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Article
A fresh perspective
October 1, 2009 By: Carl Hughes LPGasIt’s typical of us retail propane marketers to brag about our company’s customer service. We all tend to believe we are great.
But frankly, how do we truly know what our customers think of our service as we field inquiries about propane deliveries, scheduled service work and questions on statements? Rather than going by our gut, a much better approach is to evaluate our service rating on an outward-in basis or from the customers’ perspective as they judge our responses to their needs.
Think “one and done”
The article, “What Service Customers Really Want,” in the September 2009 issue of the Harvard Business Review reveals some important insights for our industry. The article, featuring the results of the Convergys 2008 U.S. Consumer Scorecard, shows what customers most desire in their service is having their problem solved on the initial contact – or “one and done,” as writers Dave Dougherty and Ajay Murthy call it.
The study showed many customers are completely satisfied – even if their experience did not involve a personal contact – as long as their problem was solved on the single contact.
In the survey, customers ranked categories as most important to them in obtaining service. Ranked as the most important service attribute was “having knowledgeable employees” at 64 percent, followed by “addressing my needs on first contact” at 63 percent and “treats me like a valued customer” at 62 percent. What may surprise you is the category “provides personalized service” was at the bottom of the rankings at 31 percent, while the category “treats me fairly” came in at 38 percent.
The report also concludes that there remains a consistent disconnect between how managers rate their customer service and how their customers actually score their service. I argue the same condition is present in our industry.
For example, the survey from the global relationship management company suggests, a customer may not agree a 24-7 answering service is of great value if the sole function is to take and pass along messages.
Another area of the study was to understand the customers’ service option preferences, or how they would like to access service.
Of the channeling categories (communicating methods), the clear choice among customers was “speaking with a personal representative” at 68 percent. A growing second ranking was “quality Web site with answers” at 10 percent. (Keep in mind that just a few years ago this would not have been an option)
More importantly, when asked their second choice for service option, “live e-mail chat with a CSR on a Web site” ranked first at 31 percent. The second choice at 22 percent was “company Web site with answers.” The third choice was “e-mail assistance with a response” at 17 percent. Falling to the bottom was “speech-activated menu systems” at 10 percent and “automated keypad/touch-tone phone menu systems” at 8 percent. What this means is that our Web sites are becoming an increasingly important channel from which our customers expect to reach us and want solutions.
Some important conclusions about customer service:
• Answering a question on an interactive Web site may be more valuable than having someone take a call if he or she cannot resolve the issue on the spot.
• Having knowledgeable employees remains critical to the customers’ experience.
• Investments in upgrading Web sites to resolve customers’ issues are an increasingly valuable investment. Failure to do so will cause your company to fall behind.
• Automated keypad and speech-activated systems appear to no longer add value to the customers’ experience.
• The preference remains for a contact with a knowledgeable employee. However, the trend toward customer service on Web-based sites will continue to increase. (Think younger clientele!)
Forward-thinking propane retailers will begin to think in terms of evaluating their customers’ service experience and – as a result – begin to develop an integrated management approach that delivers a rapid and accurate response. The system will be both Web-based and interactive, staffed with knowledgeable employees who can take action.