User Voice

I've long been a fan of "voice of the customer" technology. I've blogged several time about Dell's IdeaStorm project, where customers get to suggest improvements to Dell's products and services and the customer community gets to "vote up or vote down" ideas submitted by the community.

I'm really excited by a brand new web service called User Voice. This web service easily allows any company to start up their own customer conversation. The service comes in several different "flavors". The feedback tab you now see on the left hand side of my blog, is an example of the free version.

I'll leave this tab here for several weeks and encourage any readers to post blog topic ideas of their own and vote on those ideas submitted by others.

The application is very easy to set and use.

The toughest part of the entire process will be for User Voice customers to summon up the courage to actually begin an honest conversation with their customers!

Your Call is Being Monitored for Quality Assurance Purposes...

How often have you called a large service organization, only to be greeted by an automated system, which declares that your call may be monitored for quality assurance purposes, before connecting you to a real live human being?

I think it happens all the time.

I have a question.

If my call is being monitored for quality assurance, how come the service is so crappy?

I think that this recording must be a standard feature on big call center phone switches. You can turn it on and try to make believe you're serious about providing a great customer service experience.

Or you can actually provide the great customer service experience.

Your customers know the difference. Do you?

Because if you are really monitoring the calls, and reps aren't able to answer customer questions, you may be inadvertently saying "We're monitoring our customer service. And this is the best we can do".

So try turning off the feature. Sit beside your reps and coach them. Spend time with your new call center reps and demonstrate your company's service standards.

Set the bar high.

Sometimes using less technology yields better results.

Who's Your Bubba?

A friend recommended a terrific book, called Designing the Obvious, by Robert Hoekman Jr. This book is all about designing web applications for ease of use.

One of the concepts Hoekman espouses, is to create a persona for each type of user - a brief description of a "typical" user of the application. You give your persona a name, a career and a business challenge he (or she) is struggling with (that you're trying to solve). You might even download a random photo from the web and give your persona a "face".

The exercise is indended to help you get inside the head of your customer. To change your perspective. To see things from your customer's point of view.

It reminded me of a road trip that our Marketing department took, several years ago, to a well known Direct Marketing company that specializes in outdoor recreation (hunting, fishing, camping and the like).

They told us the story of "Bubba".

"Bubba" was the name of their typical customer. They could describe what Bubba looked like, what Bubba liked to eat and what clothes he typically wore. They knew what truck (not car) he drove. They knew how much money he made and what he liked to do on his time off. No matter who we talked to, Bubba's description remained remarkably consistent.

And everything they did required Bubba's approval. If they wanted to add a new line of fishing lures, they needed Bubba's permission. If they wanted to expand their line of fishing boats, Bubba's truck needed to be able to tow them. Before deciding to expand their line of firearms, Bubba had to be able to afford them.

When their Marketing department held meetings, they typically reserved a chair for Bubba.

The concept might sound a little corny, but it worked. They never lost sight of the customer. And they were very successful with this technique.

How do you sustain customer focus? Does your company have a Bubba?

Tell a Thousand People

Our neighbor, Laura, dropped by last evening. Our Friday night ritual is to lounge in our screened porch and discuss the week's events over a glass (or two) of our favorite beverages.

This week Laura had yet another bad customer service experience at our local gas station. She had filled up her car and purchased a carwash at the pump. The driveway to the carwash is tucked neatly behind the gas station - a one way single lane strip of pavement leading to the carwash. Once you're in line, you're in line.

Upon arriving at the kiosk where you enter the carwash code, she realized that the receipt had misprinted and did not include her code. The keypad has no facility to call into the station to report any problems, so she had to back down the narrow entrance way, park outside the station and enter the store to talk to a clerk.

And then things turned ugly.

Despite the fact that her credit card receipt showed her gas purchase and her carwash purchase, the clerk refused to give her a carwash code, stating that her card wasn't charged for the carwash. He said she could purchase a carwash for $6. (Even more insulting, since a car wash only costs $5 when you fill up!) After several minutes more of heated debate, she had to leave the station, already late for a business meeting - without her carwash.

Now, I'm sure that some unscrupulous customers try to scam free car washes from time to time - but I'm guessing that they typically don't do it after putting $45 dollars worth of premium gas in their Porsche.

So the gas station "won" that round.

Or had they?

Laura is a consultant who handles community outreach communications for major metropolitan construction efforts, like big highway construction projects and major sports venue construction. She's very good at her job and she knows everyone.

Before leaving the gas station parking lot, she placed a call to the Better Business Bureau and reported her complaint. And then she decided to make it her personal mission to tell one thousand people about how lousy our local gas station is.

The old adage is that an unsatisfied customer will tell ten people about their experience. Laura is raising the bar.

2 down. 998 to go.