Improving customer satisfaction demands less failure

Assume you are a customer. When were you last flabbergasted by the behaviour of an organisation? Have you recently been shocked, annoyed, upset or angered by what you consider to be a low-level of service or support? Did you receive a poor response to an enquiry or request — even worse, a lack of response? Were you provided with insufficient or inadequate information? Was there anything else unsatisfactory?

Did any of these organisational failures lead to further interaction or contact with the organisation in order to resolve the matter and / or gain some satisfaction from whatever transaction was taking place?

The additional demand on organisations to solve problems of their own making, to undo mistakes they have made, to re-answer questions not initially answered adequately or correctly, and to unravel any other knotty, challenging difficulties (wholly avoidable by doing things properly at the outset) is known as "Failure Demand".

The vast majority of organisation are proactively attempting to eradicate Failure Demand.

However, some organisations still behave in a manner that encourages Failure Demand, others are unable to combat Failure Demand or unsure how to address it, and there are some who may include Failure Demand in their unofficial strategy in an attempt to do such things as unethically gain additional business or retain (i.e. trap) customers.

Consider those of us who subscribe to a product or service, for example, and then find ourselves unable to cancel that subscription due to an organisation's apparent unwillingness to expedite the change. Or what about our favourite ever-present annoyance: the automated telephone responses that are at best misleading, at worst defective and in general unhelpful and unwanted.

The scope and opportunity for Failure Demand to occur with almost every product or service in every industry sector is limitless.

Failure Demand is unlikely to ever be completely eradicated from business because...perfection is a myth.

There is always scope and capacity for improvement in any organisation or commercial business endeavour. Failure Demand can be reduced, minimised and managed by simply looking and seeing, listening and hearing, and learning to learn. By demonstrating business capability and maturity.

• Continuously engage with employees to learn what must, should or could be improved;
• Continuously engage with customers to learn what must, should or could be improved;
• Continuously identify the points where pain occurs most (and do more than simply apply a band-aid; allow the healing process to commence);
• Continuously challenge every process and procedure — could it be better, it is practical to improve, should it be scrapped, and is there any benefit to employees (and subsequently customers);
• Continuously ask what the desired outcome is, and how can it be facilitated;
• Continuously increase Antifragility and nurture Emergent Behaviours;
• Continuously add value in all areas;
• Continuously strive to seek harmony from dysfunction;
• Continuously avoid miscommunication;
• Continuously play Devil's Advocate;

Continuous Improvement reduces Failure Demand!

Is the customer always right?

As a final caveat, is worth stating that although every organisation with customers or consumers has an unquestionable responsibility to be customer-focused, the customer is not always right!

• Business transactions should be fair on both sides, yet the "customer is always right" principle can be counter-productive. Not only will some customers actively seek Failure Demand in order to gain something for nothing (or a disproportionate recompense to a minor oversight), but some customers with a lower Emotional Intelligence (EQ) will also switch to combatant-mode when faced with a Failure Demand situation — abusing employees, escalating the conflict and behaving in a manner that makes mutual resolution a challenge.
• Commercial organisations are not emotional-punchbags or low-hanging fruit ready to be plucked by advantage-seeking customers. Sometimes customers who abuse organisational goodwill, upset employees, create unnecessary or out-of-place challenges, or those who simply enjoy upsetting the metaphoric apple-cart, are simply bad for business. Commercial organisations are at liberty to decide who can or cannot be a customer, although many retain an oft-mistaken moral belief that every person is a potential customer, regardless.
• People-first. Many in organisational leadership or management foolishly place the satisfaction of their customers ahead of their own employees. A self-destructive approach that is doomed and will inevitably lead to unhappy employees and customers. It's a simple model: if customers are valued more than employees, employees feel unvalued and won't value the customers who consequently receive poor service and create Failure Demand; and yet, value employees more than customers and the employees will consequently value the customers. Moreover, when employees feel unvalued, it is the best employees who tend to leave and move on to better things, leaving behind these employees who cause the Failure Demand to spiral out of control.

COMPLEX PROBLEM SOLVING | COORDINATING WITH OTHERS | CRITICAL THINKING | CUSTOMER FOCUS | DYSFUNCTION | EMOTIONAL INTELLIGENCE | INNOVATION, CREATIVITY AND DISRUPTION | JUDGEMENT AND DECISION-MAKING | NEGOTIATION AND CHANGE | PEOPLE MANAGEMENT AND ADAPTIVE LEADERSHIP | PROCESS MANAGEMENT | SERVICE ORIENTATION | STRATEGIC PLANNING AND GOVERNANCE | WORDS AND LITERACY

If you or your organisation is affected and needs any help, support or assistance in dealing with or responding to any of these topics, please contact us at Matsuda Mulville — the home of Matsuda Mulville Thinking.

We are a consultancy that seeks to think critically and solve complex problems in the pursuit of innovation, creativity, disruption and continuous improvement. Happy in the role of Devil’s Advocate, we strive to make a difference: transforming dysfunction into success; advocating, adopting and adapting to emergent behaviours; improving communication; and being antifragile through gaining from disorder.

And we would love to respond to any writing needs you have, too.

http://www.matsudamulville.nl

(Peter Mulville has 25-years’ professional experience at senior or executive level of adding value and enabling quality through a determination to facilitate desired outcomes or resolve organisational challenges. Besides a passionate love for the application of words and literacy, Peter is globally-focused and driven by change enablement, strategic planning, governance and the harmonisation of process deficiency and miscommunication. Peter is also experienced in the management of processes, projects and portfolios, as well as leading international teams and being a passionate advocate of people-first. Peter is defined by structured adaptability, ordered chaos, rigorous agility and meticulous flexibility, specifically in the areas of skills, knowledge, capability and administration.)

"Never confuse luck or advantage with skill!"

Keywords: #MatsudaMulville #MatsudaMulvilleThinking #KaeruBeer #CoordinatingWithOthers #CustomerFocus #Dysfunction #EmotionalIntelligence #Negotiation #PeopleFirst #ProcessImprovements #ServiceOrientation #Antifragility #BusinessCapability #Maturity #Communication #Miscommunication #LeanThinking #ContinuousImprovements