I was in a bookstore one day and opened a book on writing for Hollywood. It contained many suggestions, one most useful of all.
“Make it easy for people to do business with you.”
So simple, so easy to forget, and so vital for anyone, anywhere, who wants someone to hire you, recommend you–basically, if you want people to want to talk to you, make it easy for them to do business with you.
Sure, but we all know that, right? I wish.
I went into one of my favorite stores recently, the one where I’ve bought my phone and headset for years. I use my phone a lot in business and the headset, too, and both are manufactured by companies that are devout believers in planned obsolescence. (By the way, there is not a one-to-one correspondence between price and quality with these; the expensive ones seem to wear out in about the same time as the El Cheapo versions.) So I always get the warranty and after about six months, I head to the store to exchange the worn-out version for one that will work for the next six months.
“Oh, I need to tell you,” said my friend at the store. “We’ll take this one back. But we’re not doing that anymore. You need to send it back to the manufacturer*.”
Eek! Send it back to the manufacturer. We all know what that means.
I said, “Why? We’ve been doing this for years.”
“It’s the new policy,” she said.
Oh, good. A policy. Now we’re getting somewhere. We’re getting to the end of our business relationship, that’s where.
I was in the store again shortly thereafter. They have a great color copier, which I use a lot in my work. All the service bureaus used to have nice paper in the color copiers, but in the past few years they all switched to Grade Q paper. So I just ask for the nice paper, they give it to me, I make my copies, give them back the rest of the paper, and go home.
“Hi,” I said, “Can I have the nice paper?”
The clerk looked at me.
“You know,” I said, “the heavier paper.”
Her manager approached. “We don’t do that anymore,” she said. She explained that the nice paper costs more than the Grade Q paper does. What a surprise.
I said, “But the copies don’t cost you 49 cents, right?”
No, no. Logic will not work here.
“It’s our new policy,” she said. “The only way you can have copies on that paper is if we make them back here for you.”
I explained that I needed to spend some time on the layout. Then I gave it one more try. “How about, just this one time, you let me use the paper?”
And here is where we entered the stratosphere–or the lower levels of hell–in customer service. The manager** said, “Well, actually, the fact that we let you do it last time”–when the new policy wasn’t mentioned–“that was your chance to use it.”
Yes, she really said that. Now, what she doesn’t know is that I’d been scanning a lot of images lately, not making as many color copies as I had in the past. So my first thought was, “Maybe I don’t need to make that many color copies anymore.”
Paper savings divided by lost business equals . . .
Nobody on their deathbed ever wished they had spent more time at the office, and nobody ever recommended a company because it enforced a policy they didn’t like.
But wait a minute, you say. You have to have policies. And you can’t have your customers dictate your policies.
True. But you get to decide when and how to enforce a policy, and that decision needs to be based on the customer experience.
If you enforce a policy simply because “that’s the way we do things here,” you are building a wall between your company and your customer. And you are on your way to losing that customer. If you work for someone else, you are on your way to getting fired–even if the boss seems happy you enforced it. Why? Because whether you work for yourself or someone else, ultimately we all work for one person: the customer standing in front of us.
But what if you’re in a large company and the powers that be say, “This is the drill”?
What do you do then?
For starters, remember that in the end the powers that be will not be in the store with the customer. That doesn’t mean you don’t have to enforce policies. Often, you do. But find a way to minimize the negative impact on the customer. You’ve worked hard to build a relationship with your customer. Keep that in mind.
Let’s start with the new policy about equipment returns. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes. How is this likely to impact him or her? What might the customer be feeling? Probably something akin to rejection: “Yeah, we used to do that, but too bad. We don’t care about you. We’re not going to help you. You’re on your own.”
So don’t pretend everything is honky-dory, and send a “Just deal with it” message. Show up. Say something like, “They’re telling us we can’t take the equipment back any more. I’m really sorry. I know it’s inconvenient.” Then give them some concrete help. You send things back to the manufacturer all the time. Give them tips on how to get better results: what kind of packaging is best to use, how to reduce time on hold when calling the manufacturer, and anything else you can think of to make it less of a headache. Help the customer integrate the new way of doing things, so he or she doesn’t feel left out in the cold.
Now let’s look at the paper fiasco. Clearly the company is trying to cut costs. What could the people in the copy center do? Tell the customer, “I like that paper, too. And I know the new policy is a bit of a hassle, but the good news is we carry that paper you like here in the store, on Aisle Ten. And it’s not that expensive, either. So you can still use that paper for your copies.” (Note to store: If you now make a rule that says, “You can’t use your own paper,” get out of the copy business.) The message changes from “Too bad for you” to “Here’s how you can still have what you want.”
Funny thing: the problem wasn’t the policy, after all. The problem was they forgot to take care of the customer.
*Turns out the policy wasn’t to have to send it to the manufacturer (quel horreur), but to call an 800 number. I still think it’s an unnecessary inconvenience.
**The manager on duty that day has never been seen again. Was she swallowed up by one of the machines? They’re not talking.
(Originally published in “Reaching Your Customer,” ideasandhow.blogspot.com.)
©2011 Laynie Tzena. All Rights Reserved.
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