Canceling each other out...


Some customer service departments need an attitude adjustment. Some
leave me in awe of their incompetence.

My assistant, Pat's, daughter recently moved her satellite TV service
(which shall remain nameless) to her new home. Hook-up was just in
time for her soccer-obsessed husband to follow the World Cup. But
workers left cables exposed promising to bury them the next day. They
never returned.

A few days later, without notice, her service stopped. She spent an
hour on the phone being bounced from person to person hoping to
resolve the problem. She ended up canceling her service in disgust.
And no one voiced any concern. When she asked someone about burying
the cable, they refused -- because she was no longer a customer!

Later she got a call offering to sign her up again. At a higher price!

Chief Marketing Officers rank customer value, loyalty and affinity
just behind revenue growth and market share as the top three metrics
of a marketing group's performance, says a survey of 414 CMO's by the
CMO Council.

Yet, it amazes me how much money companies waste on sales and marketing
getting new customers only to throw it away with poor customer
service and customer retention programs. It's like arduously bailing
out a sinking row boat and not taking a moment to stuff a rag in the
gapping hole to stop the problem. How much more growth would they
have if they could both add new sales AND reduce attrition?

And do they really think disgruntled customers don't tell anyone else?

Just look at the story above....


- Phil Sasso