Customer Feedback Needed

I’m really looking forward to a week away with Annie from Saturday 2nd August. We will be leaving our two dogs and the house in the capable hands of my in-laws Eric and Pauline.

We are going on a residential acting summer school in Harrogate – should be fun!!

I was having an email conversation with David Wike and David rightly feels I should leave something ‘meaty’ on Simplicity Blog for hearty and meaningful discussion over a few virtual beers (wine for the more sophisticated among you).

So … having thought about it for at least 2 minutes I am going to ask you to discuss what sort of stuff you like to see on the Simplicity Blog – what works – what doesn’t etc.

I am always going on about my passion for finding out what customers think so please don’t be backward with your advice - as if you would have any hesitation anyway.

Discuss it among yourselves to your heart’s content while I am away.

Needless to say I'll try hard to resist visiting a PC next week but if I do manage to find an odd moment or two I may join in the conversation from sunny Yorkshire.

Enjoy the discussion and of course .... all the drinks are on David Wike!!!

To Centralise or to Decentralise .. That is the question ...

Once upon a time when I worked as a manager in the National Health Service (NHS)we were doing some community development work in a rural area of Devon called Dartmoor.

We wanted to ask local people their experiences of local health services and also get their views about how services might be improved.

We decided to hold meetings with residents in the three biggest towns on Dartmoor and a couple of small villages to get what we thought were representative opinions from people living on Dartmoor.

We duly wrote the report of our findings and held a series of meetings to discuss those findings with local people. I remember very clearly going to a village hall in deepest, darkest Dartmoor in a very tiny village called Lustleigh to talk to the locals about our findings.

They asked me whether our research had included opinions from people living in Lustleigh – population about 150 people (plus a few sheep) I replied that we had drawn conclusions from meetings with a cross section of people who lived on Dartmoor, including some who lived in a larger village less than 3 miles away where we had held one of our metings with local residents. The ‘Lustleigh folks’ immediately became indignant and objected that the views of people living in a village 3 miles away should in any way be seen to represent of the views of people living in Lustleigh. They were right of course and we were wrong.

The point of this true story is to get your opinions about the merits of centralisation versus decentralisation - local or national - and what do we actually mean by all these terms.

We can also include in the discussion the relative merits of centralisation and decentralisation within management and organisations.

In the UK National Health Service there are genuine attempts to get decision making down to a more local level and there are still many critics who believe too much power is vested in central government.

This posting has been promoted by my friend David Wike and I would be fascinated to hear comments from readers with different experiences and opinions about preferred options of centralise or decentralise the power.

For instance; what, if anything, needs to remain central? Or alternatively – what just cannot be decentralised?

Thanks David – I hope we get some responses

The Pain of Learning

I am an eternal optimist. I always see the glass half full.

But today I’m feeling low.

Yesterday Annie and I delivered the 30th Trust Me I’m a Patient workshop. We have seen 1500 participants through our workshops and the evaluations – apart from the very occasional negative comment - have always been very good.

The workshop yesterday didn’t go well and some delegates said it just didn’t work for them.

We were devastated last night. We are probably wrong to take it so seriously when I look at current events in Burma and China!

Because we take our work seriously - and want to deliver a professional product that’s well received - is probably the reason we both still feel somewhat gutted 24 hours later.

Of course I want to learn from my customers. I often write on this Blog and in articles about the importance of responding to customer feedback and I must walk my own talk.

If our customer is not happy then I must look at the workshop and think about the message I am hearing from the customer.

Learning can be painful because it means we have not met our own standards.

My great life guru Professor George Giarchi always tell me ‘This Too Will Pass’ so I know we will be feeling ok tomorrow. For the moment we are using the weekend to reflect.

Already we have begun to think about changing the workshop with some new creative ideas.

The biggest lesson for me is that the best learning is often the most painful.

Are Bad Manners now the norm in Business?

My friend and Business Associate David Wike raised an interesting issue with me in our latest email conversation. David was let down recently by a potential business client/customer who failed to show for a pre-arranged appointment.

When David rang to ask why he never showed the person explained he sent an email telling David he would not be able to make the appointment. David had not checked his e mail before leaving home and so he was oblivious to the email until he got back home.

I guess the person’s defence is he sent the e mail but as far as I’m concerned that is not enough.

