We Prefer Humans
A graphic appeared in my inbox from the Qualtrics XM Institute, which monitors customer experience and how to manage it.
The key finding for me was that, in 80% of cases across nine typical interactions with product/service providers, customers preferred dealing with another human being and in several cases, up to 5 times more. In only two cases (booking airline tickets and getting a status update on an order placed) were they happy to use a remote service.
Humans are social animals. We enjoy interacting with others. One of the main contributors to the onset of dementia is social isolation.
Now look at many of the services we use. Most banks have some kind of online banking system towards which customers are directed. The same applies to many other service and product providers who tout their online systems as the solution to everything. Many times, it isn’t.
An amusing anecdote recounted to me by one of my mother‘s friends concerned her calling her bank branch and being told repeatedly that “the system” could answer any question. She rang 10 minutes later to explain that “the system” could not confirm to her, whether she had left her glasses at her branch when she visited earlier that day!
While all these remote channels are being introduced, customer experience seems to be on a downward trend and some service providers are even complaining that they don’t see enough of their customers. No surprise here considering that those very same providers have driven them away. In the UK, banks are closing branches due to costs (which admittedly are high for “bricks and mortar” branches) and also because they perceive that remote delivery systems (i.e. online banking) are sufficient to deal with most needs.
This also ignores another market: that of the computer illiterate. I’ve already written about this particular market – a generation of (mostly) elderly people who don’t use computers and see little benefit to them in doing so. Businesses, banks and other service providers are ignoring a potential section of their consumers. Give it another 15 to 20 years, however, and I suspect most of these customers will have left this world.
How much does your business rely on face-to-face interaction? How effective do you find yourself if you are able to deal with people face-to-face or online? In our business, we found that channels, such as Zoom only went a certain distance in supporting us. Towards the end of the COVID pandemic, everyone was heartily fed up with Zoom and remote working: ourselves, our clients and the institutions with whom we deal. Our first open “Live fair” saw a veritable tsunami of people coming to the venue we had booked.
We can never discount the face-to-face factor that forms such a critical part of our business. Those who do are likely to fall by the wayside.
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.
Labels: Customer Care, Leadership, Productivity, Selling, Social, Strategy
Who's "Flexible"?
A report in the BBC news in early September, commented that, whilst some employers continue to remain flexible about coming back to the office, others are taking a firmer line.
According to one survey from Kastle systems, which measured entry swipes at office buildings, average workplace occupancy among 41,000 businesses in the US was around 50% by July 2023. Here was an opportunity to cut down on rented office space. Unfortunately, those who owned their building found themselves with empty offices and empty floors (opportunity to rent out to others).
The result was that some businesses are getting tougher, expecting employees to attend work. However, the strength of this demand seems to vary; whilst some are simply requiring people to be back at work with no exceptions, others are asking them to attend partially, or in what one might describe as a hybrid manner where they work from home some days and in the office on the others.
Ironically, Zoom, the company that became synonymous with the work from home (WFH) ethic thanks to its video conferencing platform, is one of those now requiring its staff to adopt hybrid working.
Personally, I have no problem with working in the office. It enables me to work on my own when I need to (I am fortunate enough to have my own office space), but also, I can chat with colleagues and bounce ideas off them. (assuming they’re available). The work from home era imposed by COVID began to pall after a while, and I found myself missing the (for me) short journey into work and the personal interaction with my colleagues. It also provided a change of scenery from the four walls of my living room-cum-workspace as well as to separate work from “life”.
My own view is that it makes sense to adopt hybrid working where possible. I do, however, know people who, being introvert, preferred the isolation of working from home and managing in their own way. How we deal with these workers in future will be very much up to employers. Some have work of such a nature that working remotely is exactly what they encourage (my son’s employer is one). What matters is productivity.
Others, however, whose business involves more “face time“ with both workers and customers will find it necessary to require at least some participation on site in the office.
The “new normal” so trumpeted by many after the COVID pandemic has run its course and continues to be a “movable feast”. Employers will need to maintain a flexible attitude (and, if necessary, reduce the amount of office space the rent or own) if they are to survive.
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.
Labels: Career, Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork
Who's Connected?
The discussion about working from home, its benefits and downsides continues apace.
A recent examination of the WFH phenomenon explored how many workers felt “connected” to their employers. According to Gallup, only 28% of fully remote workers felt connected to the workplace, down from 32% in 2022. On the other side, on-site employees came in at 33% feeling connected.
So who, you ask, felt most connected? Interestingly, it was the “hybrid” workers (by which I assume they mean people WFH and going into the office as needed). This group came in at 35%.
To me, the most telling result isn’t so much the percentages feeling “connected” as the implied numbers that don’t - over 60% (no matter whether “remote”, “full-time” or “hybrid”). A sense of being connected or what some call belonging can come from a variety of factors: your colleagues, your boss, the company’s vision (and how effectively is this shared in many cases?) and of course, compensation! When it comes to any of these factors, they may have a greater or lesser impact, but suffice to say, if compensation (salary, benefits, other “perks”) remains static, then workers will inevitably feel less connected, loyal, or however we want to put it.
Conclusion? Leadership continues to play the most important role: explaining and sharing the vision, knowing their direct reports and what’s important to them, making sure that the latter is acknowledged and actioned.
Whether working from home, on site or “hybrid”, people can feel engaged or not if the right efforts are made.
No matter how high the money, lack of leadership loses people.
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.
Labels: Leadership, Productivity, Teamwork
