Consumer Forum

Last week Ella’s Kitchen won the coveted Customer Excellence Award at the 2009 Growing Business Awards.  We are humbled and delighted to win – a very public recognition of the focus and exceptional efforts we place in over delivering on our customers’ expectations.  Our customers are families and we listen to and develop products for children at least as much as for parents.  We do get things wrong sometimes, and that’s where we really focus on making good on any disappointment a customer has felt.  This bit is more important than anything else in our business.

 

So, why did we win? What does constitute customer excellence?  Well, I thought it would be as easy to define by highlighting what it isn’t.  To do this I thought I’d use a current personal experience with a giant telecoms provider to highlight six areas where I, their customer, feels totally let down and un-empowered.

 

The background is simple.  I moved house this summer and wanted two phone lines and a broadband service.  I called the provider’s sales line and spoke to an eager, empathetic and understanding salesperson, without having to wait on the line.  Brilliant.  She sold me what I wanted after answering my only unusual question relating to the fact that three lines came into the house but I only wanted two specific sockets to be live, could I swap lines if I had chosen the wrong two lines?  “No problem” came the immediate, impressive reply, “call us, ask for the Home Movers Department and ask for an ‘internal switchover’.  It will be really easy and take 48 hours max.”  It didn’t.  It eventually took 2 months and 20 phone calls.  Lesson 1 then, in poor customer service, is never overpromise what can’t be delivered in order to make a sale.  You will disappoint your new customer, they will have no loyalty and your brand reputation will be damaged.

 

Lesson 2 is hidden within my 20 calls.  Each one required a set of numbers to press, and then to explain the full story to a new service representative.  The lesson is that poor access to the company really frustrates and deepens issues un-necessarily.  Poor access and communication may mean many button options to press without the clear one to direct an unusual problem or it may mean not asking the customer to wait up to 40 minutes to talk to a representative (notice no wait for sales calls!) who then does not have access to records or logs of previous conversations.  Each deepens the sense of disempowerment in the (close to becoming ex-) customer. 

 

Lesson 3 is that underinvestment in systems is a poor own goal for truly customer centric businesses. If one department’s screens can not access another’s data, or if files of conversations are not recorded consistently, the customer will very, very quickly get annoyed at repeating the problem too many times. Capture the information, understand it, record it and leave it clear and unambiguous for other colleagues to follow.  Put the customer first.

 

Lesson 4 relates to the communication of the desire to solve any problem. In my example, I was told seven times that I would get a call back within 48 hours from their ‘offline team’ with the problem status update, on its way to being resolved.  Seven times I was NOT called, seven times I had to call back, to get back to square one.  So Lesson 4 includes the pitfalls of overpromising in Lesson 1, the poor communication learned in Lesson 2 (as in my case the customer was not allowed to call the offline team, but had to wait until that team was ready, or not, to call), and the investment in systems from Lesson 3 (it turned out the offline team has problems with their “escalation IT system” in my case!). 

 

Lesson 5 came a little later when finally the right lines were sorted, and after another dozen calls fixing the fact that someone had forgotten to change the pairing for the broadband service with the new line numbers.  After 3 frustrating months I was up and running!  I then checked my bills and saw that I’d been charged for the services well before they eventually came live.  So I called the provider, pressed, 1 then 3 then 5, then 3 and was told by someone that I’d be called back within 48 hours.  I haven’t been called.  The lesson is that it really annoys customers, and does nothing for brand loyalty, to be charged for stuff they don’t get, and then to be apathetic about resolving it.

 

I finally cracked towards the end of this experience and asked to speak to a complaints officer.  The well trained representative listened empathetically, said he understood my frustration and offered me one month of broadband for free.  The lesson here, Lesson 6, is never underwhelm your customer when they have a reasonable case for an apology and may reasonably expect a gesture of goodwill.  In my case, 3 months offline, 38 phone calls and erroneous bills for services un-received should maybe have been taken more seriously.  I was told if I wanted more goodwill, I should write with my case to a different department. “did I want the address?”.  I said “no” and asked if he would send the note for me, “yes” he said, here’s your complaint number, they will be in touch within 48 hours.  Guess what, they never called!  In the end this blog proved more tempting and valuable to write. 

 

So if you find a company that:-

 

Over promises its sales pitch;

Makes it hard for customers to communicate with it;

Doesn’t have systems or processes to record information consistently;

Isn’t perceived by the customer to be interested in resolving an issue;

Charges for things it doesn’t supply; and

Begrudges apologies and offers of goodwill.

 

Then you can be sure that it won’t be winning Customer Excellence Awards, and it may just turn up in blogs as the benchmark for poor customer service but at least its helping others see the benefits of great customer service.

 

Paul Lindley

Ella’s Dad

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