By Doug Stephens
The effects of bad customer service may take years to prove fatal but the eventual outcome is almost always corporate extinction. Despite this, surprisingly few companies turn these negative situations around and actually improve their customer service position. And as counter-intuitive as it seems, many businesses act like they don’t even care.
It’s a lot like global warming
Whether you believe the science or not, most would agree that the world’s climate is changing. With this change we are seeing potentially devastating and irreversible impact on the planet’s ability to sustain itself and its inhabitants, for that matter. Unchecked, the problem will almost certainly eradicate life on earth.
So why have we done so little to reverse the trend? I mean the survival of the planet is a pretty big deal!
According to Dan Ariely, a professor of psychology at Duke University and author of the bestselling book, Predictably Irrational, there are three primary reasons for our apparent apathy when it comes to huge problems like global warming. Firstly, the problem seems simply too large for any one of us to comprehend solving. Secondly, it’s a problem that threatens future rather than immediate devastation. Lastly, we have trouble visualizing how the little things we do as individuals (like using more energy efficient light bulbs or recycling), can contribute to solving the seemingly insurmountable problem. The end result is that we don’t become emotionally invested in the solution. We check out.
This same theory holds true to systemically bad customer service. Despite leadership droning on about the need for improved customer service, front-line staff often see the problem as too large, too complex and beyond their individual capacity to correct.
The Prius Effect
Perhaps no other automobile has become as synonymous with the environmental movement as the Toyota Prius. It seems safe to assume therefore that people who own a Prius are more environmentally conscious than those of us who don’t. However, there’s no credible evidence of any correlation between driving a Prius and having an elevated environmental consciousness. Apart from owning a hybrid vehicle, Prius owners are much like the rest of us. They don’t exercise any more day-to-day concern for the planet than we do. In fact, one study concluded that a mere 27% of Prius owners made the choice based on a strict concern for the environment – most drive one to save money. Nonetheless, we perceive Prius owners to be more eco-friendly. In other words we infer from their choice of vehicle that they actually care more about the environment than they actually do.
So, what if we took this idea of inference a step further? What if you could create a similar effect when it comes to delivering customer service in your business? What if you could define specific actions, that if performed, would infer to customers that your employees appreciate them, even if they don’t? Think about it. Could you program specific events into the customer experience that make even the least engaged staff member seem to actually care about the customer?
Stop Talking About “Customer Service”
The first step I would advocate is to stop using the term “customer service”. It’s problematic for a few reasons. Firstly, it implies servitude and who wants to be thought of as a servant? Secondly, it’s nebulous, making it difficult for staff to know if they’ve really provided it or not and also making it difficult to measure. Lastly, it’s too subjective. Great service to one person may be mediocre to another.
Instead, let’s call customer service something different – I’ve always liked the term the path to purchase. And let’s agree that along the path to purchase certain defined, measurable and positive events should take place. These events might range from holding a hotel door open for guests to shaking a customer’s hand– it doesn’t really matter as long as they’re defined, measurable and widely accepted as being positive behaviors.
So now, instead of pleading with staff to “improve customer service” – which is undefined, impossible to measure and open to interpretation, you can be instructing them to perform the specific tasks you’ve engineered into the path to purchase.
As a hotel guest, I don’t really care how customer-centric the bellhop is. If they smile and hold the door open for me, I’ll infer from their behavior that they care. As a shopper I don’t know if the salesperson appreciates my business or not but if they come out from behind the counter to give me my purchase while shaking my hand, I’ll infer from their actions that they do value me.
Behavior Drives Emotion
But how do we solve the problem of apathy? How can we get our staff emotionally invested in delivering a better customer experience?
It’s commonly accepted that what we do affects how we feel. Change the behavior and you’ll change the emotion. It follows then that if you get staff consistently doing things along the path to purchase that clearly indicate caring for your customers, eventually those same staff will care about customers. There may also be staff who choose not to come along for the ride but trust me, with a clearly defined set of actions on the path to purchase, they’ll stand out like a Hummer in a sea of hybrids!
Tags: Customer Service, Dan Ariely, path to purchase, retail management, Retail Sales, strategy
Love the “path to purchase” terminology. Definitely more in keeping with the honest, transparent type exchanges we need in retail today. Shoppers just want to feel like someone helping them has their best interests in mind and doesn’t see them as a cash receipt or transaction only.
I always used to teach my teams to think about what they would do if they were helping a friend or acquaintance (someone they knew they were going to see again in “regular life”) to buy something. Then use that (their own genuine style and caring) on the floor.
Loved the phrase: Path to Purchase.
I also call these as the points of reckoning that go on to influence purchase decisions.
Empathy & role-playing to put oneself in customers’ shoes matters a lot in making the frontline understand the desired standards. However, cultural & social exposure matters a lot in developing the frontline’s perspective of ‘positive behaviour’ too. It is important that the interaction with the customer is positive & open-ended in order to arrive at each emotionally connecting milestone on the ‘path to purchase’.
Would like to hear more on this subject.
This is sheer brilliance, Mr. Stephens. Path to purchase is the perfect term for the rapport building best outcome and not too many years ago, we used to build a clientele and recidivism was not an issue as it was personal for customers to shop retailers. So Bravo for clean, concise communication conveying the essence of ‘path to purchase’. Thank you!