Being direct... AdVantage Nov 2006
Remember when Customer Satisfaction measurement was about the Customer?
Some feedback seems completely driven by statistics - what about looking for simple ways to listen to unadulterated customer opinion ... ?
In all the years that people have relied upon research to make better business decisions, there has been an ongoing debate between the purists and everyone else, about the value/importance of Quantitative vs. Qualitative research. I am one who believes that structured sample-based research is OK when brush-stroke illumination of group behaviour is what is being sought. But when evaluating the opinions of real customers, it is the customer's individual feedback that is of much greater importance than any statistical combination of the opinions of demographically similar customers. I had a recent experience which proves this point in no uncertain terms.
Modern motor vehicles apparently require servicing a minimum of once a year, particularly in the absence of high mileage. So, it was the anniversary of my purchase, when I recently took my car in for service at our local Daimler-Chrysler dealership. The entire process was extremely well-handled and I was treated with courtesy, offered decent coffee; a ride back to my office and (by definition) became a potentially favourable respondent. The personal treatment from the Jeep Service Advisor really was outstanding, and the vehicle was subsequently ready as promised, etc etc.
The one thing that I did find a little disconcerting however, was upon arrival at the dealership for my service appointment, a card was handed to me giving me details of the service guy's name, phone number et al, but also including some words to 'warn' me that I was likely to be contacted by someone from (a named) research company, and that the only rating expected from me (and I guess all others like me) was the word 'excellent'.
As the survey data is used to 'compare' the level of service provided by the various dealers across the country (as measured by 'their' individual customers), the reporting thus gathered has to have taken on a vital 'pecking-order' importance to the dealers, and which may even have become more important to them - than the hopefully unbiased opinions of the customers themselves.
Well, to add another twist to this intriguing story - and as so often happens in the world of the motor industry - my car suffered a 'since-you' - namely: '…since you serviced my car, I now seem to have a problem that wasn't there before…' I hardly noticed this rattling noise until we were quite fully laden a day or three later, heading for a few days on a friend's farm in the Kamberg. I did not subsequently report it to the dealership, because quite honestly - it kept falling off my list of things to do.
Then my cell-phone rang, and it was the unexpected 'expected' call from the research company. I am very familiar with the principles and modus operandi of customer satisfaction surveys - particularly in the motor industry - as I was involved in this particular sphere for a time. But, I was quite surprised when the interviewer sounded rather 'peeved' at my responses to her obviously structured survey, and especially when I tried to explain to her that I do not consider myself properly qualified to pass judgement on the degree to which my vehicle's service was 'professionally carried out' - for example.
While on balance, I was very happy with the overall service experience, I was a little unhappy with the new problem which had manifested itself since the service had been carried out, but any attempt at providing real feedback based on my memories of my experience, just kept getting mangled by the young lady concerned, because what I was trying to say probably did not fit in any of the boxes available on her computer screen.
To her credit, when I voiced my frustration at not being listened to - she did ask me whether I would like someone from the dealership to call me…but again, I got the feeling that this was an option on the screen in front of her, rather than a genuine concern for the resolution of the customer's (sorry, respondent's) problem. I am waiting with bated breath to see whether such call ever materialises. So far…some weeks later, none has.
When we accept that individual perception is at the root of all human 'reality', it is the opportunity to express these individual perceptions (when asked) that people really want, not to have to bend their understanding to fit the survey pigeon-holes that seem focused on some arbitrary incentive measurement - and which appear to be being 'gamed' by response-prompt-cards anyway.
My regular readers will know by now that I do a LOT of reading and a visit to a second-hand bookshop recently delivered a copy of 'The Making of Memory' by Professor Stephen Rose which I am currently reading with great interest. Stephen starts his book with the following words:
'…Memories are our most enduring characteristic…Memory defines who we are and shapes the way we act more closely than any other aspect of our personhood. All of life is a trajectory from experienced past to unknown future, illuminated only during the always receding instant that we call the present, the moment of our actual conscious experience. Yet our present appears continuous with our past; grows out of it; is shaped by it; because of our capacity for memory. It is this which prevents the past from being lost, as unknowable as the future. It is memory which provides time with its arrow…'
One of the key points of this book is the mistaken comparison often made between the computer and the human brain, particularly when it comes to understanding how memory works. I obviously can't go into all of this here and now, but suffice the following quote in support of my questioning of current customer research:
'…brains do not work with information in the computer sense, but with meaning. And meaning is a historically and developmentally shaped process, expressed by individuals in interaction with their natural and social environment…each time we remember, we - in some senses - do work on and transform our memories, they are not simply being called up from store, and once consulted, replaced unmodified. Our memories are re-created each time we remember…'
While I fully understand and applaud the efforts of those who take the trouble to listen to their customers, I feel rather strongly that there must be a better way to get a balance between listening to the real experiences (memories) of real customers, and the perhaps questionable requirement to distil any such feedback - down to mere statistics.