“Big mistake” is a classic line from the film Pretty Woman, the scene where Julia Roberts stands gloating in a store with her arms full of bags from chic boutiques.  It resonates with every woman and probably most men. We've been there.  Not as hookers (well, most of us, anyway!), but as patrons with cash on the receiving end of snobby looks from store personnel because we dared to go shopping in our Sunday slobs. 

I suspect that the clothing issue played a role some years ago when I went into to a high-end gift shop in casual attire. The chopper that I had purchased there was broken and, busy with numerous projects, I had no time to “dress” for this minor errand.  Whatever the cause of her attitude, the shop woman reacted with drama—literally blaming me for the malfunction!  I persisted and she grudgingly agreed to have someone look at it. When I came to pick it up after a ridiculously long period, the part that they claimed had been replaced was DIRTY, so I had to wait even longer. Before this event I had intended to purchase a present (from four of us) for my in-law’s 50th anniversary at that shop. Naturally I changed my mind about this significant investment. 

Then a few weeks ago I made an appointment at a salon for a minor treatment.   Feeling ill that day, I called and canceled, leaving a message on her voice mail.  When I didn't hear back from her to confirm that she heard the message, I dragged myself out anyway and having trouble finding her salon, I called for directions.  She said that she had heard the message and left already—nice of her to let me know—and would call back to reschedule. She never did, presumably because of the modest amount involved.  What she didn't know was that the appointment was meant as a reconnaissance mission:  I was looking for an appropriate salon to purchase a gift certificate of considerable value.  Now, naturally, I will go elsewhere.  In any kind of competitive business, one really can’t afford to kiss a potential customer goodbye.  

As I mentioned in my blog of April 21st, never, ever, ever underestimate your customers and their ability to slay you with their long-range social-media missiles. The corollary of this is: never underestimate their intentions! Big sales can sometimes be dressed in shabby clothing.  The scene from Pretty Woman should be a key part of every customer-service training program!!

Customer relations are a crucial element of any business, the POMPI: point of most potential irritation. Skillful dealing with customers--retail or B2B--requires a significant amount of patience, knowledge of psychology and a healthy dose of common sense. The “customer is king” is hardly a new concept but in the modern world the stakes are significantly higher. Nevertheless, many companies seem to have practices that are stuck in the 1980s and have cut back on critical staff training despite a workforce that lacks manners:  the casual approaches in both schools and families have resulted in a lack of etiquette and customer respect. This can form a real danger for the public image of your business.

The pissed-off-customer tsunami: the grudge factor

Anyone dealing with customers in a POMPI position should, first and foremost, be drilled to focus on the long-term relationship instead of the few euros, pounds or dollars the company may lose in a single transaction. A simple example from my own experience:   a prominent department store refused to make a duplicate of a photograph that I wanted to use as a gift, despite my having proof that their processing had ruined the original negative. Result: for the price of one replacement photograph the store lost my total business for more than a year and I never placed photo orders there again (think: annual vacations, second child, several new pets, etc.). You do the math. I HAD been a loyal customer before that.

In my example, the attitude of the person handling my complaint exacerbated the situation. Blind to the big picture, she was clearly an inappropriate choice for a public-service position. Most people can surely think of at least one example of a company that they abandoned or at least treated more negatively after they felt cheated, handled with suspicion, or were just not heard. If you were a loyal customer, the potential losses are huge.

Like it or not, your company needs to focus on keeping the customer happy and loyal. An angry customer WILL hold a grudge. My example, from many years ago, was relatively simple and included the two traditional negative responses:

o   losing the customer’s business
o   bad publicity when the customer reports the incident to friends and family

With the internet, it comes as no surprise, your risks spread out like the flood waters of eastern Japan. Now that smart phones/tablets/laptops are added to the customer’s arsenal there is as significant risk of widespread negative feedback when they tell the whole world about how rudely they felt that they were treated without even having a cooling off period after the event!

Never before have the dangers been so great and they are likely to intensify as more and more consumers are taking matters into their own hands and rating establishments. So choose your personnel carefully and train them well to give the customer the benefit of the doubt and to never, ever, EVER underestimate them.

And a final tip: do not ignore the “point of most potential irritation” support staff!

Being the buffer between your company and increasingly demanding customers is a high-pressure job. Employers need to appreciate, encourage and invest in their POMPI staff.  Signs of frustration will reflect badly on the company. Address this issue directly and with sensitivity by, for instance, listening carefully to your employees and, when necessary, investing in:

·        extra staff support
·        ways to help them let off steam
·        methods to improve their emotional and physical health

These are small investments if one considers the big picture: you are supporting the staff that holds the key to the return a critically endangered species: the loyal customer.

It is critical to regularly step back and analyze your business from the perspective of the customer, who is increasing impatient, judgmental and acutely aware of their options. Think: how can we improve things for this instant-gratification generation? If necessary, hire someone from the outside to look over customer reception in each of the standard channels (more to come in a future blog!):



Telephone
The definition of consumer hell is an endless maze of push-button choices or waiting for an eternity while listening to mind-numbing music that is interrupted by insipid messages like “for further information, check our website.” Telephone choice menus and waiting lines are so 1980s and should be eliminated or cut down to a bare minimum. Yes, you want to take care of as many problems as possible without involving human labor, but it is safe to assume that your customer HAS already inspected the website or simply does not have access to it.

One possible, more customer-friendly, system falls back on the ages-old system of having a general receptionist answer and take a message. These are immediately sent to the appropriate authority, who answers by phone or email. Or, if the customer insists, they will be transferred to the specialist but then the choice to wait is their own. This is, of course, not the only method. Whatever one chooses, it should take into account the impatience and easily irritated nature of the modern consumer: by streamlining the process and shortening the average waiting time, you will do wonders for your customer image.

Email
Initial automatic-reply emails reassure the customer that their request has been received by your company.  Customers expect their queries to be answered promptly (preferably immediately!), so assure that the email turnaround time is short. 

However, quick replies ≠ thoughtless ones. After one computer-generated response, one should be able to expect a personal reply. With rare exceptions, your customers will not to write to your company unnecessarily and they will have perused the website before trying to make contact. A “stock” email crafted with several links for further information that do NOT ADDRESS the actual QUESTION gives a sloppy and uncaring impression. The underlying assumption is that the customer didn't look hard enough for the answer. Although that may be the case, it could also be that the solution is not there or is buried in an illogical place. Links are just irritating if the material requested is unavailable.

Response staff should therefore first 1) read the question carefully and 2) examine whether the answer really is available on the website. If necessary, the response-team member can send a general, but whenever possible, personalized message that they are looking into the matter to buy time with their impatient twenty-teens customer. A telephone call to them can also do wonders, sometimes looking at the website together can help to better identify the problems and save valuable staff time. Most customers will appreciate the personal service. (Staff should, however, also be trained in the fine art of politely extricating themselves from the occasional “sticky” customer who is starved for contact!)

Having waited an eternity yesterday to speak to someone at the Belastingdienst (the Dutch equivalent of the IRS), I was reminded of their motto "we can't make [doing taxes] more fun, we can make it easier!" They should start by making a major overhaul of their telephone system!