Page 217 - DMGT308_CUSTOMER_RELATIONSHIP_MANAGEMENT

Customer Relationship Management

Notes recommendations. Other customer activities that increase customer value to the company include
purchasing more products and services and continuing the relationship. Conversely, “detractors”
(0 to 6 on the 10-point scale) complained to a friend or colleague 25 percent of the time, complained
to the company nearly as often and switched suppliers 20 percent of the time. After one experience!
Imagine how customers might defect or complain to others if a company has a pattern of bad
experiences.
Note that the company gets direct customer feedback only 22 percent of the time after a positive
experience and 24 percent of the time after a negative one. Given the severe repercussions of a
bad experience, companies need other proactive ways to identify the 76 percent who may
complain to others or reduce their business without any warning.

Getting It Right at “Moments of Truth”

Part of the value in your specific product or service comes in the experience you create. Coffee
is coffee is coffee, except when it’s Starbucks coffee. “Whether it was a planned or sort of a
random discovery early on in their experience as a business, they figured out that it’s really not
about selling coffee to customers,” said HP’s Armstrong. “Starbucks is selling more than
beverages; it’s the total experience at a Starbucks outlet: buying, drinking, getting online, etc.”
People who participated in CRM Guru’s research on customer experience were passionate about
companies that served them well or poorly. We received more than 1,400 write-in responses
about specific companies that provided “consistently excellent” or “consistently poor” customer
experiences.
In this section, we’ll discuss the Big Five attributes that set apart the top performing companies.
Attributes were determined by analyzing frequently-mentioned terms and their synonyms and
grouping them into meaningful phrases.
1. Well-trained and Helpful Employees: If you’re interested in delivering an excellent
customer experience, start by ensuring your employees are well-trained and genuinely
helpful. Training gives the means, but being helpful is in large part an attitude—as we
learned from our research-takers.

Example: A Best Buy (electronics retailer) customer said,
“When we go in, someone is always there to greet us and direct us to the correct area. Their
salespersons seem to be well trained in their particular field. We have had nothing but
good experiences with them.”
Marriott received several positive comments from travellers who noted the hotel chain’s
“pleasant and helpful staff,” “selection, training and management of employees” and
“friendly and well-trained staff ready and willing to support travellers (whether for
business or for leisure).”
One car shopper was impressed that “Saturn employees are well-trained on the various
models and are willing to talk with me at length about which model best fits my needs.
They are willing to show me aspects of a particular sales model even when they know I am
not currently looking for a new car.”
2. Excellent Customer Service: A significant number of responses simply said that customer
service was “excellent,” or words to that effect, making it the No. 2 attribute of the top
companies. A passenger of a U.S. regional airline Midwest Express illustrated how service
can offset a “product” limitation. “They offer limited flights, but the service on them is
always excellent. They go above the norm by giving out freshly baked cookies!” American
Airlines, although “not always perfect” according to one 20-year frequent flyer,
“consistently focuses on the core things necessary to provide an excellent service.”

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