain their trust.
I recently experienced a case of ‘changing rules’ with a business partner. 30 days ago, they had made an (in my opinion), ‘unreasonable’ request that suggested a lack of flexibility and (dare I say) professionalism. I had no choice but to comply if I wanted payment. 30 days later, another request came. No effort was made to explain what was going on – just a simple forwarding of an email from some nameless functionary within the organisation. The problem is, I refer business to that partner. If this is how they treat my business, how do they treat those whom I send?
There are ways of dealing with people, bit in the heat of getting things done, we’re often guilty of forgetting this.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I 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. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Customer Care, Selling, Strategy
Contacting Customer Support
I’m noticing an increasing number of websites where we can buy goods or services which allow one to contact ‘Customer Support’ or ‘Tech Support’, depending on the nature of the product or service on offer. Some of these offer the option of contacting by phone, direct messaging, or email. With others, the choice tends to be more ‘restrictive’.
With the growth of online purchases, particularly during the coronavirus pandemic, e-commerce has boomed. People are buying online to avoid crowded shopping areas where coronavirus may spread. It’s also more convenient and results in less time spent driving, parking, walking to the store and queuing to check out.
The problem comes when one needs help. Some vendors, as I mentioned earlier, offer different choices for contact. Other may only offer direct messaging or calling. The downside with both of the latter is that socially distancing rules has resulted in fewer operators or support staff being able to work at Help Centres to field calls. Some may only offer support during their home country’s office hours – not great if one lives in a time zone seven hours ahead of where the service provider operates, or if the product/service breaks down after office hours in the home country…
The objective of any help service is to help. Many of my problems aren’t what I’d call ‘time critical’, so I’m happy to email (if I’m allowed to) the vendor and state the problem. Nowadays, some even offer in their online ‘Complaint Form’ to call back at a time convenient to me.
If we’re going to offer help, we need to accept that it needs to be available and, if we have global customers, available on a 24/7 basis. Customers should have the option of:
- Calling
- Messaging
- Emailing (for less time-sensitive issues)
For the most part, I suspect that very few problems are that time-critical. If they are, then the vendor needs to be ‘on call’ at all times. This means support staff being able to work from home to resolve the issue.
Customer expectations are evolving. As businesses, our Customer Support needs to evolve with them.
I’ve spent more than half my life delivering change in different world markets from the most developed to “emerging” economies. With a wealth of international experience in international financial services around the world running different operations and lending businesses, I started my own Consultancy to provide solutions for improving performance, productivity and risk management. I 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. For strategic questions that you should be asking yourself, follow me at @wkm610.
Labels: Crisis Management, Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Teamwork