I admit I am a bit obsessive about effective communication (actually I’m more than a ‘bit’ obsessive about communication) and I would probably double check the appointment but that is no excuse for what I consider bad manners.

I am increasingly surprised in modern society how some people are simply not conscientious enough to make sure they tell people if they cannot do something or make an appointment. Or even to simply respond to emails – we are talking basic communication skills here and good manners. This is not rocket science.

I believe email is the most fantastic form of communication ever invented BUT it is not fair to rely simply on email to transmit very important messages without checking.

In business we all have personal responsibility to demonstrate good manners and high ethics in our communication. I may be old fashioned but I see no defence whatsoever for such bad manners

Am I exaggerating the problem? - What do you think?

What is Accountability?

The next three months will be the busiest time I’ve had since becoming a self-employed person three and a half years ago. It feels good.

When I left the National Health Service it was a bit of a risk. The truth is the time had come for a parting of the ways. I am able now to see clearly that I was no longer good for the NHS after 35 years and the NHS was certainly not good for me.

I had become stale, disillusioned and dull. I still had loads of energy to offer but I felt tired.

I pledged to myself that a return to a 'contract job' on a full time basis on someone else’s payroll would be a defeat for me.

So far I have managed to eat every month for 40 months as a freelancer.

I still feel that the last thing I would ever want to do is return to some office based job in a large organisation.

I love working from home. I love my freedom. I love my self-imposed rules. I love my new accountability.

Let me say some more about this word 'accountability.'

I left surely the most ‘layered’ management structure in UK business in the National Health Service. You would think therefore I would have felt ‘accountable’ in that environment. Not true.

I now realise I am truly ‘accountable’ to the person who knows me best – and that is the person I see in the mirror. That is REAL accountability. Holding yourself to your own standards is a real test.

If I deliver for my customer I look in the mirror and know that I did a good job. If I fall short that guy in the mirror will let me know. The mirror test works for me.

The accountability I now have is like hanging - it concentrates the mind.

To whom are you accountable?

Fox Business Network TV Interview

As a result of the recent article in the New York Times I was invited by Fox Business Network TV to go to London last Friday to take part in a live TV interview that was broadcast in the United States.

The Fox studio overlooks the River Thames and the House of Commons – a marvellous setting.

This was a new and wonderful experience for me and I was impressed with the people at Fox and the whole process.

The interview lasts almost 4 minutes.

The joys of Christmas shopping

Here are your Christmas Shopping choices:

Choice 1

You drive from home in the rain to the City/Town Centre. Find a car park (usually pretty expensive rates). You walk to the shops in the rain and spend the next 5 hours wandering aimlessly and robotically around the shops browsing and selecting presents. Getting colder, getting more and more irritated by the bustle and barging of hundreds of other impatient shoppers. They appear to have no awareness that you are standing beside them. Getting wetter as you dodge in and out of the shops. Constant temperature changes so that you are either freezing cold outside in the rain or boiling hot inside the shops. Eventually you get back to the car fully loaded with bags and parcels. You load the boot and eventually get home – it’s still raining and you get wetter unloading the car. Eventually you sit down to enjoy that long awaited cuppa.

Choice 2

Do it all from the warmth and comfort of your own home on the Internet. (In my case Annie is the in-house expert)

Is it just me or is this a no-brainer?

NO! - It need not be 'just the way it is.'

As a customer one of the most annoying statements I hear is;

‘Sorry nothing I can do - that’s just the way it is’

What it portrays to me is that employees inside organisations have become tired, and lost their passion to challenge a culture that obviously need challenging!

So often I have heard that expression, or a variation of it, when customer expectations have fallen below the standard the customer expected.

If employees in any organisation say that sort of thing, don’t you think it is sad?

In short it means they have ‘given up’ … and I don’t think we should ever give up trying to change cultures that are wrong.

'Too simplistic' - A compliment ... I think!

I’ve always had an obsession to make management and leadership simpler. As a result I’m often accused of being 'too simplistic' in the complex world of business. I take that as a compliment but I somehow think it is not always meant as one.

As far as I'm concerned the best leaders concentrate mainly on two things - their customers and their staff.

I am sure great leaders are also interested in process and numbers and all the other ‘hard stuff’ – they just get others to do that stuff for them.

I am firmly in the camp that if you look after your staff and your customers, the bottom line and all the other ‘hard stuff’ will take care of itself.

