Satisfied Customers

The Satisfied Ex-Customer
By Paul Herbig

Have you ever had a regular customer who always thanked you for the service you provided, never complained, and even as he was switching to a competitor, positively commented on your company and product? You are not alone. A recent survey of 767 corporate executives indicated 75% were happy with their supplier but 66% were planning to find a new one or simply end the relationship. Whoa what gives here? The mantra of late has been customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction, customer satisfaction: Keep the customer happy and he will be yours forever. A mismatch has just occurred. Perhaps the truth is more obscure: keeping a customer satisfied is necessary but not sufficient for customer retention.

Another classic survey provides the necessary hint to bridge this mismatch. What is the largest single factor to companies switching suppliers, to why customers leave and go elsewhere? No, it is not product, not quality, and certainly not customer satisfaction or lack of satisfaction. No, the number one reason is: lack of attentiveness. The customer feels neglected by his current vendor. He feels the company takes him, as a customer, for granted. No one is showing him any attention or concern. It is the age old human behavior: What have you done for me lately? Managers see the attitude among their employees all the time. What is so strange about customers feeling the same way about their vendors? After all, both rely upon human experiences. (What is the percentage of divorces that come about because one spouse has ‘neglected’ another? Wanna bet high? )

In a decades old advertisement that stuck in my memory (and probably many of yours as well), a crusty old manager calls in all of his senior people for an emergency meeting. “Our longest and largest customer just told me they are switching to another company. They said it seems like we are distant and no longer care.” Then he started handing out airline tickets to all the senior people. “I want you immediately to drop everything you are doing and visit these customers.. I don’t want to have any more phone calls like the one I just received.” When asked what he will be doing, he commented, “ Visiting an old friend.”

The sufficient side of the equation is then, attention, the relationship aspect. Yep, you may well be satisfied with the product and the company but feel like something is missing, that human touch. That point of difference may well be enough to send you into the waiting arms of a competitor, who has promised you he will listen to you and be with you whenever you need him.

IBM in its hayday, knew this. When a computer broke down and you, as manager, reported it to IBM, five minutes later the immediate IBM service manager would call you and confirm the message and problem and indicate a repairperson was on its way. Almost as the repairperson entered the premises, another IBM manager would call to confirm its arrival and to see if any additional resources were necessary. After completion of the service call, yet a third IBM manager would call to ask if the manager was satisfied, if the problem had been fixed, and everything was in working condition. Finally, a day or two later, the first immediate manager would call to confirm the systems’ smooth operation and the efficiency of the service person and your reactions to the promptness of the service call. Overkill? Probably. However, you, as a manager, knew you had the attention of IBM and its management and would continue to have until the problem was resolved.

Customer satisfaction is a necessary part to customer retention. However, customer satisfaction, alone, is insufficient to keep your customers. What is sufficient is good old customer relationship, visiting, talking to, listening to your customers (and following up on what they say). Not just making them FEEL like they have your undivided attention but having them KNOW you care and will be there for them. It is not mere coincidence that this formula will work just as well in keeping marriages intact. Both require satisfying the basic human need of being concerned with