I begin with a quote:
"LEARN MORE THROUGH BLOGGING THE MORE MINDS THE MORE POWER AND KNOWLEDGE ". These are the words of a local entrepreneur, who I am pleased to have as a colleague. A colleague in the fascinating world of scientistics!
I found his blog, and was immediately fascinated. Along with his inspired and creative use of language, several statistical claims were made. Let's look!
"Many businesses today work hard at customer service. They are constantly telling their employees how they want their customers treated."
Today, yes. I fully agree. I would even go further and remind the reader that what is implied in this sentence (that businesses in the past did not work hard at customer service) is doubly true. I remember the past, not fondly, but with disgust.
"Most business owner feels they treat their employee’s fine."
I spoke recently to Donn Carroll, chairman and head of the Greater Area Most Business Owner(s) Association (which he runs with his brothers Robb and Edd*), and he disputes this. "I don't feel that I have to," he said, scratching his head with a pencil, "so no, I don't feel that way". He then asked me to leave.
"Maybe your personal life shows through. The way you walk in that door every morning is going to affect your customer’s everyday."
Personally, I feel that it is unkind for one to comment on others' physical disabilities, but it remains true; you can be the freakiest looking person in the world, but as long as you're charming, you'll be fine. But an Unnatural Gait? Forget it! This old folk saying is both catchy and 100% correct. I am also fond of the vaguely Shakespearean, "customer's everyday".
Lest I lose sight of the work we actually do here, I'll leave aside the many other large claims made by this man and focus on the one statistic cited in the article.
"Studies show that when customers decide not to come back to a business, 70% of the time it is because of the employees. "
All right; to verify or dispel this claim, I am forced to go to the Internet. I choose to Google 'customer service', as I am loath to see what happens when one Googles 'studies'.
Well, for one thing, there certainly are a lot of places to get amusing and thought-provoking quotes on the subject. It's amazing that there are as many as there are, truly. Here's some of the quotations:
"In business you get what you want by giving other people what they want."-Alice MacDougall
(Well, that seems true...)
"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile."-Roger Staubach
(That too, although -has Roger Staubach ever owned a business?)
"A man without a smiling face must not open a shop."-Chinese Proverb
(True. And Asian!)
"Always give your customer something."-Kevin Stirtz
(True to the point of being unnecessary to state!)
"It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself."-Eleanor Roosevelt
(True, although its inclusion here mystifies me somewhat...)
"Communication is everyone’s panacea for everything."-Tom Peters
(Sometimes...Sometimes you just need a slogan. There are seven more pages of this sort of thing at Amazing Service Guy.com.)
I also note that there is an entity named The Institute of Customer Service. I figure that here would be the place to find what you need. It sounds like it might be a governmental entity.
It turns out that no, it's not. It's in England, and...Hm. This is a quote from a study titled 'Service Excellence=Reputation=Profit': "The report finds that companies regarded as 'being easy to do business with' are more likely to achieve bottom line benefits than organisations that do not have such a reputation." I feel like these people are my colleagues! They are clearly practicing the same science that I do!
There is also a study listed titled 'Customer Priorities: what customers really want', and has a subtitle that reads, 'This report explores why satisfaction matters and hence why it should be measured'. The Brits! "Hence!"
I wanted to ask, "Is negative customer retention seventy per cent related to customer service?" I wanted to check in with the "Knowledge Manager" (one Fiona Parkinson, who can be reached at icsmail.co.uk), but then noted that it might take weeks to get an answer from all the way in England.
Furthermore, I kept being led down the primrose path with yet more fascinating discoveries such as; did you have any idea that there is such thing as the Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)? What could they possibly be measuring that by?
Oh: "which is categorised in measuring the Customer Satisfaction based on Quality, Delivery, Customer Satisfaction and Overall Performance. Each of these parameters is weighed at 50 %, 20 %, 20 % and 10 % resp." I see.
Aha! Some raw data! Over on Customer Service Manager.com, there is a giant list of facts:
68% of customer defection takes place because customers feel poorly treated. Source: TARP (Not '70'!)
Why customers quit:
1% die
3% move away
68% quit because of an attitude of indifference towards the customer by the staff.
14 % are dissatisfied with the product.
9% leave because of competitive reasons.
Source: How to win customers and keep them for life (2000) – Michael Leboeuf (Who?)
For every customer who bothers to complain, 26 other customers remain silent. Source: Lee Resource Inc (How would you know?)
It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for 1 negative incident. Source: Lee Resource Inc (That sounds 43% true!)
It takes 12 positive service incidents to make up for one negative incident. Source: “Understanding Customers” by Ruby Newell-Legner (It is possible that everybody on the list is quoting each other...)
Well, so now we can say that the original claim we were exploring here today is false. But truly, this office no longer cares, because this stuff is fascinating!
Wait a minute: TARP is publishing statistics? The Troubled Asset (something beginning with R) Program is getting into The Greatest Game (as I like to call it)? Fascinating! I need to go look!
Meanwhile, look at some charts!
| High Weighting, High Score | On Target | |
| High Weighting, Low Score | Underperformance | |
| Low Weighting, High Score | Overkill | |
| Low Weighting, Low Score | Supplier can afford to score low in that area |
| Parameter P | Weighting A | Score B | Weighting (avg. of 1) C | Weighting (avg. of 1) * Score D = B *C |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| P1 | 7 | 8 | 1.17 | 9.24 |
| P2 | 5 | 4 | 0.83 | 3.33 |
| P3 | 9 | 8 | 1.50 | 12.00 |
| P4 | 3 | 3 | 0.50 | 1.50 |
| P5 | 6 | 4 | 1.00 | 4.00 |
| Average = 6.00 | Average = 5.40 | CSI = 6.01 |
And enjoy a final quote;
Service to humanity is service to God. Let the love and light of the Kingdom** radiate through you until all who look upon you shall be illumined by its reflection. Be as stars, brilliant and sparkling in the loftiness of their heavenly station.
Abdu'l Baha
*(also the only other members)
**(fictional)
