From Shoes to Cars! The art of managing customers
Once upon a time, long before we had online shopping sites and the easy-buy-return-refund-reorder conundrum existed; I purchased a good quality branded shoe from a leading retailer in the city. Note for the benefit of UX folks reading this : I am that persona who is always busy and never gets time to tie the lace of my shoes. Hence I always go for the push-type shoes (the elder cousin of moccasins, which are still formal).
A few days later, I noticed a BIG problem. As I walked, my right shoe walked a few inches ahead of me! I inspected and found that my shoe elastic that holds the shoe top and bottom together (YES —that part right where you push your leg in) has torn off. Think of it from a software perspective — An undoubted S1 bug, a classic show stopper. That elastic has just one purpose in its life — to hold the parts together — and it doesn’t do it.
The next day, I rushed to the retailer, and at the customer help desk, I presented my problem. A lady took the shoe in her hand, smiled at the best sarcastic note and made a statement. “OH! Such a simple problem and you are making a scene out of it?”
I lost my cool and I asked: “OH! So you expect worse from these shoes?” Sensing my mood she said, “Sir, Give us 2 days. We will fix this for you”
Two days later, I happily went to retrieve my “new improved” shoes and the very sight of them put me in depression. The entire elastic of the shoe had been taken out and stitched above the shoe. The left and right shoes which were supposed to look like Sita and Gita now looks like Bahubali and Kalakeya! I FUMED! I fumed out of the shop in rage, holding the shoes in hand.
A day later, I figured out the customer service email address of the brand (Believe me, it was not easy during those times) and wrote a LONG E-mail, explaining my predicament.
The e-mail left my mailbox at about 10:35 AM and I got a call by 11:05 AM. A well-scripted message followed; “Sir, we sincerely apologize for the trouble caused by us. You will be given a replacement in another 7 days’ time. Will you please courier the damaged product to our address?” That was music to my ears! I got my brand new shoes delivered in 5 days.
I still ensure that at least one pair of my shoes are from this brand, BUT NOT FROM THE SAME STORE!
Once (much later) upon a(nother) time, I went to service my car. My instructions were clear. I am off for the weekend, so I leave the car on Friday morning and pick it up on Monday evening. You have one extra day with the car and my agenda for Monday evening is to pick up my friend from the airport. My friend is borderline OCD about cleanliness and I need my car to be spotless.
Monday evening, my friend has boarded the flight already and I went to the service station to pick up my car. The customer executive said, “Sir, all the work is done, except that the car is not cleaned!”
In my mind, I grew like HULK, held the service executive in my hand, threw him over the mall above, and stamped on the service station, crushing all the cars around. Since I couldn’t do it physically all those emotions manifested out through my verbose.
His manager sensed the boiling point of my blood and came near me. He made a few sentences in a structured paragraph. It went like this;
“Sir….I understand the problem. We sincerely apologize for what has happened. I would have requested you to leave the car here, but I sense that you need to pick up someone today. Why don’t you take your car and go ahead with your plan? Tomorrow morning, my driver will be at the place you suggest, pick up the car, clean it, and bring it back to the place you suggest — WHEREVER YOU ARE! Does that sound ok to you?”
The Hulk mode went off because he had given a most pragmatic solution for me.
I called up my friend and informed him, “Be ready for a dirty car coming to pick you up”. He smiled and said, “I had no big expectations of you”.
The next day the car got cleaned and I still service my car at the same place.
Friends, enough of storytelling! Let us look at some interesting perspectives on customer engagement. You cannot have a 100% foolproof product and you cannot have a day without an irate customer. Still, what stands between a good NPS score and an irritated customer is YOU and the way you manage customer engagement.
Let us rewind!
Scene 1: The lady at the shoe store.
My shoe not holding to my leg is a BIG mistake. The quality check was poor. When you are interacting with a customer who comes to complain about your product quality, you cannot dismiss the concern and it is a CRIME to underplay a customer concern. The simple action expected is to LISTEN.
Scene 2: The “new improved” shoe
If you know how to fix a problem, then, and ONLY THEN try to fix it. If not, don’t commit to fixing it. Reach out to an expert if you can’t do it on your own.
Scene 3: The e-mail response
Once you do your apology, try to under-commit and over-deliver. The 7 days’ time becoming 5 days’ had a big part to play in my going back to the same brand.
Scene 4: The dirt on the car!
Take note of all that you need to do. Check things off, until you complete the list. Don’t leave ambiguity to the customer.
Scene 5: The most important response from the manager
The manager followed a simple and foolproof process. He Heard me, Acknowledged, Accepted, and Apologized on behalf of his team, Responded with a solution proposal, and Confirmed if that solution works. Let us by heart this as HARC — Hear, Acknowledge, Respond & Confirm. This can help you go places when it comes to Customer Management. One important aspect here is Apology comes only if there is a mistake on your side. Else stop at Acknowledgement and Acceptance that there is a problem.
Brownie point! — Scene 6: My OCD friend.
When I made my call to my friend and told him that my car is in bad shape, I was ensuring that my customer has no surprises.
Treat your customer like your partner. They don’t need surprises, they need to be heard, acknowledged, and responded to with solutions. Don’t give a cold shoulder to their problems, and don’t fix a problem if you don’t know how to do it.