Some people probably think I don’t rate 'process people' which is the way off the mark.

I have the ultimate respect for people who are turned on by the process side of any business. Good processes and governance are essential parts of any business and some of my best friends are accountants. I am just not good at that stuff. I have to have people alongside me who are good at that.

In my experience the folks obsessed with process and numbers usually have less time or concern for the 'people bit' and do not make the most effective leaders.

So … what is my conclusion?

I will continue to actively promote simplicity and a focus on people above process for business leaders.

Let the folks who are good at ‘process’ work effectively in the background but don't let them get in the way of leaders. These people can 'muddy the waters' by creating myths that everything in business is complex – it just isn’t!

Looking after your people (staff and customers) is not complex … it is just caring about them and that is simple.

I would value comments.

Don't make promises you don't meet!

An angry rant I’m afraid ….

To run a business is actually very easy. Here is my simple theory:

'If you tell the truth and deliver your promises you won't go far wrong. If you don't do those things your business will fail.'

The reason running a business gets bad press is because some people who run businesses are just hopeless at making sure they do what they say they will do.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I waited all day to receive an important parcel delivery for which a premium was paid to get a guarantee of delivery within 24 hours by one of my clients.

Guess what? – The parcel didn't arrive – no explanation - nothing.

That is not complicated - it is simple.

It is just a total lack of integrity and checking on the part of the business responsible for that promise.

I won’t accept any other explanation – it is that simple for crying out loud!

What is so complicated about checking whether you actually met your promise?

Such laziness and lack of professionalism annoys me intensely and there is just no excuse in my book.

Because this business failed to deliver their promise I am considerably out of pocket, I am considerably inconvenienced and another client of mine will receive a less than perfect service as a result – and none of this is the fault of me or my client.

This is simply and only to do with someone not having the decency, the good manners, the professionalism and the conscientiousness to check on their promises.

Don’t make promises if you don’t have methods of checking you deliver them.

I feel a little bit better having got that off my chest.

You couldn't make it up!

It was like something from a 'Carry On' film.

Annie and I called in at Taunton Services on the M5 motorway this morning for a breakfast on our way back home from Devon.

We were at the hot food bar for the traditional English breakfast in a small queue of us two and one very nice man.

The young lady behind the counter asked the man in the queue if he would like fried or scrambled egg … fair question we thought. The man replied 'scrambled egg please' and we were amazed as she said to him … ‘the scrambled egg is not very nice at all!’ … we smiled at each other and the man smiled at us … I said to him ‘At least she's honest!' … but we just couldn't work out why the heck would you have scrambled egg on display as an option only to be told it’s not very nice?

We were then asked by about three or four unoccupied young male staff whether there was anything they could do for us.

I was sorely tempted to say ‘Well as there are so many of you, apparently doing nothing, why don’t one of you go and make a decent scrambled egg?’ … but I resisted.

We paid our bill and sat down to enjoy our scrambled eggless breakfast.

The man who had been in the queue brought over a £5 note to me and said he had noticed they had over-charged me at the till!

What a lovely experience ….

And yet more evidence about the crazy world of business and customer care!

Customers decide if you live or die

In these days of intense competition only the smartest businesses will survive. I’ve been thinking about how businesses retain customers for repeat business.

My view has always been that if you are in touch with customers – in fact if you make customers feel really special - you won’t go far wrong.

There are thousands of management consultants who will charge a lot of money trying to convince you there is a technical, rational, systems answer to all this. I disagree. I have always said (and written) that there is a place for process in businesses but the proportions in my opinion should be a pint of process and a gallon of passion. In my experience many businesses have a gallon of process and a pint of passion – and they then wonder why their business is a not a hotbed of creativity and in touch with front line staff and customers. I say value and trust your front line staff and look after your customers and you will succeed.

These are the stages I recognise in many businesses:

Stage 1 Passion

The owner of the company starts small with a vision to establish the business. There is real passion at this stage because the owner has to work to eat. It will be a struggle to make any money. This is about making your reputation.

Stage 2 Established

The owner sees the business is meeting a need and begins to break even and maybe make some money. More work is generated and the business is becoming established. The owner is still very hands on - driving the business.

Stage 3 Growth

The reputation of the business grows and more work is generated. The owner decides it is time to get some help and staff are recruited to assist. The owner is still heavily involved. The business is becoming profitable.

