Message of the Day - Killing Customer Loyalty

Good Morning,

 

A few months ago my family moved from on cell phone provider to another. Now all of our services are with AT&T. As expected there was the cancellation fees from the other provider, but the amount of those fees and the treatment we have had from that company since our move has been nothing less than horrific. The painful time is exacerbated by phone reps who keep giving us different information, and setting expectations which are not being met. At one time I had a call escalated up about four levels to a manager who called me back. While he apologized for the treatment of a customer who has always paid on time, had a few upgrades, he said that there was little that he could do, as it was the system they were bound by, and the expectations of what we could expect, like all of the other phone reps, has failed to occur.  

 

I was not going to write about this experience, when on Sunday, a member of my bible study class told me about an experience he had with a financial firm he was moving his funds out of for a similar consolidation. The company not only treated him poorly, but lost funds on purpose to hurt him on the way out. He had to threaten legal action and reporting the company to the SEC before it was made right.

 

In both cases, these companies have lost customers for life. No matter how much money we could possibly save going back to that other provider, it is just not going to happen unless they make it right, and per the many different levels of management and representatives I spoke with, it is just not going to happen.

 

Why do companies do this? Is it greed? Is it stupidity? Is it just bad business?

 

In our economy there is very little room for savings, rather,  the competition  across the globe has forced companies to get leaner and meaner. Eventually the only differentiator between them is their customer service.

 

In a training on personality types I once learned that someone’s true personality or leadership style is best seen in how they react under pressure. That the nice facades are lost under trying situations. You see what people truly think and feel. Companies seem to be the same way.

 

All the niceties of treating a customer well when they are being wooed are worthless when after they leave, they are treated like dirt.

 

It should be like the State Farm commercials where the company is nice to the customer after they leave and open to letting them back. 

 

As consumers today tend to move about, it is a chance for companies to bring them back with good customer service, especially when the customer leaves.

 

Treat them well when they leave and you have a better chance of getting them back. Treat them like garbage and you can pretty much say goodbye to that customer ever again. Oh, and those who they reach out to and share their tales of woe.

 

This also works on the levels of friendships and families. End a friendship or relationship in a harsh and mean way and you could find that these people will never be back. And if that is a good thing, great, but if not….

 

It all comes down to treating people with respect.

 

Respect everyone, no matter the situation, no matter how you feel or what they have done to you or your organization. You can respectfully fire a customer or an employee, or you could be mean and cruel about it.

 

Since we are all interconnected with everyone else, we tend to run into the same people again and again, in different capacities.

 

For example, I was at a Boy Scout training on Saturday, as I am an Assistant Scoutmaster for a local troop. At the vendor room (Mid-Way) was a table for the Louisville Zoo, manned by the President of the Docents. He also happened to be the President of the Louisville Pipe and Drum Band. I knew him because I am also the President of the Louisville Scottish Society. And as the Chairman of the Customer Contact Center Network, we recently had a speaker who donated part of his speaking fee to the Louisville Zoo. Talk about being interconnected.

 

And as we are interconnected, the poor treatment people or companies give to each other can have exaggerated impact well beyond the simple act we thing should mean nothing.

 

Something to think about.

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
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Message of the Day - A Dichotomy in Learning

Good Morning,

 

Most people will tell you that learning is a good thing. Well, I would like to think that all people would consider learning a good thing, even if it is only for themselves (with exception to evil geniuses).

 

Yet, there are times that learning is shunned, blocked and attacked.

 

I want to let that sink in for a moment.

 

There are people & organizations who will attack you for learning, or for even attempting to learn.

 

Let me walk you through this.

 

There is basically two types of learned material.

 

1.       What you did not know before.

2.       A correction or update to what you knew before.

 

That is, we either learn something new, or we find out that something we thought we knew before was not entirely accurate, up to date, or relevant in today’s world.

 

So why would anyone attack these?

 

Part of it is where we learn. For example, many people learn from the mistakes they make. Or, better, learn from the mistakes that others make.

 

What if told you that there were organizations where mistakes were simply not allowed.

 

That instead of learning from mistakes, people had to ensure they were perfect each and every time, or else. In that situation, not only are people deprived of learning on how to do things better, they live with the stress of a tightrope walker without a net.

 

In some arena’s people are held accountable for what they believe, and are considered fickle of they ever change.

 

In the world of politics, candidates are attacked for changing their minds. That, if they find out that they did not have the full information, they are called to the carpet for changing their minds. In cases where people waffle, it is important to call them on it as it is an indication on how they will lead. But when someone learns something new, they should be praised on learning, and not forced to hide it or worse ignore it.

 

In other areas there are those who need to be right that they fight anything which may indicate that they could be wrong. That learning something new, if it disagrees with their current believes just must be wrong.

 

Knowledge is a living, breathing entity. It grows in all directions. We learn more about our past, our present and our future every day. Some of these new concepts are new facts found from past truths, which we can now see more clearly than in the past. You know, like how bran is healthy for you, so eat a lot of it, except that now bran is not that good for you, so don’t eat that much of it. Maybe next year, bran will be back in. Stay tuned.

 

Learning is good, and it helps us all get better.  

 

We should refrain from allowing those who would stifle learning by outlawing mistakes or failure, holding people accountable to their beliefs no matter what, and those who must be right at all costs…lighten up, perfection is far from readily being available.

 

When we learn and grow daily, we improve ourselves and we improve our organizations and we improve the lives of those around us.

 

How could this dichotomy of learning ever be a bad thing? (with the possible exception of the evil genius who learns how to take over the world).

