Written by Carol Morrison
When i4cp conducted a survey on Customer-Focused Organizations earlier this year, more than two-thirds of respondents told us their firms offer superior service. Among high-performing organizations, the percentage exceeded three-fourths. Superior service is great. Certainly it's something we all want from the companies with which we do business - whether personally or professionally.
But if you caught the recent i4cp webinar featuring Bill Price (who will be speaking at i4cp's 2011 conference), you learned that what businesses should be striving to achieve is no customer service at all. What?! That's right - Price, president of Driva Solutions and author of The Best Service is No Service: How to Liberate Your Customers from Customer Service, Keep Them Happy, and Control Costs, suggests that many companies could have happier customers by eliminating the need for customers to contact them in the first place. At least for reasons that could just as easily be avoided - "dumb" contacts, he calls them. What Price is really saying is that companies can do their jobs better, be more proactive, and wind up with more satisfied customers who need less service when things have been done right to begin with ... whew!
Price's book offers seven points for consideration. First, he advocates eliminating dumb contacts - doing away with avoidable reasons for customers to contact your company. For example, a voice-recognition phone system that doesn't work well, necessitating follow-up contacts with customer service reps. Second, says Price, "create engaging self-service" options for customers so they can handle issues efficiently themselves. Third, take action to let customers know what to expect, especially if you anticipate problems arising with products or delivery of services. The proactive approach can eliminate unwanted call-center deluges when the expected glitches do occur.
Next, "make it really easy to contact your company," Price advises, citing the invitation extended to customers by Kingfisher Airlines chairman Dr. Vijay Mallya to e-mail him directly about any problems they encounter during their interactions with his firm. The fifth principle speaks to all company employees' taking responsibility for customers' satisfaction. Everyone should be onboard to ensure great customer experiences. "Listen and act," is Price's sixth point. This common-sense principle reminds companies to not only solicit customer feedback, but also to do something about the issues customers identify.
Finally, Price urges companies to "deliver great service experiences." This is the concept at the center of his book and the webinar. Do it right the first time might be a simplified way of saying it. Organizations that provide customers with their best efforts continually and consistently should see the demand for after-sale customer service decrease. In essence, Price is advocating that we work to eliminate the need for customer service. Planned obsolescence ... what a concept!
