Excuse the poker analogy, but no matter how much a company spends on customer management programs (4 aces), the fate of how a customer or prospect perceives an organization can come down to a single, or series of customer experiences (pair of 2s) – good or bad. Companies have spent millions of dollars on state-of-the-art data-driven customer management systems (CMS). The Gartner Group recognized my thought leadership on this when I was working for another CRM consulting firm, which states that it’s not just about changing technology, but people and processes must also be changed.

This is a personal article about my experiences with several organizations. There are no statistics to support my conclusions, but customer treatment by an organization usually operates in a limited range. I have become very observant over the last several years on how companies treat their customers and will regularly write notes to management – good and bad. After experiencing a series of customer experience delights and blunders, I thought I would summarize this in an article for my readers.

For simplicity the companies have been categorized as the Good, the Bad and the Ugly (excuse me Clint Eastwood). There is also a Superstar category for a company that breaks the mold when it comes to positive customer experiences. The categories are addressed in reverse order so that we can end on a positive note.

UGLY

There’s a certain telecom company that grew up, was broken apart and most recently has reassembled most of the pieces. When AT&T was just a provider of long distance service I was one of their best customers. At the time, I was a partner in an international business consulting firm and was racking up a lot of international calls. They went as far as to send me a free Directv satellite dish with free pay per view movies for a year. More on that later.

When my wife started her business out of our house a few years ago, I set up the additional phone lines since the current service was under my name. There was a problem with her billing, prompting a phone call asking her when the bill would be paid. The bill had already been paid some time ago. The agent didn’t believe her and called my wife a liar in so many words. The next day all 3 lines were switched to MCI. When she moved out of the house and into an office the next month, all 5 lines used MCI. When she moved into a bigger office a year later, all 5 lines and the T-1 were with anyone but AT&T.

Not only did they lose the direct revenue from the Bennett household for many years, but they were my poster child for what not to do during the dozens of marketing seminars I delivered over the next several years. They only got back into our house after they purchased another company we were already doing business with.

How could a company with all that data not know better. This could have easily been avoided by grouping all of the accounts under one account history, especially since the disputed account was at a residential location. Isn’t that called householding? Most importantly, you never resort to calling or insinuating that the customer is lying.

BAD

When I first started my firm, I was looking for vehicles to market my services. I discovered infoUSA’s SalesGenie at a tradeshow. They came to my office for a demonstration. I thought it was adequate and the price was reasonable. I was also able to get a 90-day out clause added to the 12-month agreement. Once I started using it, I didn’t find it as user-friendly as they portrayed. This was further acerbated by crashing my hard drive and having to recreate my 1000 names test mailing, 20 names at a time.

On day 58 I contacted them by e-mail and phone stating that I wanted out of the contract, but they continued to debit my account for another month. According to them, a 90-day out means you have to pay for 90 days before you can get out of the contract. I’ve heard of creative accounting, but this sounds like creative law to me. I could have won if I went to court, but the amount was too small to justify the legal fees. I even complained to the regional manager who was going to get back to me on my refund – I’m still waiting.

To add insult to injury, they continue to ‘spam’ me with their ‘Sales Tip of the Day’ e-mail after I’ve unsubscribed from the list 3 times.

GOOD

There are several experiences that fall into this category but I only have room for a couple.

Staples – I couldn’t believe how friendly and helpful the people were when I walked into one of their first stores in Chicagoland a year ago. I was welcomed by the customer service clerk and asked if there was anything they could help me find. When I had a question in another part of the store, the employee stocking shelves in that area was very eager to help. I had to visit 5 different stores multiple times before I concluded that customer service must be a corporate philosophy. I verified that conclusion when I happen to meet the store manager and regional manager at one of their stores. Granted they have a rewards program, but that clerk doesn’t know how much or how little I spend at their store. Since I shop at multiple Staples, they don’t even have a chance to recognize me. Additionally, I stood near the entrance and observed other customers walk in and receive the same customer experience.

Directv – As I mentioned earlier, I received our first Directv satellite dish through an offer from AT&T several years ago. Too bad AT&T didn’t learn customer service from them. We only have a couple of premium services, but have been a customer for almost 10 years. Each year they call to offer us the latest technology as an upgrade to our current receivers at the same deal they give new customers. The only catch is that I have to agree to 2 years of service. Like I told them one time, “I’ve been with you for 10-years now, where am I going?” When I have a problem, my calls are expedited and they always state, “You are one of our best customers”. That’s how technology is supposed to work.

SUPERSTAR

There is only one company that can motivate families to save up for years just for a few days of ‘Magic’. This same company boasts a customer retention rate of over 70 percent. They are the largest single-site employer in the United States. Yes, I’m talking about the “happiest place on earth” – DisneyWorld. My family had the pleasure of spending a week in Orlando in 2004 with our young children. The level of customer service in and around the park is unmatched by anything else I’ve seen. From the characters, to the store clerks to the janitors, everyone smiled and was genuinely interested in making sure we had a good experience. We had the extreme pleasure of being asked to be in a parade in the park. This took us behind the scenes a bit where we observed the maintenance man greeting each family enthusiastically as he walk past the floats. Disney is serious about not just giving customers good experiences, but great experiences. According to Be Our Guest: Perfecting the Art of Customer Service by the Disney Institute, “Quality Service means exceeding your guests’ expectations and paying attention to detail.” Many organizations do one or the other of these principles well, but few get both right.

You might think that all resorts operate the same way in Orlando, but we also visited Universal Studios and Sea World and didn’t come close to the same experience. The closest we came was at the Swan Hotel, which is on the Disney property, but operated by Starwood. The people there were also great.

SUMMARY

At first glance you might say that you don’t really need a data-driven customer management solution to provide good experiences since the Staples and Disney can’t possibly use that to manage daily customer interactions on such a large scale. In actuality, they opposite is true. These companies use very sophisticated data collections programs that let them understand how a clogged toilet impacts the customer experience (Believe me; I saw it in action at Disney. Write me if you want to know the details.). As I’ve stated in a previous article which was published in DM News, data centricity leads to customer centricity. (article link) But no matter how much data your collect, the first step to any good customer experience is a commitment to ‘exceed a customer’s expectations’. It sounds easy, but so few companies make the effort to do so. Just meeting expectations would be a welcome change for customers of many organizations.