Listening to Customers

“Kudos” to all companies out there that have a customer listening program!  While it seems like a general thing that nearly all companies do, in my experience I’ve found that many do not put enough focused energy into really listening to customers. It goes without saying that customers are the heart of any business, and a huge factor in how and if companies will be able to achieve growth. That said, even companies that have made customer listening a priority need to revitalize their efforts every few years.  Here are a few keys to success for revitalizing your program.

1.      Make it a priority to measure success of current initiatives every few years. A full assessment of any customer initiative every few years can be eye opening. Measure success and confirm areas for improvement with regards to how information is gathered, how relevant it is to users, how it is communicated and validated, and ultimately if the right resources are in place to take action.

2.     Systematically ask internal users if the right information is being gathered from customers in order to take action. Ensure that lines of communication are always open between users of information and the central customer listening group.

3.      Assess KPIs and metrics annually to ensure that customer measurements are in alignment with company strategies. Strategies evolve over time, as should key performance indicators. At a minimum, make sure that what metrics are being tracked internally can be aligned and linked to customer feedback.

4.       Break through the clutter. This is easier said than done, but ensuring that information is relevant to a particular user or group will make all the difference. Providing internal stakeholders with information that can help them succeed in their positions will certainly get their attention. For executives, make sure that customer feedback is ultimately linked to how it can help the company succeed financially, particularly as it relates growth.

As with any change or revitalization effort, communication is the key. Get buy-in from all critical people within your organization to ensure a smooth transition as changes are made.

Katie Kiernan
Vice President, Consulting Services

It’s time! Every four years fans gather to watch the best soccer, ah-hem, football teams in the world battle it out for the most globally coveted prize in all of sports – the World Cup. The passion felt by these fans for their country will be clear as you watch the excitement, the support, and all-out general mayhem of the Cup games as they progress over the next several weeks. 

The one thing that always strikes me the most about the players is how they have such a clear and evident loyalty to their country and team during the World Cup. However, after the games have come and gone, that same loyalty and relationship does not exist to their club teams where they play professionally.  The loyalty that once existed has been replaced by greed. Even the great Pele agrees that loyalty, love, and magic have gone. It’s no longer about loving the game and just playing, it’s about the money.

There is a clear difference in what is motivating the players’ loyalty in these cases. In the case of the World Cup, the player’s loyalty is driven by achievement, their commitment to playing for their country, and just the general love of the game. Professionally, many are motivated by money, the brand perception and prestige of the team they play for, or where they just “feel the most love.” It causes their loyalty to constantly change. Same game. Same player. Very different drivers of loyalty.

It’s important for us as customer strategists to always consider what is driving our customer’s loyalty, but know that it can and will change. Just because a customer tells you they are loyal today and will continue to be with you for the next few years does not mean the work is done. They must constantly be reminded through actions of why you are the best choice for them. Otherwise, their motivators will change and they will be on to the next “team.” 

So, let’s enjoy watching what I believe to be the purest form of the player’s loyalty as they commence in the World Cup games later today. It should be an exciting month!

Katie Kiernan
Senior Analyst

I’ve seen several examples over the past six months of companies trying to define what the concept of “innovation” means. It’s a fair point of discussion, and one that gets a lot of air time with many of today’s top global organizations. The debate usually starts with someone asking about how the company even defines innovation. A quick online search led me to some interesting definitions. 

The Wikipedia definition of innovation is “new stuff that is made useful.” Could it really be that simple? Even if defining it is easy, the challenge is obviously then in finding the “new stuff.” So, no matter how companies decide to define it, eventually the hunt for the magic bullet of innovation begins. Increasingly high competition, mature markets, the desire for corporations to develop market adjacencies, and the inevitable increase of the impact of globalization on companies are all factors driving the focus on innovation today. 

A recent article by Michael S. Hopkins in the MIT Sloan Management Review draws on some very unique concepts of The four ways IT is revolutionizing innovation. There are a few ideas in this article that I think all companies can learn from in his message about the success of IT companies:

·         There is a lot of data out there that IT companies just know how to tap into more effectively.  They are also structured to be able to replicate and scale up innovations.

 

·         There are numerous data points out there that can be analyzed today – ultimately measuring the customer experience on how innovations are performing is critical.

 

·         Many IT companies have a culture of innovation, which is a critical component for success.

 

·         There is a shift in focus from as much long-range planning to more short-term experimenting to uncover customer needs.

