Brilliant !
Here is a good example of the overwhelmingly powerful effect of experiences in creating customer behavior and loyalty.
The new product is clearly less effective than the alternative, yet customers prefer it 66% after the addition of the experiential component.

Suggestion:  Reduce your costs by dropping features and re-invest in adding experience.  The results are evident.
take a look:

Thank you  Volkswagen for the vision to undertake this project.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCL

We prefer to find good examples of customer centricity to make our point.
However, sometimes examples of poor alignment with customer values can serve as helpful warning beacons.

First, I must say that I love BlackBerry products, they are reliable and do the job.

Today I was delighted to see BlackBerry had corrected their lack of a Desktop Manager for Mac, which has caused me countless hours of grief in trying to sync my PDA and Entourage on my Mac. I was excited, so I followed the link and downloaded the software.

Here is my experience:

1.  The download did not include a pdf of the instructions. I went to the website to find the instructions and also found release notes – Cool.
2.  Oops, the release notes say that when synchronizing with Entourage there are several unresolved issues with data integrity, the same ones that were giving me grief with the third party software.
3.  I decided to call the contact center to ask if the release notes were still current and/or to get advice on whether I should make the switch.  No phone number listed for customer support.  They have self help and forums, I spent 15 minutes looking for an answer then gave up.
4.  Decided to send an email to the support desk with my question – I received a reply saying the email was not delivered, we have self-help options or payed-for-support.

• Why would a device come without necessary software to synch to well known computers?
• Why would they deliver software without operating instructions?
• Why would they deliver software that does not work, and not let you know before you download?
• Why would they lead customers to believe there is a support email address when there is not?
• Why would they consider reliable customer support for business people something beyond their responsibility?

The answer could be simple, and it can happen to any company in the blink of an eye:
Sometimes we may not consider the effects of our business decisions on the customer experience.
Perhaps even less if our products are leading the market.

Well, it’s not about the product, its about the customer and the company’s alignment to their values.

My 7 years of BlackBerry usage mean nothing if I don’t feel the company is ready to support me when I need them.

The point here is that great companies can quickly loose their footing simply by forgetting that we are no longer in a product economy.
Products are great, but no longer brand differentiators.  The differentiator is now the customer experience due to the company’s integrity of purpose.

My partner Donna Root, said it perfectly yesterday :  ” A company’s alignment to their purpose is critical because in an experience economy customers care about “HOW” companies win.”

Your customers have evolved.  Their criteria for loyalty has shifted to a more holistic view.  They care about what company’s stand for and about their authenticity in that purpose.

What does your company stand for?

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCL

Friends,

Some of you may remember this posting from over a year ago.

As the need to differentiate becomes more and more critical, I thought I would have Johnny remind us
how its done.

This is a perfect example of the importance of the experience and the value of differentiation.

Enjoy.

Click for Johnny’s Video

Thank you.

At the recent inaugural meeting of the Chief Officer Council held at Oracle Headquarters and hosted by Jeb Dasteel/CCO of Oracle, I was invited by 50lessons.com to tell a few stories about customer service and the role of the CCO.

In my life, stories have always been a source of innovation.  For some reason, when we listen to other people’s stories we see our own situations from a different angle, this is always helpful.  For this reason I thought it may be interesting to post the stories.

These “Lessons Learned” will soon be offered on the 50lessons.com website and published in Harvard Business Press’ new book series “Lessons Learned”.

I would like to thank our friends at 50lessons.com for their consideration in the posting of these videos.  Also, since I mentioned him twice, I’d like to thank Don Szczepaniak as well as Lorraine Robbins and the entire Panasonic contact center team for all I learned from them over the years.  They are true professionals who make great customer service look easy.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCL

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While putting the finishing touches on a white paper on contact center cultures, this spilled out onto the keyboard.
It’s may not be right for the white paper but I thought I would share it.
(This is what happens when you listen to Schubert while working.)

Contact Centers form very specific kinds of cultures, which require special care and attention, and present challenges not usually seen elsewhere in the organization.  They are labors of love.

At times, it is difficult to discern a contact center culture from that of a production line, a command center or a hospital.  The origins of the contact center workforce is often diverse, at the same time, constant and committed.
Contact centers may have the highest turnover rate of any corporate discipline, but are kept running by devoted individuals that often offer entire careers to the service of those they don’t know.
A contact center reads the life-pulse of any organization, feels the tremblings of a failed business and the trends of immense growth, usually before the rest of us.
Customer contact centers hold the key to the future of our businesses through their access to the hearts and voice of our customers.  Yet, we often see them as cost centers, necessary evils in our effort to create brands.
Contact centers collect the leaks of corporate miscalculation and work knee-deep in water everyday.
Customer contact centers are one of most powerful touch-points we have, and the most directly impacting tool in creating Xtreme Customer Loyalty.

Support and visit your customer contact center, it’s good for business.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCL

Yesterday, I had the pleasure of speaking to a group of CCNG members in Cincinnati, and the topic of contact center cultures came up, again.  Seems to be a popular theme lately, so I thought a couple of points on contact center culture management might be nice.

