Be a customer for a day.
If you don’t act like one of your own customers once in a while, you’re missing a great opportunity. The other day I placed an envelope into a mailbox outside of my local post office and noticed someone had stuck a sticker advertising a local restaurant inside the door. You’d think that if someone from the USPS had seen it, they would remove the unauthorized sticker. The box gets emptied 4 times per day, yet the sticker remains. Why? Because the person who empties it does not act like the customer. They don’t open the same door. Retail executives, merchants and buyers perform store walks on a regular basis. Usually it’s with an entourage who observes, records the event and notes opportunities for improvements. Unfortunately, in that environment, no one gets a true picture. The upcoming visit is publicized, sometimes, weeks before it occurs. Everyone has plenty of time to be sure that top personnel are in the aisles that day, everything is cleaned up and looking good, key merchandise is displayed properly, etc. After the walk the declaration is made, “No one is better than us.”
I once worked for a company where the CEO announced a plant tour six months in advance. As a result, departments were systematically shut down, cleaned, painted, reorganized, etc. Customers had to wait an additional 4 to 6 weeks for samples or finished goods in a market where lead times were measured in days. The tour took 15 minutes and, needless to say, everything looked great. But nothing was accomplished. In fact, our customer service efforts fell behind.
If you want a true picture of what is happening in your facilities or on your website, if you want insight, be the customer. Put on a pair of cargo shorts and a baseball cap, walk into a store and roam around. Request an obscure product or ask an unusual question. See what happens. Try to find the price for an unmarked item. Most importantly, do it yourself, don’t hire mystery shoppers. Don’t tell anyone in the staff you’re doing it. They track your whereabouts and the word will get out. You need the true experience. If you run amusement parks, stand in line with your customers on a 90 degree, busy day. Better yet, do it with a 5 year old. Do you sell via the internet? Order something. Then try to return it. Call your company’s customer service or support line. Make up a problem and observe the response.
Ask yourself if the problems are unique to that location or systemic. Make improvements accordingly and quickly. Dissatisfied customers walk out and tell others of their experience. They won’t complain to your customer service dept., their reaction will be on Facebook and Twitter within minutes. If they do complain to your company, chances are the real message will get lost in the translation.
Perform the same exercise with your competitors. Steal their good ideas. You get the picture.
If you and your team members do this regularly, you will have a true picture of the face of the company that your customers see. If not, you’re simply seeing what you want to see; that’s dangerous.
Tom Raducha's Blog 