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Unit 8: Managing Customer Relations

Little Things Matter Notes

Exceeding expectations may not be the right goal for companies that don’t get the basics right.
In some cases, the customer experience can improve, not because of a pleasant surprise but for
the lack of negative one. Naras Eechambadi, CEO of marketing performance management
company Quaero, says that paying attention to the experience the customer has with your firm
is “not about customer delight all the time.” It’s about making promises and sticking to it:
“There is a place for wow. But consistency is more important,” he said. One research respondent
raved that Commerce Bank had a toll-free phone contact that was “nearly instantaneous”; it was
answered on the “FIRST ring by a real, live, knowledgeable human being.” And the question
was answered in less than two minutes. Not exactly a “wow” experience, you might say, but the
fact that the business handled it well nearly floored this customer.
And that’s not all. People who experienced trouble with a product or service were also thrilled
by a business handling the problem well. For example, a grocery shopper discovered that a can
of chili peppers was less than half full. “I returned it to the market, where they immediately
replaced it, and when I left, an employee was shaking cans to see if they were less than full so
that others would not have my problem.”

You would think the customer would be upset about getting a partial can of chilis. Instead, the
market impressed the customer in how its employee was thinking of other people.
Of course, they’re also pleased when businesses exceed their expectations. One person wrote in
about Alaska Airlines, which gave every passenger a $50 coupon to “a very nice restaurant in
my local area.” The customer was pleased not only by the coupon but also by the fact that there
were no restrictions or early expiration. “To my delight, they were good for one year, and there
were no catches!”

Another person was surprised to be met at the door by Hilton Hotel employees in Fort Wayne,
Indiana, and then escorted to a get-acquainted reception at the restaurant, along with dinner on
the house that night and breakfast on the house in the morning. It was Hilton’s way of “just
doing a little customer appreciation for my frequent stays.” Ebay.com noticed a mistake in an
order and notified the customer. “They were right. They sent me a very polite email asking if I
meant to order two,” reported the happy person, who had wanted only one item.

Lack of Common Courtesy

Alternatively, judging from the complaints people registered in the research, all it takes to earn
a customer’s disapproval is a lack of common courtesy or inattention to details you might expect
businesses to take for granted. Some fast-food restaurants, for instance, were dinged for poor
quality food and dirty seating areas. When the HBO signal went out the night of the season
premiere for the TV series The Sopranos, a cable company operator wouldn’t offer a credit. “The
person just didn’t care,” the research taker wrote.
And customers know lip service when they experience it. One person wrote about a transaction
that went terribly wrong at an investment firm. The people were friendly, but the customer
wound up on the phone for an hour, transferred four times and put off for more than a month
without resolution. “They think that pleasant service people that ask if there’s anything else
they can do to help you—even though they usually can’t answer your question or solve your
problem—means they have good service.”

After a customer has a memorable interaction, what happens next? As you can see from the chart
below, loyal customers (“promoters”) said they recommended the business to a friend or
colleague nearly one-third of the time. That’s powerful evidence that the likelihood to recommend
(“promoters” give loyalty scores of 9 or 10 on a scale of 0 to 10) does lead to actual

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 211