Stage 4 Expansion

Now things are buzzing and the owner decides that it can expand. Staff recruitment takes off, business is growing and everything looks great. The owner is now slightly more removed from the front line and customers and has people doing ‘all that stuff.

Stage 5 Comfort

The business is now comfortable in terms of profits and growth. The owner now has a monitoring role because the senior management team takes care of the day to day business including customer care.

Stage 6 Complacency

Because things are now ‘comfortable’ complacency sets in. Standards provided to customers that were hugely important in the earlier stages seem to have slipped because the business is now big and less responsive to the changing needs of customers.

Stage 7 Vulnerability

Whilst standards have slipped existing competitors and new businesses have emerged as serious rivals. You have become vulnerable. You start to notice profits are reducing and repeat business is not happening. Your staff are not as happy as they were. The owner is now far removed from the everyday business – and may even be oblivious to what is happening.

Stage 8 Arrogance

The business ignores the obvious and growing competition and refuses to learn from what is happening – a classic case of burying your head in the sand. The need for change is now smacking you between the eyes but refusal to accept the inevitable seems to be the overriding culture.

Stage 9 Death - RIP

This is what happens when we refuse to listen to what our customers are telling us. Customers are our heartbeat and if we do not listen and respond to what our pulse is telling us then the outcome is sadly inevitable. The owner – now completely out of touch – is heard to say ‘What went wrong?’

Summary

I would suggest that being closely in touch with our customers is important throughout all the first 8 stages and arguably more important from stage 5 onwards. Sadly many businesses seem to lose touch with customers once they have become comfortable.

Comments?

Customer care is simple

When I was younger there was clear difference in product reliability. There were numerous jokes going around like:

What do you get if you merge British Leyland with Mothercare?

Answer - A car with a built in rattle.

Nowadays cars work. Vacuum cleaners work. Washing machines work. Televisions work …. And so the list goes on. Anything I buy seems to work.

I would say reliability has improved beyond recognition in the last 10 years. Occasionally of course the product we buy doesn't work but I suggest that is now the exception rather than the rule.

Where am I going with this?

Well - My question is … if everything works... what is it that makes me part with my money to a particular supplier versus another?

For instance if the specification is the same for the Washing Machine and the price is the same in two shops what makes me choose one shop over another?

My feeling is it has to do with the attitude of the staff who deal with me as the customer.

The business that makes me feel special and important is the one I am likely to use and recommend. The one that does not treat me with that care will not get my future business. And of course, more importantly, I am going to tell my friends and family about the good and the bad. So when you lose one direct customer you may also be losing more because people talk.

Why do some staff in direct contact with customers give the impression that we customers are some sort of inconvenience spoiling the tranquillity of their working day?

This really is simple stuff … Isn’t it? … Or am I missing something here?

Click here to read Random Ramblings!

David Wike is a business colleague here in the West Midlands, England. David has invited me to work with him next month in a new workshop he has designed called Towards the Perfect Business!

David has some great ideas about how small to medium size businesses can develop. In a nutshell David wants his workshop to provide an opportunity to discuss with people running small business how they can aim for the perfect business.

You can read more about David’s ideas at his excellent website by clicking here.

David recently set up a Blog called Random Ramblings as part of his website and each Wednesday he pens his thoughts about business, customers and life in general. It makes fascinating reading. David’s long management career in the motor industry means that his insights about management and business are well worth reading.

David and I agree on many things, in particular, passion for front line staff and customers and I am sure regular Simplicity readers will enjoy David’s banter.

Click here to view David's Random Ramblings for this week. Please pass this link to your friends.

PS .. David is a life long Liverpool football fan for which I have forgiven him. I am sure he will grow out of that as he gets older ….. Just joking David.

Well done STAGECOACH!

Some feedback about the complaint I made earlier this week about the inconsiderate bus driver.

The company, STAGECOACH, replied to my e-mail very promptly and assured me as follows:

‘The driver on this occasion has fallen below the standard expected by us and will be made aware of his errors …… Please accept my apologies for the distress caused by the inconsiderate actions of this driver.’

I am a big critic of organisations that don’t listen to customer feedback or organisations that argue the toss about whether the customer is actually right or not.

So from me it’s a case of 'hats off' and genuine congratulations to STAGECOACH for believing me dealing with my complaint so well and so quickly.

