The Chain Reaction of Customer Neglect

The customer who no longer feels anyone cares about them is a problem. This customer starts questioning every business relationship. "If so-and-so doesn't care about me, does my bank? Does my ISP? Does my insurance? Does my gym?" And then they look at those relationships: "It takes forever to get through to my Internet Service Provider," "The teller at my bank isn't so friendly," "My gym is overpriced." This spiral commences because one or two companies showed them they don't matter. Quite a realisation. Two companies that don't value one customer can cause potential financial loss for other companies.

This brings up the point of how great customer service not only benefits the said company but commerce overall. If one company is losing money over it, then so will competitors and partners. This is why setting a high standard in this area and sharing learning openly with partners and competitors improves the situation. With exceptional customer service, a customer will seek this same excellence elsewhere before deciding that it’s not available. This means that if your standard is low, such a customer may still give you the benefit of the doubt because of their great experience with another company. But of course, if your company cannot deliver, it will be brushed off as poor compared to the other.

Understanding this, it should be clear why there needs to be a standard of customer service across industries, across society, even at an enforced level. The current systems are set up by companies for their own complaints and by government agencies, but there isn't collaboration across industries. It's no surprise, as customer service isn’t seen as a priority. Just as an elderly lady calling the police over noise is dismissed, so is a customer who raises issues, often met with rolled eyes in many companies.

A customer who feels they don't matter—or, better yet, finally understands that they don't matter—will always look for something else and will not trust other companies. This hurts the customer experience on a large scale, not just at the company level. Just as everyone in a city benefits from a clean environment, companies benefit from a society with a happier customer base. Happy customers are happy to spend and to recommend.

In the neighbourhood of Vienna where I live, every business has a sticker with a barcode where you can let the local authority know how you feel about this business. The neighbourhood authorities see it as their responsibility to ensure that establishments offer a certain standard of customer experience. The ingenuity of this idea is clear. This is not a reactive action but a proactive one—this is customer success at the municipal government level. I haven’t researched this enough, but seeing what happens to an establishment consistently rated low would be interesting. Not being someone for punishment and penalty, I would like to see a system of accountability and education where businesses must attend meetings or learning-share events to raise all to the same standard.

It's obvious how beneficial it can be to businesses in a city sector of 30,000 inhabitants to know they are part of a population that is happy with the standard of service they receive.

A personal example: I was in Paris, in the 15th arrondissement, had just taken a selfie with the Eiffel Tower, and wanted a glass of wine. I went to a restaurant, and the waiter gave me a poor experience, so I walked out. I was hesitant to try another place, concluding that all restaurants on this road, or in the 15th, or in Paris, might be of this low standard. It might sound extreme, but I'm not unusual—this is a normal human thought process. People have hated entire cities for years because of one or two poor experiences.

But as I walked on, I saw another place, and the experience was completely different. The waiter acted like an old friend I hadn't seen in years; the experience was so nice, I felt at home, safe, and good. So that previous restaurant not only ruined its own customer experience but almost ruined it for this restaurant that maintained a good standard.

Do you see why it benefits the second business for the first one to be up to standard? And I'm only one person. Millions of customers live in Paris, and millions more visit Paris. A business needs to see every living person as a potential customer and understand that their unhappiness can and will have a butterfly effect that may harm them directly and indirectly for who knows how long.

Remember, if the sewer is open, we all smell it and get sick from it.