Because it’s rare that people agree on the definition of corporate culture, I feel I should put one in. So, here is my definition (since I don’t like wikipedia’s)

A set of generally accepted norms and values that result in the behavioral/operational paradigm of an organization.

Regardless of the type of organization, I have found some consistencies with cultures:

• Cultures require management ownership
• Cultures cannot be changed.  They are either shifted or destroyed
• Cultural shifts cannot be mandated.  Mandate=Destroy
• Cultures are not the employees
• Cultures are usually the effect, not the cause.
• Cultures are a labor of love.

Key Levers

Before any culture work takes place, management must assume responsibility for the current and future cultures.

Culture management is much like gardening.  When the harvest is poor, an expert can easily point to our errors: we planted at the wrong time, used the wrong soil, provided too much or too little water, etc.  However, when the harvest is plentiful, we can hardly take credit for the miracle of nature, when all we did was ensure the right conditions.  Management’s responsibility is to place the right components in the right conditions and keep the balance.

When boiled down I find the key levers to be

(Expectations + People&Capabilities + Environment)/Purpose

Ensure clear Expectations.
Ensure the right People have the right Capabilities (knowledge and tools)
Provide an Environment conducive to gaining the desired results.
Alignment of each to a clear and accepted Purpose

The shifts in culture are determined by the balance of these variables in relation to the corporate purpose.

Please note: All of these variables are under the sphere of management control.  Again, management ownership is key.

Simplified Dynamics
When the key levers are sufficiently aligned to the purpose of the organization, things tend to go well.  The culture rarely feels problematic and business issues can usually be addressed through specific and focused action – ie. changing a policy, adding a person, adjusting a process etc.

When one or more of these key levers are sufficiently misaligned with the overall purpose of the organization, the culture will shift in an effort to regain purpose.  The shifts seem to happen in 2 major ways:

1. The culture will compensate through one of the key levers  (ie: people may work harder) or

2. The culture will adopt a new value system to reconcile the imbalance and justify the misalignment.

An oversimplified example:
A contact center is asked to cut costs through headcount reductions, and expected to increase its service levels.  The culture may keep alignment to the purpose by working harder.  If this solves the issue and is sustainable, the shifted culture compensates.
If the adjustment is not sufficient to achieve the management expectations, a new value system may be adopted – “Management is Unreasonable”.  This newly added cultural value will help or hinder the culture’s effectiveness (alignment).  As before, if it helps, it is accepted and maintained.   If it does not help, yet another value will be formed to further cover the gap – “the harder we work, the more they expect”.

In short, any time the culture has a continuous perception of being ineffective or misaligned, a new wave of value adjustments will take place to address the gap.  This will continue until the culture sees itself realigned or until it reaches “shift saturation”; the point where it stops making  adjustments for the overall benefit of the system.  At this point, shifts become personal in nature (at the employee level), and the inherent power of cultural wisdom is lost.

We can’t over-emphasize the importance of communications (to ensure correct perceptions) and the maintenance of balance to avoid a a series of shifts that do not serve the company well.  It is also important to keep in mind that the key levers for change hold considerable power in managing the culture and the effectiveness of the business.

Cultures Drivers
Although I know organizational behaviorists will not appreciate this oversimplification, I’ll throw caution to the wind in exchange for a graphical explanation of  cause and effect.

-    Management expectations or beliefs, set the wheels in motion.
-    These expectations result in the creation of policies & procedures.
-    The policies and procedures create an environment which promotes (or not), the attainment of the management expectation.
-    The interaction of all these with employees (at all levels), produce a cultural paradigm.
-    This culture interacts with customers.

The power of WHY?
Most management with whom I speak regarding culture are looking to “change it” in order to gain better business results.  However, the culture is rarely the cause of good or bad business results.  Unless the business model or market expectations have drastically changed, I find the culture is usually effect of an underlying cause.  Although it may definitely be problematic, it is rarely the cause of the problem.

I believe many of the difficulties in today’s corporate cultures are the result of an unclear or undefined purpose.

Most companies know WHAT they do
Some companies know HOW they do it
Few companies know WHY they do it.
See Simon Sinek

Without this clarity of purpose, the culture is usually left to rely charismatic leadership, which when changed, causes havoc and great loss of direction.

Next post: considerations for creating culture shifts.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to Extreme Customer Loyalty

Copyright 2009 – Rudy Vidal

About a year ago, I changed banks from Bank of America to MetroPacificBank in Irvine Califormia.  I was not happy with the customer service of BofA and decided to bank at a small single-branch bank hoping to get more personal service.

It was a good decision.  This last year, I had the best banking experience of my life without major issues and with great customer support.  But, as luck would have it, last month MetroPacific Bank was acquired by Sunwest Bank.   As is normal in these cases, most of the management team, including my banker, VP Colleen Brady, was let go.  At first I was a little nervous but figured that Sunwest deserved a chance.

