Do You Deserve Your Customers’ Money? Just Ask.
By: Mark Pruett
I was eating lunch with a co-worker when the restaurant’s cook came out and asked for our opinion on the new lunch special. While we gave mostly positive feedback, we also were very clear about the problems. To his credit, the cook wanted to hear it. He wanted honest feedback, and he listened attentively, not defensively. Give that man a raise! He’s an hourly worker who understands important principles about customer feedback.
I’ll never forget watching a 2007 interview with Bill Gates when he talked about how Microsoft had developed Windows Vista. During product development, Microsoft spent time with 50 ordinary families to learn more about how they use computers. The company then released a prototype “beta” version free of charge to five million computer experts to get their advice before finishing the software and putting it into regular production.
It’s impressive to seek out so much external feedback on a product before putting it on the market. On the other hand, in essence, Bill Gates said that the product designers at the world’s largest software company got advice from five million people that think like product designers, and from only a tiny number of “ordinary” people. The problem is that experts usually are only one part of a market. Ordinary people usually are the biggest market segment. They aren’t experts and probably don’t want to be.
Do your best customers matter? Of course! But, don’t ignore the opinions of ordinary customers just because they deal with you only occasionally. Just because they might only talk with you once a year and don’t understand that much about your products doesn’t mean they don’t think about the experience. They’re also the ones you need to win over if you’re going to grow.
Many customers hold back their true opinions and feelings. They don’t want to be rude, they don’t want you to get mad, they don’t want to look stupid and they don’t have any idea you care about what they think. In fact, if you don’t get out and ask them, you make a convincing statement that you don’t care what they think. If a customer does come with a compliment or complaint, you can bet there are others who feel the same way.
If you ask for feedback, show you mean it by being specific and sincere. For example, one of the biggest wastes in the restaurant industry is the millions of times a day cashiers and waitresses ask, “How was everything?” It’s not specific, and it rarely is sincere.
Asking a customer to sum up the entire experience into one answer won’t do you much good. Instead, ask them what you could do to improve the experience. Better yet, get specific. For example, thinking of remodeling the space where you interact with customers? Ask them for their ideas on layouts and style.
Feedback questions have to be timely. Late feedback can be useless. And, overwhelming customers isn’t helpful either—the comprehensive, detailed surveys used by some companies can be too much and too late. Instead, listen to customer reactions and ideas while they’re still fresh.
And, you actually have to listen. For example, I know a dry cleaner that uses safety pins to mount paper identification tags on freshly-laundered dress shirts. Corporate managers believe this practice helps the company stand out. They’re right, but they’re not helping the company. Employees hate it because it is time-consuming and painful. It’s more expensive than the alternatives. And worst of all, it seems that the only customer feedback on the process consists of complaints from customers who stab themselves or cannot open the pins. The company’s attempt to differentiate itself wastes time and money and creates ill will. Management just doesn’t get the point.
We’re all a little defensive when people complain. People are rarely on their best behavior when they’re unhappy, and they want to release some of their frustration, anger or fear. Although instinct may tell you to throw rocks right back at them, remind yourself that their emotions are genuine and that you probably should be glad they’re complaining. Many customers won’t tell you they’re disappointed—they’ll tell other people.
When customers give you advice, they’re not doing it to make you defensive or put you down. They want you to succeed, they care and they want to work with you again. Even though some advice might not be very nicely wrapped, it’s still a gift.
Are customers the experts on everything associated with your agency—the details, intricacies and constraints? No. However, customers are indeed the experts on what delighted, pleased, disappointed or disturbed them. If you don’t make the effort to find that out, what makes you think you deserve their money?
Dr. Mark Pruett (mpruett@uscupstate.edu) is a professor at the Johnson College of Business and Economics at the University of South Carolina Upstate.
I’ll never forget watching a 2007 interview with Bill Gates when he talked about how Microsoft had developed Windows Vista. During product development, Microsoft spent time with 50 ordinary families to learn more about how they use computers. The company then released a prototype “beta” version free of charge to five million computer experts to get their advice before finishing the software and putting it into regular production.
It’s impressive to seek out so much external feedback on a product before putting it on the market. On the other hand, in essence, Bill Gates said that the product designers at the world’s largest software company got advice from five million people that think like product designers, and from only a tiny number of “ordinary” people. The problem is that experts usually are only one part of a market. Ordinary people usually are the biggest market segment. They aren’t experts and probably don’t want to be.
Do your best customers matter? Of course! But, don’t ignore the opinions of ordinary customers just because they deal with you only occasionally. Just because they might only talk with you once a year and don’t understand that much about your products doesn’t mean they don’t think about the experience. They’re also the ones you need to win over if you’re going to grow.
Many customers hold back their true opinions and feelings. They don’t want to be rude, they don’t want you to get mad, they don’t want to look stupid and they don’t have any idea you care about what they think. In fact, if you don’t get out and ask them, you make a convincing statement that you don’t care what they think. If a customer does come with a compliment or complaint, you can bet there are others who feel the same way.
If you ask for feedback, show you mean it by being specific and sincere. For example, one of the biggest wastes in the restaurant industry is the millions of times a day cashiers and waitresses ask, “How was everything?” It’s not specific, and it rarely is sincere.
Asking a customer to sum up the entire experience into one answer won’t do you much good. Instead, ask them what you could do to improve the experience. Better yet, get specific. For example, thinking of remodeling the space where you interact with customers? Ask them for their ideas on layouts and style.
Feedback questions have to be timely. Late feedback can be useless. And, overwhelming customers isn’t helpful either—the comprehensive, detailed surveys used by some companies can be too much and too late. Instead, listen to customer reactions and ideas while they’re still fresh.
And, you actually have to listen. For example, I know a dry cleaner that uses safety pins to mount paper identification tags on freshly-laundered dress shirts. Corporate managers believe this practice helps the company stand out. They’re right, but they’re not helping the company. Employees hate it because it is time-consuming and painful. It’s more expensive than the alternatives. And worst of all, it seems that the only customer feedback on the process consists of complaints from customers who stab themselves or cannot open the pins. The company’s attempt to differentiate itself wastes time and money and creates ill will. Management just doesn’t get the point.
We’re all a little defensive when people complain. People are rarely on their best behavior when they’re unhappy, and they want to release some of their frustration, anger or fear. Although instinct may tell you to throw rocks right back at them, remind yourself that their emotions are genuine and that you probably should be glad they’re complaining. Many customers won’t tell you they’re disappointed—they’ll tell other people.
When customers give you advice, they’re not doing it to make you defensive or put you down. They want you to succeed, they care and they want to work with you again. Even though some advice might not be very nicely wrapped, it’s still a gift.
Are customers the experts on everything associated with your agency—the details, intricacies and constraints? No. However, customers are indeed the experts on what delighted, pleased, disappointed or disturbed them. If you don’t make the effort to find that out, what makes you think you deserve their money?
Dr. Mark Pruett (mpruett@uscupstate.edu) is a professor at the Johnson College of Business and Economics at the University of South Carolina Upstate.
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