Before we get started, I want you to know this is not intended to be a rant. It is merely a public discourse, inviting you to consider the influence customer service on marketing ROI.
After waiting patiently for her turn, a customer approaches the counter to place her order. Without taking his eyes off the cash register (and using the visor that came with his uniform to further guard against the risk of making eye contact), the employee issues the predictable quip of the fast food restaurant: “WhatcanIgetforyoutodaywouldyouliketotrythenew[whatever]combo?”
Mumbling and monotone, the clerk's words are drowned-out by his demeanor. His disposition implies--or at least it allows anyone within earshot to infer--that he is bored out of his mind, hates his job, and resents his customers.
In the interest of fair play, I’m not just picking on fast food restaurants. Similar scenarios play out every day at discount stores, big box stores, department and specialty stores. Instead of being greeted with the very basic “Hello,” or the mind-blowing, jaw-dropping, “I’m glad you came in today,” our visit is often welcomed with the over-repeated and under-rehearsed, “Would you like to save blah-Percent by opening a store charge card today.” (Same monotone delivery, different words.)
“Oh, yes!” I think to myself, sarcastically, “There’s nothing I’d rather do than be in debt to a company whose employees hold it, and its’ customers, in contempt!”
After ringing-up my order and handing me the receipt—again, without a single incident of eye contact—the cashier shoves the articles of clothing I’ve just purchased down to the end of the counter, out of her way, so she can move on to the next guest. The cycle repeats: “Would you like to save blah-Percent…”
The instant my receipt and change were slung to the counter, I was demoted. In the eyes of this cashier, I went immediately from the status of customer—which deserves at least a momentary if pretentious nod of appreciation—to nothing more than an obstacle... one that should get out of the way so the next guest’s merchandise can be shoved down the lane.
After witnessing or experiencing each of these too-frequent, robotic episodes, I catch myself wondering how much money that company has spent marketing to consumers just like me… promising they’ll treat me like a star, that I deserve a break today, that I can have it my way, that buying from them is like working with a good neighbor, that I should expect more, that I can live better! I think of the millions they have spent promoting service with a smile, satisfaction guaranteed (or at least, implied), and that working with this company is unlike working with any other!
I contemplate the brand equity that should exist after companies like these have made investments like that. And then, in my sick little mind, I hear a deep “gush,” followed by the sucking sound money must make when it has been flushed into a toilet.
A weird economy opens everything up for evaluation; why not re-assess the dynamics of marketing? Marketing is not advertising. While advertising may be an important part of marketing, marketing refers to the overall relationship a company has with its consumers. The way the customer is greeted, treated and appreciated. The way their loyalty and patronage are rewarded, and the way their transaction is conducted. Marketing is the research, product line, customer service, advertising, staff training, web site, store front… the entire relationship a company has with its consumer.
So when it doesn’t work, are we too quick to assume that consumers failed to respond to the campaign? Could it be that the marketer failed to respond to the consumer?
My wife and I relocated about a month ago. And as physics would have it, when we moved into our new home, we got a new neighborhood for free. Since we no longer live near our old providers, we’ve been on the hunt for a new bank, supermarket, dry cleaner, pharmacy, gas stations… you get the idea. Lots of companies are getting the chance to make a first impression on us right now.
We had errands to run yesterday. First we stopped for lunch, getting not just blah, but bad customer service. Then, we stopped at a hardware store, where an old-timer who seemed to authentically enjoy people took the time to find me a half-inch, deep-well socket for my ratchet-wrench… along with a half-dozen lock washers.
In the coming weeks, if I need anything that stands even a remote chance of being sold there, my first stop will be that same hardware store. But if I am hungry, I am likely to consider every available alternative before going back to that same restaurant… no matter how much money that chain might spend on advertising.
If you’re an advertising VP or a CMO, a product designer or a market researcher, and you’d like to diagnose the biggest obstacle standing between you and your consumers… pick up the phone—incognito—and call your own company on the customer service line. Or walk into one of your stores like an average Jill or Joe, and see what your company looks like when seen through the eyes of a customer.
Implications: I think that for many companies, the greatest risk is not that a campaign will fail, but that it will succeed… and front line employees will fail to deliver on the promise it made. Everyone in your company should know that the customer is not an obstacle to get around. They are the purpose of your business; the one thing your company cannot afford to cut.
In a robust economy, it might seem easy to take sales and customers for granted. (Before you dispute that, reflect on a few of your own personal experiences as a consumer.) A recession, on the other hand, can be a time when complacency catches up with its offender… as both sales become more rare and precious, and as customers become more deliberate and discriminating. As spending contracts, the concept of “value” has a great deal of gravitational pull. That doesn’t just mean a bigger package for a lower price. Beyond the products and services we buy, consumers want the purchase experience to hold more value for the dollar. Consumers want to be appreciated.
I'll repeat the headline that opened this story: Some business problems have not been caused by the recession. They have simply been revealed by it.
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