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Executive Interviews: Interview with Jeff Gee on Competing for Customers
September 2006
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By Dr. Nagendra V Chowdary
For a company, who matters the
most the customers or the consumers?
Can you illustrate, drawing from your
research and consulting insights, this
distinction?
In a way we are all consumers. We
all consume goods, merchandise,
and food and on an energetic level
we even consume energy from
others. We love to be around people
who lift us up and make us feel
great, and we do not like to be
around people who are unhappy I
sometimes refer to these kind of
people as energy suckers. And as far
as customers go we are also all
customers. In my classes on Super
Service I say, "Everyone Who is Not
Me is My Customer!" When human beings work at
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this higher level of
being amazing, things take place.
People feel better about themselves,
where they work, their colleagues,
friends and family. When we treat
everyone as a customer a whole new
world of opportunity opens up. We
stop giving lip service to customers
and actually want to help and make
a difference.
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Every marketing guru talks of
customer loyalty. That's fine though.What
should be the roadmap for any company
to build customer loyalty?
The roadmap for a company is the
same as it would be for an
individual it is to take
responsibility for being the best that I
can be. It is about walking the walk
and talking the talk from top down
and from bottom up. It's no good if
the CEO of a company is walking the
walk and only his or her closest
confidantes knowabout it. It's also no
good if the people on the front line
are being amazing and all the other
departments are not. When the
roadmap is for each individual to
take responsibility for being the best
that they can be, customers feel that
there is something wonderful
happening with this company, and it
is attractive to them. They want to
stay, they want to remain close, and
they want to be involved with the
amazing energy. It's like any road that
you travel you want it to have great
signposts, be well kept and take you
exactly where you want to go! -
Are there any limits to this customer
loyalty? In other words what are the costs
of customer loyalty?
There are no limits to customer
loyalty and it doesn't cost a penny!
You see when people understand
that to be of service actually creates
a better life for themselves and
others, they want to embrace that
way of life. And when I talk about
customers, remember "Everyone
Who isn't Me is My Customer" so
that includes co-workers, family and
friends as well as the actual outside
customers. When you have
customer loyalty, you can make a
mistake and they are still willing to
work with you. Obviously, you can't
keep making mistakes, and when
you have a loyal customer, they will
"cut you some slack". -
Is there any difference between
customer equity and customer loyalty? Or
is it a chicken and egg situation?
According to Harvard Business
School, "A 5% increase in customer
loyalty can increase profitability by
25-80%. So, yes there is a definite
equation between customer loyalty
and customer equity. Another survey
made by Technical Assistance
Research says that "It also costs 5-7
times more to get a new customer
than it does to keep the one you
already have." -
Considering customer service as a
value proposition, how do you build
credentials (as regards customer
service)? How should multinational
companies look at it? Are there any
powerful illustrations of having
successfully managed this value
proposition across countries?
It's interesting that in today's
multinational companies, as large as
some of them are, they still need to
take care of their customers on a
daily basis. With today's powerful
communication tools, it's just as
easy to get good "buzz" as it is to get
bad "buzz". So no company can ever
rest on its laurels and think, "ahhh,
we have great customer service
credentials, now we can take it easy.
I travel across the globe delivering
customer service to companies such
as Motorola, Computer Associates,
Baxter Healthcare and many more,
and every time, I am amazed at the
willingness and effort that these
companies and their employees put
into customer service. What I notice
is that most people want to be their
best. They want to deliver the best
products with the best service, and
on their behalf, I always do my very
best to teach people how to do that. -
In your book Super Service: Seven
Keys to Delivering Great Customer
Service Even When You Don't Feel Like
It Even When They Don't Deserve It!
you talked of seven keys to delivering
great customer service. It reads more like
an "insider-looking-out" approach as
opposed to an "outsider-looking-in"
approach. Therefore can you share as to
the reason behind the logical sequencing
of the seven keys?
The first key to Super Service is
about having the Right Attitude, and
all the other keys stem from that.
Everything begins with right
attitude. If a person does not have
that, it is impossible for him to have
any of the other keys such as:
Understand the Customer's Needs,
Communicate Clearly, Reach Agreement, Check Understanding,
Take Action or Build on Satisfaction.
You may already know that your
thoughts create your attitude which
creates your actions and if people do
not have the right attitude, their
actions will not be right either. They
may be smiling at the customer,
saying the right words and looking
as if they really want to help yet
without the right attitude, their
words will be empty. As human
beings we know when someone
really wants to help or not. So it is
about the insider looking out when
we as individuals have the right
attitude, we can take care of
problems and issues and be assured
of the right outcome for all
concerned.
1.
Competing with Contrasting Strategies Case Study
2. ICMR
Case Collection
3.
Case Study Volumes
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