Listening to Customers - 5 Tips

In a strange juxtapositioning of articles, this month's UK 'Management Today' has three pieces, relating to the importance of listening to customers.

Susan Rice, CEO of Lloyds TSB makes it clear how vital it is for great leaders to listen and hear. She uses the example of how Coca Cola was swift to 'hear' it's customers when they revolted against New Coke back in 1985 (good job too, it was yuk!). She also rails against the viability of change programmes where over 70% fail to meet the original objectives. A dismal return, pretty consistently due to failing to hear the needs of staff as well as customers in the business.

Fast forward to page 19, where a small piece follows the situation Henry Ford precipitated in the early 20's, with his policy of 'any colour as long as it's black', for his new revolution in car making, the Model T. This worked very well for a few years, giving Ford an enormous 57% of the market. Yet this historic icon of manufacturing efficiency, came back to bite him. His competitors, almost behind his back, found out, by asking and listening, that their customers wanted different colours.

By 1927, General Motors had stolen a March on Ford - and taken a big lead - and market share.

And finally, in an issue strangely focused on customer service, there is a long look at the state of the fashion market in the UK, now led by those lower priced upstarts who have become very visible over the last decade. From Asda's George brand, through TK Maxx, to Matalan, Primark and Peacocks. These are all mounting the pavement and decimating traditional fashion retailers. Marks and Spencer are the usual victims, but not the only ones. The common strand here is that the victors are listening closely to and responding to the needs of their customers - they are taking the time to find out and, what's more, they are 'sensing' the mood; the trend of fashion retailing.

Maybe listening to customers is as vital as it seems. And whilst on the subject, a closer attention to employees wouldn't come amiss either.

What to do in your business?

Five tips:-

• Ask questions of the people that matter - customers and employees.
  
• Listen to their answers and question more.
  
• Act quickly on those things you can fix quickly.
  
• Build into your short-, medium- and long-term strategies the things you are finding out.
  
• Work to ensure that your people are empowered to do this all the time, day in, day out and to feedback to where it will be noticed
  

Copyright 2005 Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com. (Note to editors. Feel free to use this article, wherever you think it might be of value - it would be good if you could include a live link)

...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...

In The News:

---

CEM Can Improve Customer Loyalty

'A 5 percent increase in customer retention increases profits by 25 to 95 percent.''The greater the loyalty of customers, employees, suppliers, and shareholders, the greater the profits reaped .'This is the received wisdom... Read More

What Every Manager Should Know About How to Learn from the Complaints of Customers and Employees

Listening to complaints, whether they're reasonable or not, is a part of every manager's job. Sometimes complaints can be overwhelming. However, when we take them in stride with an open mind, we can... Read More

Leverage Customer Capital First

If you're still dreaming about raising outside capital for your business before you have any paying customers, I've got a nice big bucket of ice water to throw on you. Wake up! The... Read More

Finding Out Why a Potential Customer is Calling On You

Our challenge as the business owner/sales person answering the telephone, is to build rapport with the caller, quickly and easily.In most cases, the caller has been told something about you and your product... Read More

4 Myths about Customer Value

The purpose of business is to create and retain a customer.Much has been written about customer orientation, customer relationship management (CRM), Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) metrics, Customer Centric organization models, customer retention, customer... Read More

Revealed ? A Simple Formula For Success! Exceeding Expectations

Delight = Customer Expectation plus 1. This was the simple formula for delighting your customers that Ken Blanchard informed us of in his book "Raving Fans" For me this is a great formula,... Read More

Post Office, Incredible Lady Postmaster

There are two Post Offices that I routinely visit. One is the office that delivers my mail and the other is frequently on the path of some daily errands. Many times, I will... Read More

Retail Store U-Scan Machines: Self-Serve or Voluntary Part Time Job?

