It cannot be controverted under any stretch of imagination that Businesses thrive through constant patronage of Customers. There couldn’t be business sustainability without their customers. For this singular reason, any company worth its sort ought to be intentional in providing clients with double platinum services with the sole aim of exciting them; after all, they pay employees and build recognisable brand when they constantly send friends and family the way of the businesses. Without customers, there wouldn’t probably be a need for an existence of companies. So it just makes sense to keep them happy.
It is on the above tangent that top brands, and even nations, try to exhort service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. This paradigm was pioneered and given prominence by successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamaker and Marshall Field (Business magnates), in what has become known as The Field and Selfridge Rule. Their slogan, ‘The customer is always right’, may be the most famous expression of customer loyalty, but it hasn’t been the only one. There have been several magnitudes as the idea spread around the world in different forms. The Ghanaian is very well-noted to be generous and extremely friendly of guest and visitors in general, hence, our ‘unofficial’ cliché, ‘The Ghanaian hospitality’. This catchphrase has a great potential to be leveraged by the service industry in particular as a cash cow.
After going through this and the ensuing articles, readers in general and critical corporate decision-makers in particular would appreciate the fact that it is a very worthwhile business decision to be investing in both internal and external customer satisfaction. This determination would be arrived having considered: Brand Equity vis-à-vis Customer Equity, and its importance, how increase in net promoter score (NPS) increases a company’s valuation, a brief on how NPS measures loyalty, and many other revealing thoughts. The articles will also attempt to show how one can use publicly available information and a simple formula to systematically estimate the lifetime value of a customer for a company.
Cultural dimensions to customer experience
In Germany, the phrase is “der Kunde ist König” (the customer is king). In fact, Germany recently updated its consumer protection laws to provide more options and support for customers. Customers can really feel like kings, more so when they have legislative rights as cushion to enable them stand up for themselves. It is only then that a customer gets what s/he wants, especially if s/he knows how to ask for it! It is also said that: ‘the customer is always right, unless he behaves wrongly!’ ‘The customer is always king, unless he behaves like a peasant!’ (The customer is king, if he knows how to act the part or …if he knows how to throw his weight about).
In the 1960s, a Japanese comedian walked onstage and said: “Okyaku-sama wa Kami-sama desu”, お客様は神様です (customers are God). The comment stuck and has since been used as a signature phrase in many businesses. It has actually become the nation’s motto, “okyakusama wa kamisama desu”, meaning “the customer is a god.” That sentiment is well-echoed in Japan’s Consumer Contract Act, which assures fairtrade for customers and prohibits unfair commercial practices. The word customer (kyakusama) expresses particular respect and veneration, as it means honoured guest. The idea exemplifies the Japanese relationship between a brand and its customers. The country’s consumers are incredibly discerning. They experience polite, diligent customer service on a daily basis, without ever having to ask or tip for it. It’s not a demand; it’s simply the norm! Even shopping mall staff will insist on carrying clients’ purchases out to the entrance of their establishment and stand to bid farewell before getting back to the floor.
“Le client n’a jamais tort” (the customer is never wrong) was the catchphrase of Swiss hotelier César Ritz, of Ritz Carlton hotels. According to him: “If a diner complains about a dish or the wine, immediately remove it and replace it, no questions asked”. This episode dates back in the 19th century but that attitude still permeates Ritz Carlton hotels, and it is a big factor in the brand’s success story. It is well-known that when customers stay at Ritz Carlton, they will be treated very well and have all their needs met. The company doesn’t spend time questioning customers’ complaints; instead it works to quickly solve problems. In Spanish, the phrase is “El cliente siempre tiene la razón”. In Italian, it’s “il cliente ha sempre ragione”. Both phrases translate to mean “the customer always has a reason.” It’s therefore absolutely up to employees and customer service agents to find that reason and make sure customers are treated well.
Out of these mantras has emerged the Three Service Rules: The Golden Rule, Platinum Rule
and Double Platinum Rule. Certainly, many might have heard of the Golden Rule, which basically states that you should treat others the way YOU want to be treated. It is obvious that it isn’t everyone who might have heard of the Platinum Rule, which focuses on treating people the way THEY want to be treated. Not in a distant past, Bryan K. Williams conceived The Double Platinum Rule. Before getting into the Double-Platinum Rule and its implications for creating and delivering an exceptional service experience, it is important to have a cursory look at each of the above rules.
