As you may have noticed, my entries are getting shorter–Working 80 hours a week will do that to you….
My thought for this week: Every time I read in the business news that “Revenues are up,” I ask myself, what about profits? Are they up or down?
This question popped into my mind today: What would be the impact on the U.S. economy if most businesses were run efficiently instead of inefficiently?
It’s a question I’ll be thinking about and writing about–but probably not for a while because I just started a new Interim CEO engagement and will be extremely busy for a while…..
I have concluded that the vast majority of companies today either do not agree with and/or do not care about and/or are clueless about how to implement the above Renee’s Rule™. There is a good chance you have reached the same conclusion. It has become incredibly difficult to get anything done. The simplest tasks have become complicated.
There seems to be widespread recognition that being nice is an important part of customer service, but the other piece–making things easy for customers–has somehow been lost in translation. Personally, what this customer wants/needs is for the companies I deal with to make life really EASY for me. What do you want/need?
As you may have guessed, this post is the result of a my experiencing a spate of bad (abysmal) customer service over the last few weeks. Everyone is NICE; nothing gets DONE--or gets done only with much wasting of time…..I know that you, too, have “been there; done that;” e.g.,
I understand that many of the companies we call could not care less about whether they are wasting our time…but do they have so many customers, and are they making so much money that they don’t want to improve their bottom lines by streamlining their customer service? Think of all the personnel time and $ that would be saved if no one had to ask, “May I have your telephone number?” or if the technical person “on-the-ground” received enough detail from customer service to solve the problem on the first try.
Enough complaining for one day–you can tell I’ve had too much TERRIBLE customer service from too many NICE people….It may be time for a new Renee’s Rule™: Enough is enough!”
In future posts, I’ll share some examples from my personal experience about how companies can reduce costs AND provide better customer service.
When I’ve abandoned almost all hope of ever finding good customer service anywhere ever again, I stop by Pearl Ace Hardware to reassure myself that there IS actually ONE place that really “gets it.”
Pearl Ace Hardware may be the best store on the planet. On-line reviews reflect this, and all of my friends and neighbors feel the same way. I’ll bet that this is one retailer that is profitable in spite of the downturn.
Why? Because this store truly understands the marketing equation:
Renee’s Rule™: Providing what your customers want/need + great customer service = loyal customers + steady stream of revenue.
They ALWAYS have what I need. They ALWAYS have knowledgeable, friendly staff available to help. No problem finding what I seek; no trouble finding someone to answer questions; no long check-out lines; no surly clerks. It is Customer Service Heaven on Earth!
When I check out, I inevitably find myself saying to the clerk, “I just love this store!” (And trust me, Reader, I am P-I-C-K-Y.)
Some retailers compete by having the largest selection of merchandise–being a “one-stop-shop.”
Some compete by having great “customer service”–being super-nice to customers.
Too many businesses have neither; too few manage to have both.
If every cloud really does have a silver lining, perhaps the silver lining of this downturn will be that we will see a return to first-rate customer service. After all, survival may depend on it.
Renee’s Rule™: There is a connection between customer service and sales.
I’ve seen some pretty scary hiring mistakes. Here is an example in which “The Emperor Had No Clothes.”
In the 1990’s, I became Interim CEO of a company that was experiencing the worst production problems I had ever seen. The company had hired a new Director of Materials Management. He had been referred by a management team member who had worked with him elsewhere, and his references from former employers were excellent. Everyone told me–and seemed to believe–that this guy was a genius. During meetings, he typed on his own notebook computer (fairly unusual at that time), looked impressive, and made “pronouncements.”
I, however, couldn’t understand a thing the guy was saying (plus, of course, materials management was still totally out-of-control.). I said to myself, “I have an MBA, am pretty darned bright, and have run more than 10 companies. If I can’t understand him, maybe he isn’t saying anything. Something is wrong.”
HR had checked his references, but I asked them to contact the universities listed on his resume to verify his degrees. Surprise, surprise: this fellow had lied on his resume and had no college degree. Needless to say, that was the end of his employment with the company. (The company, by the way, was successfully turned around.)
The question in my mind remains: Why in the world hadn’t someone else called his bluff? (A question to be explored in a future blog..)
At least three of Renee’s Rules™ apply:
Too often, people make hiring decisions based upon “experience” rather than “results.” A true story illustrates my point.
Several years ago, at the beginning of what ended up being a very successful turnaround project, the CEO told me, “We have a new CFO who has experience in turnarounds.” (I’ll call the CFO “Jill,” to protect her real identity.)
“Oh?” I said, “What kind of experience?”
To make a long story short, Jill had been CFO at company A, and it went out of business. Then, she went to company B, and it went out of business.
During my tenure in this extremely troubled company, it soon became apparent that although Jill talked a good game (and, indeed, sounded very impressive!), she was simply unable to make needed changes. She fancied herself a turnaround expert but was absolutely unable to fulfill even her most important job function; i.e., producing timely, accurate financial statements. I replaced her with someone who could.
Not long ago, I read about a company that expected to have to shut down if it could not get additional financing very soon. Guess who had recently been a financial officer for that company?
The companies that hired Jill undoubtedly made “experience” their key criterion. Instead, they should have asked about and verified what RESULTS she had actually achieved.
Please note: Although Jill, who marketed herself as someone who could turnaround a company, was neither capable of doing that nor able to accomplish basic accounting functions, there are many extremely capable CFO’s who have found themselves in distressed companies through no fault of their own. I have had the pleasure of working with some of them.
Renee’s Rule™ - When hiring, RESULTS are more important than “experience.”
It seems like every minute a new book with the “latest” business “secrets” hits the market. In reality, however, running a business profitably and well boils down to taking care of the basics; i.e., having a well-conceived plan, having a capable leader, and implementing a carefully crafted management control system. It is astounding to me that so many companies lack these basics—not just family-owned, but also publicly and private equity-owned (You know some of their names.)
Much of the information in this blog may sometimes sound like nothing more than common sense, but common sense and an attention to the basics are too often missing-in-action.
An example from my personal experience: In 2007, a private equity firm interviewed me for a turnaround project. The company had been losing money for three years; there was no business plan; the president was clearly not qualified; and there was no effective management control system in place. After I mentioned that the company needed these basics, the managing director said, “We know that.” (As in, “do you think we are idiots?”) So…if they knew all of that, then where had they been, and what had they been doing for the past three years? And these were people with MBA’s from prestigious institutions, who, presumably, have a fiduciary duty to their investors and definitely know better.
Find a way to step back from your business, to take a cold, hard look at where you are and what your real prospects are…Are you making money or losing money?
