Being direct... AdVantage Mar 2003
It's Not My Problem - I'm The Customer!
One of the most fascinating aspects of managing customer loyalty projects is the opportunity to study the behavioural attitude of customers. Our client's customers are encouraged to use all our contact channels such as the call centre; e-mail; as well as the Internet to interface with their chosen Customer Appreciation project.
Most customers relish the personal attention that they get, and no doubt appreciate the recognition of their importance to their chosen Brand/Service organisation. But, there are some exceptions, and sometimes a few otherwise rational, intelligent and probably polite members of the human race - can act like completely irrational, selfish, and arrogant spoilt brats.
There are those who seem to think that the status of 'customer' - bestows on them the 'right' to throw out all semblance of good manners when they interact with you, and some even scream like banshees as they demand the things they want.
It is really worrying to me that an ongoing focus on 'rights' - to the virtual exclusion of 'responsibilities' by some politicians, as well as many in the media, seems to have created an extremely unhealthy attitude of absolute entitlement - across much of our society.
There are many examples of this attitude throughout the world today! Travellers don't want to stand in queues at the airport, but demand that security be tightened. We want to be safe in public places, but don't want video cameras to invade our privacy. Also, the phrase 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' was never intended to include a driver's licence, much less one's OWN lane on the highway.
It is obvious that the tendency for people to demand benefit without wishing to take responsibility - is literally everywhere! Somebody else has to be responsible for providing the things that I want - and what's more, they must do it by reading my mind; must always be aware of my needs, and most important of all - must do it all immediately - after all, I'm the CUSTOMER!
The issue of entitlement appears to be at the root of many of our own experiences in dealing with certain customers. We communicate with them on a direct one-to-one basis, and the simple fact that we do so, seems to indicate to some of them that they are fundamentally 'in charge' and can therefore, single-handedly dictate any terms for the relationship.
The customer's who make the most unreasonable of these demands are not those who shop the most frequently, or who spend the most. The MOST demanding tend to be the ones who believe that they don't have to follow any rules - the retailer or manufacturer must ALWAYS bend over backwards for them - regardless of the 'correctness' of their own behaviour in the relationship. It's absurd!
In the world of mass-communication where marketing promises are made to 'a marketplace' rather than to 'an individual', the question of the customer's attitude towards the 'connection' between brand and end user - simply never raises it's head, because the 'connection' is not seen as direct or interactive. But, the very nature of relationships (positive value sought by both parties), suggests that the tendency to demand by only one of the parties to that relationship, can materially affect the mutual value of such relationship.
Each and every time that this kind of thing happens to us, and the matter investigated so as to try and understand and resolve any possible 'problems' in the relationship, we find that the customer's attitude is usually based upon a mis-perception of the facts - often driven by a 'misunderstanding' of one or more of the communications.
We can try as we might, even in the data-driven communications world of One-to-One, to make our communications relevant and personal, but some customers are just not interested enough to pay detailed attention to these communications. The result: people see what they want to see, and hear what they want to hear. Getting the customer to pay enough attention has always been a bugbear for marketing communication - but I guess it's just a little hard to deal with, when one's direct focus on the customer seems to result in their determined self-interest. Mercifully though, the many positive benefits of these Customer Appreciation programmes - far outweigh the negatives of a mere handful of behavioural 'brats'.
'til next time.