 

Enjoy (unless you are a mad evil genius bent on taking over the world)!

 

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

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Message of the Day - Serendipity with a Cell Phone

Good Morning,

 

This Saturday morning, it was another day to sleep in, well, at least a little. Another day to rest, to recoup from a busy week. This Saturday, a day to enjoy a Christmas present from our daughters, in a breakfast with my wife at Cracker Barrel.

 

I don’t know why I grabbed my Bluetooth headset when we headed out.  I did not plan on calling anyone that morning and certainly, most of the folks who call me are still generally sleeping at that time…the ones without dogs who remind them to wake up early, even when the alarms are turned off.

 

Karen and I had a delightful breakfast and as we were perusing the country store part of the restaurant, when I get a call from Kirk Weisler, my friend and mentor (www.kirkweisler.com). I was happily surprised as I had not spoken to him in about a year.

 

I was even more surprised when he told me that I called him several times earlier that morning, you know, I pocket-dialed him. Turns out, I did not turn off my headset (it has an on/off switch, which works really well, when….you remember to use it… ) I am not sure how my cell phone and headset sorted through my contacts and chose to call Kirk out of the nearly 1,000 names.

 

One of those mysteries of life. Or maybe it’s not a mystery at all.

 

Anyway, we caught up and shared where we were, what projects we were working on and it was an uplifting, albeit, unplanned conversation.

 

One of things I shared was that my life had become more hectic, more work at work, more organizational stuff, more family stuff, and my writing has suffered, in that I used to write 4 messages a week, now I am lucky to get out 4 in a month. I had planned for a second book to be ready by this time, and it is still in the basic draft of sorted emails.

 

Kirk reminded me that he enjoyed my emails and how they help him and others. That made a big difference. Following on the footsteps of another email recipient who told me the same thing, I realize that I need to continue.

 

The little things in our lives, those weird coincidences, having an idea to do something, and then seeing something totally random with the same thought. Turning on a radio and hearing a song whose words match your thoughts.

 

Serendipity, the finding something enjoyable when you were not looking for it, like words of support and affirmation from a loved mentor coming when you need them most.

 

An unplanned phone call and an injection of morale boosting confidence received from a man who knows how to make a difference.  Thanks again Kirk!

 

Time get cracking again!

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

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Message of the Day: "Orders Be Damned!"

Good Morning,

 

Those who know me know that I have a tendency to be unconventional, out of the box…very out of the box…thinker. This different approach to life is both a blessing and curse in that I can often see things that others miss and at the same time there are things right in front of my face which I can be oblivious to. And to those of you who have often showed me what was dangling in plain sight, I thank you. (no matter how much I may have grumbled at you at the time).

 

One thing that I have noticed and is that when we look at rules we each see them differently. Some see rules as the unchangeable path that must be taken and there are those who look beyond the letter of the law to the spirit. That is, we look at why the rule or law was made and what would constitute the following of it, or achieving the goal.

 

Currently I am listening to a historical novel called ‘To Try Men’s Souls’ by Newt Gingrich and in one part Thomas Paine (if you don’t know who he was, Google him), was walking into Trenton, NJ with orders to cross into Pennsylvania and go to Philadelphia. A curmudgeon of a solder on duty stopped him and asked him for his orders, which Tom did not have, as they were given to him verbally by General Washington,  and what regiment he was with. Tom’s regiment had long since disbanded months ago. The soldier on duty was going to arrest Tom Paine as a deserter without so much as thinking through the situation. For example, why would a deserter fall in with the Army? Etc.

 

It made me think of the folks I have encountered through my life who also sticklers for the rules. And yes, I know there are times where rules are to be followed without question, when failure to do so could cause life or limb. But, in the many cases when following the rules with blind faith actually causes more harm than good.

 

When people are given rules to follow, they should be allowed to understand the why the rule is in effect, or otherwise they are to work more or less like automatons. And in that case, those jobs will be going overseas as managers can train automatons in just about any country for less money than in the USA.

 

People thinking beyond the basic rules to the why they are important and then allowing them some wiggle room to be creative in accomplishing those goals would make a company or organization more productive and I dare say more successful.

 

A former boss wanted all of his staff to work like entrepreneurs where each customer was not the company’s customer, but rather that employee’s own customer. That they should work to provide satisfactory service, but yet, not so much by being a robot, but taking initiative when needed and going the extra mile. Those who embraced this methodology would consistently get better customer satisfaction scores and perform better, knowing the meaning to their job and what difference it makes.

 

If we are looking to improve ourselves, then we must be willing to look beyond the rules of the day and see what is truly needed and wanted. And managers, if you want a crackerjack team of top producing entrepreneurs, you need to relax your grip and allow your people some freedoms to see beyond the black and white of rules and policy, while not letting them get too loose. You will have to find your balance, but if you at least give it a try, you should see some improvement. You know, after the initial shock of shaking things up.  

 

Please realize this is not a call for anarchy, rather a call to allow us to improve ourselves, our teams, our organizations and our world by making each of us a better person. Something that is a lot harder to outsource or offshore.

 

Seth Godin says it best in his book “Lynchpin: Are You Indispensible?” (http://www.amazon.com/Linchpin-Are-Indispensable-Seth-Godin/dp/1591843162) how and why to take ourselves to the next level within the organizations we work with.

 

Enjoy!

 

Sanford Berenberg

Sanford@berenberg.net
http://www.berenberg.net

http://sanfordberenberg.blogspot.com/
Follow Me on Twitter! http://twitter.com/sberenberg

http://learnandgrowdaily.com  Click here to order: "Learn And Grow Daily!"

502-533-9336