The three service rules
The Golden Rule
Indeed, The Golden Rule is a very good baseline to have when developing the empathy muscle. It, however, works when other people want to be treated the way you want to be treated. To put it in another way, treating people the way you want to be treated only works when other people want to be treated that way as you desire. It is quite daunting knowing exactly what others want, even without asking them. Why shouldn’t everyone want to be told ‘Good Morning’ and engaged in a pleasant conversation? Why wouldn’t all guests want to have a personal escort and tour to their room? The point at issue here is that if you are committed to creating an exceptional service experience for each customer, then each customer’s wants, needs and desires would have to be recognised, celebrated and acted upon. Each guest must feel as though they are the only ones in existence when being served. You owe it to them. After all, chances are they had a choice whether to patronise your business or not. Each time a customer, guest or patient chooses to be served by you, they are basically saying I have chosen you over and above all else, now show me why I made the right decision. Building on this norm comes the next being, the platinum rule.
The Platinum Rule
If the Golden Rule is more about ‘self’, then the Platinum Rule is about ‘others’ (what your customers want). This rule states that “Treat others the way THEY want to be treated. The platinum rule urge service providers to realise that service is not about what one wants to give; it’s about what others want to receive. If you give me what I don’t want, then you haven’t increased your value in my eyes. Providing excellent customer service to their delight is not about conjecturing. There is a need for that intentionality to unearth customers’ wants, needs and desires. It would be anecdotal not to support hypotheses with verifiable data. In this day and age, there are several ways to capture and optimise customers’ information. It is only when one is assuredly aware of customers that one can proceed with meeting and exceeding those expectations. Nothing can best beat that ultimate experience than giving customers what they want.
The Double Platinum Rule
I will illustrate this rule with personal experience and the rational that motivated Bryan K. Williams to come up with this rule. For him, the platinum experience isn’t enough though satisfying clients need by providing what s/he wanted would have been an execution of a duty, and the fulfilment of the Platinum Service Rule! But it may not be sufficient in all situations. So the Double Platinum rule is: ‘treat others the way they don’t even know they want to be treated’. To sum all up, “Don’t just meet customers’ expectations, EXCEED them with the solitary purpose of EXCITING them. I had an encounter with Mr. Timothy Coffie, an Architect. My lasting impression of him upon the happenstance has been his ingenuity and astuteness. His approach to work, candor, patience, temperament and demeanor was out of this world.
Grounding service strategy in the three Universal Service Rules works well because it heightens empathy (Golden Rule), encourages a keen focus on your customers’ expectations (Platinum Rule), and challenges the organisation to consistently think of ways to exceed those expectations (Double Platinum Rule). If a team is well abreast with these rules, it goes a long way to indicate that service excellence is top of mind in their strategy.
Although variedly expressed, all the above goes to buttress the point that businesses ought to find ways to ensure their customers feel they made the right choice in who they gave their custom to, and employees have a duty to make this happen. Superior customer service is the foundation of every business; all should, therefore, be done to ensure each customer is satisfied and has their needs met.
The notion of customer supremacy vis-à-vis caveat emptor
Inculcating into staff the disposition to behave as though the customer was always right, even when they weren’t, is a way for a product to stay competitive, but it may invariably mean to be complying with dissatisfied customers no matter the nature of their complaint and at worse tantrum. In the long term, it’s unsustainable just to agree with every customer’s whim. Anubhav Agarwal, the founder of bookbyslot.com, for instance, asserts that: “To stay in business for a long time, entrepreneurs need to avoid unreasonably disgruntled customers. Getting rid of bad customers might cost a little profit, but it’s healthier in the long-term goals of the business” precisely because no matter a brand’s clientele base, there are likely to be some unreasonable and belligerent few. This calls for a more nuanced way to approach customer service strategy and finding a fine balance of the investor-customer-employee relationship that serves a company better. It is not out of place to come across examples of employees providing subpar customer service. They are to be sifted from the unreasonable customers.
The old popular and legal Latin axiom: “caveat emptor”, a phrase which readers may be at home with better as “let the buyer beware,” actually takes an opposite view to “the customer is always right.” What this maxim essentially does is to put all of the responsibility on the customer. They are indeed liable for checking the quality of a product before they buy it. If there’s anything wrong with the item they purchase, that’s absolutely on the customer. The seller doesn’t have to declare anything or help the customer in any way. Though brands may go out of their way to serve and trust customers, sometimes the customer may have to bear some responsibility nonetheless. A contrary view point is however shared by Sears, Robuck, and Co. publication that: “Every one of their thousands of employees are instructed to satisfy the customer regardless of whether the customer is right or wrong” This is about knowing the power of customers. They believed it’s better to trust customers and risk getting taken advantage of occasionally than to get a reputation of being mean or disrespectful.
Henry Adjei Boadi’s expertise, knowledge, skills, abilities, qualifications and more importantly, demonstrable functionalities transcends several disciplines. He has over two and half decades of corporate and several non-corporate leadership experiences. Henry, the writer, can be reached via [email protected] / 0244651663 or 0208178791