If only all organisations were like that I would never have the need to rant about customer care on my Blog.

THERE IS HOPE!!

Why Why Why???!!!

Another rant on Customer Care - I am constantly surprised.

Just as I think the message is getting through to businesses that the customer is actually quite an important part of the company… No!! hold on just a moment … let me re-phrase that slightly understated point …

THE CUSTOMER IS THE REASON YOU EXIST!!!

Annie and I boarded a STAGECOACH bus on Monday to travel to Coventry and we were greeted by the rudest, most ignorant and arrogant driver one could possibly find. His whole attitude was 'anti-customer.'

This is such a shame as our previous experiences with many other bus drivers of Stagecoach have been good. This driver set back the image of the company in our eyes and how sad it is that such people can affect the entire image of a company.

I would just love the Chief Executive of Stagecoach to have been the passenger so that he/she experiences what it feels like. I intend to write to the Chief Executive with that comment. The people running companies need to know this sort of thing is going on at the front line. Drivers represent the Chief Executive.

As regular readers of Simplicity will know I am a great advocate of front line staff and I stick by my beliefs on that.

It is a tragedy that such people spoil the image of the vast majority of front line staff.

I try so hard to be understanding and tolerate the fact that this man may have been having a particularly bad day; he may have been ill; he may have had to cope with some bad news that day …. I am a reasonable sort of customer – I greeted him with a smile and I feel this was just his style.

You just get a feeling about these things don't you?

'Trust Me I'm a Patient' - 14th Episode

Early start on the train at 7.15 am for Annie and me as we head up to ‘Geordie’ land in South Shields near Newcastle tomorrow for our 14th Trust Me I’m a Patient workshop … Good fun and serious learning in the same workshop.

As I always say at the outset of every workshop …. ‘It really is not compulsory to be miserable at work.’

Another 80 delegates tomorrow … that means almost 800 delegates have now been through our workshop. We are both very proud of that.

More details can be seen by clicking here

In a nutshell it is about trying to get NHS staff and managers to see change through the eyes of patients….

We love it!! And feedback to date has been good

Memo to All 1.3 million NHS staff!

As a follow up to the Ricardo Semler posting this is a copy of a slide I use in all my talks on healthcare. This says it all - simplicity and a wonderful reminder to all staff in the NHS why they are employed.

Does it really have to be this difficult?

Regular Simplicity Blog readers will remember a while ago I wrote a couple of postings about stupid things I simply could not understand. One of the things I mentioned was the ridiculous places that toilet rolls are fixed in public toilets.

I conclude after another week of visiting a few public conveniences on my travels that I was right all along.

In a nutshell designers either have a wicked sense of humour, they are contortionists and assume the rest of us are too, or they are just plain stupid. Who in their right mind would fix a toilet roll holder in the position shown on this photograph? This is at Snow Hill Railway Station, Birmingham. Annie took the photo this evening while we were at Snow Hill simply because readers just would not believe me without the evidence - No planner could be that stupid you would be saying without seeing the evidence!

Earlier in the week I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing another crazy set up in the public toilets in Keele Services on the M6 Motorway.

The large toilet roll holder contained two of those really large rolls and every time I pulled the end of the roll just one piece of tissue came off the roll because of the weight of the roll and the relative weakness of the paper!

Therefore I had to use my imagination and hold my hand up inside the holder itself to manipulate the roll round to allow more than one sheet of tissue to appear out of the base of the holder and then remove my hands from inside the holder to tear off the tissue!!! – Am I exaggerating??? – No - just try it yourself next time you are passing Keele Services!!

It seems impossible to imagine that something so simple as fixing a toilet roll holder in an accessible place and designing a toilet roll holder that allows the customer to tear off tissue easily could be so difficult.

This posting is mildly amusing of course but behind it is a serious message about design and common sense and customer care (yes customer care – I AM DEADLY SERIOUS!)

It has been a long week and I have travelled many miles ….. Interesting that the thing that got me most motivated to write on my Blog was about public toilets!!

Maybe the travelling has finally got to my brain

I just love that!!!

I am indebted to David Wike for putting me on to this wonderful quote from Professor Nigel Nicholson when corresponding with a company owner.

‘Your job is to be the chief servant of your organisation - helping your staff to delight your consumers.’

David and I are currently musing about how many Chief Executives consider that as their job - how many Chief Executives do readers know that fit this description?