Do many of us realize that we are working an unpaid part time job for the grocery stores and some home appliance stores? We are ringing up our own goods, are not getting... Read More

Outsourcing: The Unspoken Costs

Outsourcing seems to be the new-new thing and approximately 50% of our major corporations are doing it. What are the costs? The benefits? And what skills need to be managed in order to... Read More

Customer Service Tips for Mail Order Businesses

Can we be too good to our customers? No way! Our customers are the backbone of our business! They're right no matter what! But I'm sorry to disagree with you. As... Read More

3 Special Benefits Every Customer Wants

Every customer looks for 3 special benefits when they do business with you. They may not specifically ask for these benefits. But you're losing sales if you don't automatically provide all 3.1. Fast... Read More

Have You Hugged a Customer Today?

It all started a couple of weeks ago when a friend asked me if I could scan and print some of her slides. No problem, I said.Boy, was I mistaken....As it turns out,... Read More

Poor Customer Service - Are Your Customers Driving Away Other Customers

Every customer you have is a word-of-mouth advertiser for you. Unfortunately 90% of this free advertising is negative. Your goal is to get positive-word-of-mouth advertisers.Think about it, how do you decide where to... Read More

Wholesale Buyers Versus Retail Customers

Are wholesale buyers and retail customers really different? Frankly, there are two answers to this question: yes and no. Yes, because they are different from the buyers and those selling to buyers' point... Read More

Listen to Suggestions

If you are up to your ears in a stressful situation, it becomes difficult to think clearly. Sometimes, it is best to walk away from a problem, and think about it, rather than... Read More

Transforming Disgruntled Customers into Your Biggest Advocates

"I am writing to complain about the widget I bought from your site the other day."Sell anything and eventually you will be on the receiving end of a sentence like this. So how... Read More

Managing Your Business When One Client Takes Alot of Your Time

How often has your schedule been thrown out of whack because of a client's needs?I try to live by the 80/20 rule: working from my home office 80% of the time and working... Read More

Passing the After-Sales Test

Some time ago a major UK food retailer decided to branch out into non-foods. Well, they all do it now, but in those days it was unheard of. Alongside the fruit and vegetables,... Read More

Breaking the Ice and Winning Over the Client!

Wherever you turn these days you'll find articles covering every business strategy and tactic available to man, from how to make a great presentation to strategies for success all the way to negotiations... Read More

You MUST Sweat the Small Stuff

It's The Little Things That Make or Break a Small BusinessIf you make a poor impression in small things, why should customers trust you with larger ones like buying your product regularly or... Read More

Stellar Customer Service in 10 Simple Steps

If you're like me, you've had plenty of experience with BAD customer service. Just think about the last time you had a bad experience with a product or a service.Perhaps the product or... Read More

The Drawback of Hacking Off a Blogger Through Weak Process Gaps and Pathetic Customer Service

With all of the recent data theft in the financial sector, it is important to make sure that we don't go crazy trying to protect ourselves from risk. Risk management does have a... Read More

If Everyone Thinks They Give Good Service, Why Do We As Customers Think Its Poor!

First of all let's look at what customer service is all about.If you go into a shop and talk to anyone who works there you expect to be treated with respect, not sold... Read More

What?s in a Name?

Different people call their Customers by different names. If they don't have Customers, they have Clients, purchasers, licensees, users, patients, members, franchisees, or buyers. Each of these words carries meaning to those who... Read More

Invalid Excuses for Poor Business Results - The Weather

Note to Kmart: It wasn't about the weatherIn the 1970s Kmart was the retailer to beat. No matter what happened, they seemed to turn profit. Customers were loyal and prices were hard to... Read More

Customer Service Has Moved Toward Customer Care

As I waited for an answer to my VCR inquiry from a stereo company, the recording stated a "customer care" representative would be available shortly. At that moment, I realized it's finally catching... Read More

4 Customer Service Mistakes Companies Should Avoid Making

1) Being placed on hold endlessly. Don't you just love it when you call a company and they place you on hold, leaving you to listen to their latest on-hold, recorded sales pitch,... Read More

Making Customer Satisfaction Surveys Work

Why bother? Good customer service is the life blood of any business. Although new customers are important good customer service will help generate customer loyalty and repeat business. With each satisfied customer your... Read More

Dont Forget your Existing Clients

Quest for new clients shouldn't ignore those who pay the billsAcquisition. It's a big word in small business marketing. Companies are constantly looking at ways to draw new people to the business and... Read More