April 2007

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article was first published in the Eastern Daily Press' 'The Business'  on 11 April 2007</I></div> <bR> <div> <B>Remember the Golden Rule</B></div> <bR> <div> I endured several days of sheer frustration recently trying to find, within the organisation that now provides my telephone and broadband services, someone who was prepared to do something to resolve a problem they had created in the first place.  I found myself confronted with either a variety of recorded menu-driven answering systems all of which seemed to lead me - eventually - back to the place I had started or, occasionally, with real people who told me that I shouldn't be speaking to them but to someone else.  I was then usually provided with another number to try and which led me, inevitably, back into the labyrinth that is their style of customer service. </div> <bR> <div> Things were resolved in the end, but not before my blood pressure had doubled and I had wasted an inordinate amount of time and amassed, ironically, an even higher phone bill in the bargain. The only helplines that were 0800 numbers seemed to be for sales enquiries, not technical help or after-sales service.  </div> <bR> <div> Then a friend related a conversation she'd had with a work colleague, who was bemoaning the fact that a customer had just phoned asking if there was any news about an issue that was very worrying for him and that had been going on for several days.  Her attitude was one of “What a pain! When we know the answer, we'll tell him”.  It took my friend asking her how she would feel if she was in the same position and was treated the same way to make her realise how not just she, but how the whole business had come across to that customer.</div> <bR> <div> Have you, or has a member of your staff ever said (even jokingly) something like “this job would be alright if it weren't for the customers”?  I've certainly seen people who appear to think that way when they're looking after someone.  I'm not suggesting for a moment that the customer is always right - they're not.  But they do deserve to be treated at least as well as you would like to be treated yourself.  </div> <bR> <div> Last month, I suggested that time and skills might be thought of as assets and a return on their investment considered when prioritising activities.  Of course, in overall terms, the most important assets in any business have always been people and I see a lot of businesses that proclaim proudly that their employees are recognised and valued accordingly.  What I see less of, sadly, is organisations that acknowledge publicly the fundamental importance of that other group of people - their customers.  I think that this makes, quite simply, poor commercial sense, for, without them, you won't have a business for long and you won't have any employees to be proud of.  So, remember the Golden Rule and put yourself in your customers' shoes from time to time.  It will help you see yourself and your business in a different light - one that might illuminate a few things you can change to serve your customers better.</div> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" width=180 BGCOLOR="#CC3333" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>