Value thy customer..

Yesterday was my mum’s 80th birthday. She lives in Regional Victoria and we have not seen her since March. Recent lock down’s in Victoria put an end to our planned family weekend gathering,

Making sure she had a surprise from us on the day, I ordered a lovely gift online, guaranteed to arrive before 6pm yesterday. After it had not arrived by 4.30, I called the company.

You guessed it.. I was then told that the delivery would not be made as promised. It would be delivered “sometime between the 20 and 29th July” but they were happy to refund my delivery fee! The young fellow on the phone was genuinely sorry – I know it was not his fault.

My next phone call was to mum to tell her our gift would not be arriving as promised. I felt awful and she of course tried to hide her disappointment.

I am not going to name and shame however needless to say I will never use this company again. I shall provide feedback and then vote with my wallet. Aside from not living up to this guarantee, putting their staff in the firing line of these calls, which they can guarantee will happen, is unfair.

I know these are particularly challenging times however never ever commit or promise something you cannot deliver on.

The moral of this story. Value and respect your customer. Whether you are front line dealing with customers daily or an executive who sits at the top of a tree, the moment you lose sight of who your customers are and what they need, you are destined for failure.

Customer needs should inform your strategy, your products, advice and the culture you build.

We live in a world of information and speed. Customers (including ourselves) have high expectations around what, how and when our needs are met. Businesses need to continuously adapt to these changing needs, otherwise will be left behind.

You cannot keep every single customer happy. Some will have unrealistic expectations and they will leave. Some will treat your people badly and you will ask them to leave. Some customers you will have for a short time and some for a lifetime.

In a volume business it is impossible to know every client intimately, however financial results, data, feedback and ad-hoc conversations will quickly tell you how they are feeling. If you are not interacting with customers regularly, spend time working with your teams that are, so that you can experience the interactions alongside. This is not only good for being informed, you will also gain a greater understanding of what your people experience each day. There is nothing better than rolling up your sleeves, working alongside and learning from and more about your team.

Your VIP and larger customers will naturally receive more attention and there will be a deeper understanding of their business and requirements. Unfortunately it can sometimes be at the expense of those at the smaller end. A very expensive game to play. There is no perfect world, however there needs to be balance.

When booking the gift for mum, all it would have taken was a note to pop up stating, “we will do our best however we cannot guarantee arrival on this day”, before I pushed the order button. If some last minute issue, a phone call to warn me. All allowing me to make informed decision's, manage my expectation and the conversation I was to have with mum.

Instead today I am still angry and am still waiting for the promised phone call from the young fellow’s manager today. I have a feeling this call will not come.

Know, value and respect thy customer. It is not that hard and if done well, you will have a good shot at keeping them for life.

Until next time Lisa