Innovation can naturally just be something some companies do best, while others continue to struggle to define what innovation means to them.   I believe that even if you are not a naturally innovative company you can develop this culture – particularly with the help of customers to help you drive your most innovative strategies.   Use customer insights to uncover how to innovate with new services, create new products, or how to improve operations. After all, each of these can be considered “new stuff”.

Katie Kiernan
Senior Analyst

My daughter is a picky eater, but what toddler isn’t? Her eating habits have caused some disagreement between my husband and me – he suggests a reward any time she eats even a little bit of her dinner, while I think a reward should be reserved for those times when she does something out of the ordinary, like asks for more because she enjoyed the meal.  

This got me thinking about the similarities between my situation and customer feedback programs. How should we tie customer feedback to rewards for team members? Is it best to keep motivation high by rewarding even the small successes, like improvement over the previous period, even though scores are only mediocre, or do you reserve the reward for outstanding performance, such as reaching a “best in class” goal? I think it depends.

Most sources cite a few key components of effective reward systems:

·         Make it timely

·         Be creative

·         Match the reward to the interests and goals of the recipient

·         Ensure the rewards align with the current state of the organization

On the last point, if an organization is currently receiving moderate scores from customers, it would be silly to promise a reward only when scores exceeded best in class comparisons. The goal seems unattainable, and motivation would evaporate. On the other hand, if the same organization set the goal at 3-4% improvement year-over-year, team members could get behind this goal and work together to achieve it. It is critical to understand the current state and what is realistically achievable before you develop a rewards system.

Back to the situation with my daughter: because I know she is capable of eating a whole meal, I think rewarding her for “above and beyond” behavior is entirely realistic and attainable. Plus, since I’m the one making dinner every night, I think it’s only fair that I get the final say… right??

Marla Mast
Senior Analyst

Those of us who still use the Post Office probably have a vast array of stamps that indicate a previous lower price for 1 ounce First Class mail. So we are well aware of the price increases that happen quite frequently. We also hear that the Post Office continues to lose money and will in all likelihood cut services. How can the Post Office become more customer centric and gain patronage loyalty?

Standing in line recently at a local Post Office, it was clear that a recent policy was not in the right direction. This particular customer had a package that needed some tape and requested it from the Post Office employee, who had a roll of tape at her fingertips. However, the customer was told that she could purchase a whole roll of tape, but the Post Office employee was not able to give her any - a recent cost saving measure coming from the Post Master. How about even selling a 12 inch strip?

This example is repeated in many businesses, where cost savings are put in place which are in the face of creating customer value and loyalty.

Well, it finally happened. I know a big lottery winner! As I’ve shared the news with people I know, there is always the same reaction. How long do you give them before they blow all of their winnings? Is it really responsible to be spending any of it? You know what’s going to happen, right? They’ll blow it!  Ouch.  These are just a few of the reactions I received, and who can blame them? This is exactly what I thought as well, and history proves it. Listed here are the stories of 10 lottery winners who won big and lost it all. 

So, what happens? What causes people’s luck to run out? Let’s be honest - a lot of it is just plain foolishness. However, some of it is friends and family taking advantage and turning their backs on the big winners. Interesting what the power of money can do.   As corporations, we are all focused on gaining profitability and focus on our customers and competitors to maximize the bottom line. However, what if all of that effort was wasted because we were sitting on a jackpot the whole time and didn’t capitalize on it?

Case in point - many organizations do not have a centralized way of gathering customer feedback. There could be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars ready to be spent by your customers that the organization doesn’t know about. That revenue, if not noticed, will end up in someone’s hands. There is also always some revenue at risk of moving to the competition. You have to locate it, save it, and start to repair the relationship. 

There is simply no way to collect on and retain your jackpot if you aren’t centralizing and organizing feedback from customers. Sure, many in your company know and understand customer needs. Often times, however, that feedback is too decentralized to make any sense of it on a broad scale. Do yourself a favor and start to think about collecting on a jackpot that already exists, your current customer base. From there, the mega-jackpot of starting to take share of your competitor’s customer base is more within reach!

Do you have examples of revenue that was saved or gained through a centralized customer feedback program?

Katie Kiernan
Senior Analyst

Just walked through our break-room and heard a news anchor say that the FBI has 400,000 names on the terrorism watch-list.  She stated adamantly (and as though it wasn’t already obvious to everyone listening): “we should be able to do a better job with list management and creating a clean list of names” to use regarding national security matters.

