The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
I Didn't Mean to Call You Dumb
Thursday - January 18, 2007 02:31 PM in
Peter's last blog entry linking to an article about the fellow who received a poor job performance rating because he couldn't produce the results of the survey several days before actually conducting it, brought a smile. Not because of the absurdity however, but because of how typical such an attitude really is.
I recently referenced data that suggests over half of all surveys are created to justify already held beliefs rather than objectively seek the truth.
And that factoid led to a conversation this AM on how to promote our upcoming seminar on how to properly conduct/manage and interpret surveys.
I wanted to somehow include the message in our promo for the seminar that poor survey technique is rampant (which it is) and that I believe bad technique is one reason so little is done to improve customer satisfaction. Specifically, just like individuals, companies want to believe good news and tend to reject any information that conflicts with their perceptions.
A frequent example is the contact center manager who chest thumps because the last survey showed a 75% caller satisfaction score. I want so badly to respond: "So, you're only annoying one customer in four eh? Wasn't 75% a "D" in school? And don't you know that 'satisfied' in the mind of the consumer isn't a positive rating? To the typical customer, satisfied means 'I had low expectations, and they were met well enough that I wasn't overly annoyed."
But Peter points out that if our promotions suggest the manager really needs our seminar because they don't know these things, I am calling them dumb. Well, a spade is a spade, but I see his point.
Posted by Rick Rappe'
And that factoid led to a conversation this AM on how to promote our upcoming seminar on how to properly conduct/manage and interpret surveys.
I wanted to somehow include the message in our promo for the seminar that poor survey technique is rampant (which it is) and that I believe bad technique is one reason so little is done to improve customer satisfaction. Specifically, just like individuals, companies want to believe good news and tend to reject any information that conflicts with their perceptions.
A frequent example is the contact center manager who chest thumps because the last survey showed a 75% caller satisfaction score. I want so badly to respond: "So, you're only annoying one customer in four eh? Wasn't 75% a "D" in school? And don't you know that 'satisfied' in the mind of the consumer isn't a positive rating? To the typical customer, satisfied means 'I had low expectations, and they were met well enough that I wasn't overly annoyed."
But Peter points out that if our promotions suggest the manager really needs our seminar because they don't know these things, I am calling them dumb. Well, a spade is a spade, but I see his point.
Posted by Rick Rappe'
Posted at 02:31 PM by | | | |