Three weeks ago I had to open an new business account, and in making the request I soon found out that my great experiences with MetroPacific was more based on Colleen’s care and empowerment, than the result of mature customer centric processes.  My account is still not open. So, I decided to leave, in spite of the great personal efforts of Chris – a very customer centric account manager left in charge of my account. (thanks Chris !)

The lesson I learned:

When customers figure out that their satisfaction is the result of employee commitment and not the result of an institutional customer focus, they realize they are not loyal to the brand, but loyal to the employee.

I immediately called Ms. Brady and asked: “what bank are you going to?”

It’s great to have passionate, customer centric employees.  But, great employees are no substitute for institutional customer centricity.

We need to back those employees with tools, processes and policies that help them promote a corporate commitment to the customer and thereby create brand loyalty.  In addition, our customers need to see that the effort is not only in the employee, but innate to the company’s intention and values.

I hope Ms. Brady doesn’t go to Bank of America.

Rudy Vidal
Creating Profitable Customer Loyalty

For my friends that are not aware of the incident with United Airlines breaking guitars, I am posting the video link below.

It goes without saying that we need to be careful how we treat our customers.  Three million views in less than a week is a lot of negative press!

I’m sure during the development of this issue, the United representative(s) felt the customer should have received consideration outside the policy, but did not feel appropriately empowered.

Although generalized policies are necessary in any large company, these should always be backed up by employee empowerment.

Individual customers never like to be shown they are being treated impersonally by “broad brush” policies that leave them without identity or options.  ”I’m sorry Mr. Jones, there is nothing I can do, this is our policy”, is a good way out for the representative, but could be the worst thing to say to customer.

(Before you upset a customer, ask them if they own a video camera)

here is the link: United Breaks Guitars

Rudy Vidal
Creating Profitable Loyalty

I often encounter the confusion between frequent purchase programs and Loyalty strategies. I don’t believe these are equivalent and would like to address it.

For a long time, the marketplace has endorsed the lowering of prices as a justifiable form of value-add. And, although a lower price does, in fact, constitute value (more for less), it is hardly productive.

By now, most of us have figured out that the incremental sales achieved by a lowering of price will only last as long as the price advantage. We would all agree this increment should not be attributed to Customer Loyalty.

Points, free merchandise or discounts through frequent purchase programs, no matter how well camouflaged, still result in a perceived reduction of price. And, although customers may act more loyal due to the accumulated points in their frequent purchase accounts, they are in fact, attached to the points, NOT the brand. We should be careful not to equate captivity with LOYALTY.

I have a Delta SkyMiles account. Although I am somewhat captive, I took a United flight to LA (which I don’t like) because it was $200 cheaper. I am somewhat captive, but certainly not LOYAL. Captive audiences will stay as long as it is advantageous, but let’s not say that we are creating LOYALTY.

LOYALTY is the ultimate goal in a commoditized market. To have customers that have accepted our brand as part of their life’s value structure is a privilege and takes hard work. We can’t buy this kind of LOYALTY. If we want it, we’ll need to think about adding value to our customers’ lives, and making them emotional in the process.

Most companies have not been able to quantify the ROI on Customer Loyalty and therefore, find it difficult to commit the resources to creating it.

Instead, we continue to feed the price-erosion monster through masqueraded lower pricing, and add insult to injury, by calling it LOYALTY.

If we want Loyal customers we’ll have to do more than offer double points on any purchase before the end of the month.

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS

Today I was brushing up on Mahatma Gandhi, his philosophy and methods. If you are not familiar with his works and philosophy beyond what media or folklore provide, I highly recommend a closer look.

While reading, it occurred to me that part of the reason customer service has a large impact on our lives is not because it is special in and of itself, but because it is an extension of the golden rule and therefore, of good social order -

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

The curious thing is that in order to follow the golden rule, we must be willing to temporarily disengage from our own condition. That is to say, we must focus on the customer’s point of view, putting ourselves in their position.

We cannot offer good service only when we feel the world has been fair to us, when things are going well, when all is just as we want it. Good customer service requires that we consider the needs of another, even as we struggle with our own. OK, this is sounding a little dogmatic, but isn’t it the essence of good customer service.

I often notice three types of customer service people.

1. Those of us whose willingness to provide XCS is dependent on whether or not we are receiving it.
2. Those of us who are simply trying our best to do a difficult job
   and
3. Those of us who have realized, strangely enough, that our own quality of life is usually positively affected by our honest effort to consider the needs of others.

Those of us in the first group, need to move to either of the others, or should consider a diferent line of work. Most of us, however, find ourselves in the second group as we move forward day to day to do our best at a job that is, at times, difficult. This is not a bad place to be.

But, the blessing of customer service work can more readily be felt in the third group, where our lives tend to improve because of our work. Where we become more tolerant and our problems seem to become less debilitating as we disengage from the idea that we are the center of the universe, while we concentrate on helping someone else.

Service does not need to be monumental or earth shattering. It just needs to consider the customer’s point of view separately from our own.

“An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind” – Mahatma Gandhi

Rudy Vidal
Committed to XCS !