List management seems to be a universal problem, doesn’t it?  It makes sense that it would be, too, considering how much change goes on around us everyday. 

In our realm of customer listening programs, we experience the same types of problems with contact list management quite regularly.  (Although, in comparison to the FBI list, it certainly seems like a whole lot less to groan about all of the sudden, doesn’t it?)  It is difficult to cleanly and efficiently maintain an accurate and timely record of customer contacts, especially considering the variety of potential sources at our disposal. 

Recently, we’ve seen an encouraging trend, though.  Multiple clients I work with are planning to tap into a new, more centralized source of customer contact names in 2010.  With these clients, we are planning SalesForce.com integrations.  Leveraging a new Walker app available on the SalesForce.com app exchange, we can now integrate customer listening programs into the mix.  For my clients, our mission is to rid ourselves of collecting lists in Excel, cleaning them, and dealing with rounds and rounds of updates.  But, more importantly, it also means that customer information will be made available in real-time within the SalesForce system that account teams already rely upon on a daily basis.  They won’t have to learn another tool, and they won’t have to go searching for feedback provided by their customers – it will all be right there in one centralized system.

We’re just at the beginning stages of these integrations now.  I’ll be sure to keep you posted on our progress in future entries. 

Krista Roseberry
Senior Analyst, Walker Information
 

Well, the time is finally upon us.  It’s the time of year when we should be enjoying the holidays and thinking about what lies ahead in the upcoming year.  I know I’m not alone in feeling that every year the holiday season seems less and less relaxing.   It’s more about last minute shopping, lists, parties, and wrapping up year-end activities.  Sometimes I feel more like the Grinch than anything!

I recently read an article called Productivity Unplugged:  Take Two Vacations and Call Me After the Holidays.  Conceptually, of course this makes sense.  We all need to take time off to recharge our batteries so we can do better work when we are “plugged in."  The part that really struck a chord with me, though, is that we need to “unplug” – even if just briefly over the holidays – to better serve our customers.  We must use the few days we are given around the holidays to clear our minds and reflect upon what we originally set out to do for our customers. 

It’s very easy to get entrenched in day-to-day activities and completely lose sight of the customer’s goals and objectives.  During your “unplugged” moments over the holidays, perhaps you should take just a moment to reflect back on a few items:

· What are my customers trying to achieve today and in the future?

· How can I help them achieve those objectives?

· How will their goals and objectives change as we head into 2010?

As we close out 2009, reflect on these questions, and start to think about what the New Year may bring, we should challenge ourselves to define how well we are really listening to customers, particularly during our busy times of the year.  Take just a moment to “unplug” and think about how you could improve your relationships by just re-tuning in to your customer’s needs.  It will certainly help you to be more successful in 2010!

Katie Kiernan
Senior Analyst

It’s fall, it’s football season, and in my house, we get our fill of college football on Saturday afternoons. My husband is a fan of a certain Big 10 team who finds itself in its second lackluster year after many past winning seasons and bowl game appearances. Fans were elated when, in 2008, the university brought in a fresh new coach to turn things around and take the team to the next level. With the new coach came an entirely new strategy, which requires the full commitment of the entire organization, recruitment of new players who are best equipped to adapt to the new plan, and willingness from existing players to adjust to the new coaching style.  

Unfortunately, the past two seasons have produced more losses than wins, and disgruntled fans are already calling for the coach’s replacement. Looking at the sweeping changes that have been implemented, you can easily draw the conclusion that it would be impossible to turn the team around in just two short seasons. 

Like football, instituting or reinvigorating a customer listening program is not a “one season” activity. It takes year-round practice, shifting of team members to ensure those with the right skills are at the forefront of the action, commitment from the entire organization, and internal and external support. From the beginning, the entire team needs to be committed to the program and willing to deal with the growing pains in order to see the return. Too much time, effort, and money is invested in these programs to stop them short of their full potential. Organizations need to set short-term goals to monitor steady progress towards achieving long-term success.

While it takes time to ingrain a customer listening program into an organization, customers expect to see a timely return on their investment. Companies must communicate with customers that they are listening and taking action on the feedback that is received. While it might take time to fix the big issues, telling customers that you’re working on it will go a long way in terms of their patience and continued support even during the rocky times. 

