Pay Attention!: How to Listen, Respond, and Profit from Customer Feedback

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction xiii

Chapter 1 Pay Attention to Today’s Customers 1

The Power of Online Megaphones 3

A More Skeptical and Distrustful Customer 5

What Does This All Mean for Your Own Customer Service Strategy? 6

Rising Global Service Expectations 7

The Customer Experience Grid 11

Speed as a Competitive Advantage 14

E-Mail Versus Phone: Which Is Speedier? 15

More Educated Global Customers 16

Five Building Blocks of Service

Quality 18

Reliability 18

Assurance 19

Tangibles 20

Empathy 21

Responsiveness 22

Chapter 2 Pay Attention to Your Marketing Message 25

Participating versus Observing 26

Fundamentals Are Still Key 27

Pay Attention to Who You Are 27

Pay Attention to Who Your Audience Is 30

The Power of Customer Stories 33

Pay Attention to Engaging Your Customers 37

Pay Attention to Walking Your Marketing Talk 44

Chapter 3 Pay Attention to Preparation 49

The Power of Vision and Purpose 50

Theory to Action: Creating Standards and Norms 53

Hiring Tactics: Select for Attitude, Train for Skill 55

Modeling Star Performers 56

Training and Coaching 58

Internal Social Networks: Cost-Effective Learning Tools 61

Pay Attention to What’s Rewarded and Measured 62

Chapter 4 Pay Attention to the Customer Experience 65

Make It Personal 66

Social Media Plays a Role at Comcast 70

Taking Problems Seriously 72

Be ETDBW: Easy to Do Business With 73

Being ETDBW Means Considering All Audiences 77

Payoffs of Being ETDBW 78

Responsiveness and Reliability: Keys to the Customer Experience 79

Chapter 5 Pay Attention to New Feedback Channels 85

Eleven Ways to Listen to Customers 86

Pay Attention to the Ways Customers Speak 93

Evaluating Feedback 103

Taking a Closer Look: Glossary of Terms 107

Business Analytics Are Vital 109

Managing the Moments of Truth 112

Ten Action Steps 114

Make Your Web Site ETDBW 116

Weighing the Pros and Cons 119

Chapter 6 Pay Attention to Your Reaction 121

Ignore at Your Peril 122

Tracking What They’re Saying 124

To Engage or Not to Engage? 125

Creating Integrated Response Systems 130

Traditional Listening Posts 131

Three Types of Listening 133

Reacting to Product vs. Service Feedback 135

Chapter 7 Pay Attention to Your Response 137

All Eyes on You 138

Creating Digital Embassies 139

Dell Computer: Engaging via Social Media Is “Everyone’s Job” 141

Rules of Engagement 143

Responding to Customer Reviews 146

Responding to Negative Reviews 148

Responding to Positive Reviews 152

Responding in Public versus Private 153

Responding to Customer Suggestions and Ideas 154

Customers Helping Other Customers 155

Chapter 8 Pay Attention to Recovery 157

The Dollar Impact of Service Breakdown 158

An Implied Covenant 159

What Is Service Recovery? 160

Five Axioms of Effective Service Recovery 161

Axiom 1: Customers Have Recovery Expectations 162

Axiom 2: Successful Recovery Is Psychological as Well as Physical: Fix the Person, Then the Problem 162

Axiom 3: Work in a Spirit of Partnership 166

Axiom 4: Customers React More Strongly to “Fairness” Failures Than to “Honest Mistakes” 169

Axiom 5: Effective Recovery Is a Planned Process 170

Seeing Complaints as a Gift 173

Fix the Process to Reduce Recovery Needs 174

Service Recovery Process 176

Acknowledge That the Customer Has Been Inconvenienced and Apologize for It 178

Listen, Empathize, and Ask Open-Ended Questions 178

Offer a Fair Fix to the Problem 178

Offer Some Value-Added Atonement for the Inconvenience or Injury 179

Keep Your Promises 180

Follow-Up 180

Key Service Recovery Skills 181

Notes 189

About the Authors 191

Index 193