Sports teams can’t be expected to turn things around in one season, just like customer listening programs shouldn’t be expected to reach their full potential in a short timeframe. Both take time, repetition, and a lot of practice to develop the team and the process into a cohesive unit. But along the way, be sure to let customers know that you value their commitment and that you’re taking steps to ensure they support you for a long time to come.

Marla Mast
Senior Analyst

We’ve all had those “duh” moments in our life that we aren’t necessarily proud of. You know - those situations where someone asks you a seemingly easy question that you swear you know the answer to. You search your brain and….nothing. Blank. Or, better yet, you blurt out something that sends the room into explosive laughter. Oh yes, we’ve all been there.

Jay Leno makes a point of exploiting unexpecting citizens on the sidewalks of U.S. cities in the segment of his show called Jaywalking. By simply asking questions that we would think anyone could answer, he finds many people who after being interviewed will never live down the public embarrassment. He may even ask something like, “Who was the first president?” Even this simple question can often be met with blank stares. Unbelievable, right? You would never be caught in a situation like that, right?

Perhaps when it comes to customer listening we can often be a bit too presumptuous about what we know. It’s not uncommon for our sales and account teams to say that they don’t need to gather feedback because they already know everything there is to know about their customers. While to some extent this can be true, often we find that what they think they know is not aligned with what customers actually say. Or, at best, it is only part of story.

We need to encourage our account teams to really use unbiased customer feedback in addition to what they already know. The combination of both perspectives can be quite powerful, particularly when the customer feedback is used as a radar on internal metrics and performance. Tracking actual performance on metrics relative to perceived performance on those metrics can provide direction on where you should actually focus. Determine what the “breaking point” is in the eyes of the customer and use that as your indicator for the performance level you should be achieving.

It pays off to truly listen to customers – ask for their feedback, really understand what they are saying in comparison to what you already know, and then act. Don’t get stuck thinking you know your customers and then scrambling to explain why their sales are declining or even worse why you have lost their business. You may just end up in a bind like one of Leno’s Jaywalkers!

Katie Kiernan
Senior Account Analyst

 

•  Customers don’t notice messages.  So communicate often and use a variety of approaches.

• Customers can be annoyed by messages – there are too many/not enough, they are too flashy/not flashy enough, they are useful/wasteful … you get the picture.  Spend time planning/testing so your messages will be on target with your audience.

• Develop a consistent ongoing communication approach with customers so they are more alert to your messages and more likely to pay attention.  Focus on a long-term dialog, not just a one-time dazzle.

• Communication is often an after-thought and does not receive the kind of resources given to our product and service offerings.  Make sure that communication is an integral part of your customer engagement process, and make the most of the puny budget.

Recently when traveling by air I had an experience which made me wonder to what degree do airlines really listen to their customers.

We had been served our drink and the flight attendants were coming back down the aisle, asking if anyone wanted something else? This is obviously more than what often happens. When I handed my empty cup to the attendant asking whether she could take that from me, her response was, I don't have a place for it right now! That was it!

When did this airline last look at identifying customer needs and expectations, and seeing how they are currently meeting them, and/or how they might be able to adjust to better meet them. This has to go further than customer satisfaction surveys. It requires intense customer listening in order to tease out what aspects could make the relationship 'outstanding'. In this example, yes, the cart is small, but there was a section at the bottom that was empty.....could that have been used to collect used glasses? Or what about a plastic bag that is hooked to the cart. At the very least, the response should have been I don't have a place for it right now, but I will return shortly to collect!

 Pamela Toft
Walker Information

Walker's bi-annual Fall Forum is in full swing -- today, we explored several potentially powerful ways of using customer feedback to make a real impact on the business.  As just one example: have you ever really thought about how customer information could help inform an Aqcuisition decision?   

One forum attendee confided during a break: the number of applications and potential audiences for customer information is overwhelming, especially in my current company culture... I don't know where to start!   I'm sure you can relate to feeling that way at one time or another, and we all know what usually happens next too:  Nothing.  No action.  No change.  

Perhaps it's human nature to ignore all of those bright ideas we had and chug along status-quo when we cannot quickly find a simple and meaningful place to start.  

So where do we start?  One way would be to develop a roadmap - whether formal or informal.  I like to keep informal 'roadmap' ideas on my internal team wiki space, for instance.  Another good way is to ask for help from someone who has done it before.  What approaches have you found to be effective? 

Krista Roseberry
Senior Analyst
Walker Information