Shame on Companies That Think Their Customers Are Stupid

Short-Term Thinking

I am shocked by the number of companies out there that think their customers are stupid.  Companies that chase short-term results by forcing their employees to lie to prospects and customers.  Cellular mobile operators are especially bad at this.

And when prospects actually become customers, the broken promises continue with poor customer service that succeeds in pissing customers off. 

In today’s world, customers vote with their wallets and their feet.  And that is the long-term play that business leaders don’t seem to understand.

The solution is quite simple; however, I doubt that huge, publicly traded companies will figure it out due to the fact that they chase quarterly results. This puts huge pressure on customer facing teams so that senior leaders can cash in on personal incentive plans.

Long-Term Thinking

What do companies that have ‘figured it out’ do?  Here is my list:

1. They treat their employees better than anyone else.  Engaged employees have proven to out-perform companies with low employee engagement by five times on revenue and by eight times on stock price (Source: Kotter and Heskett). 
2. They live their values.  Values are people’s belief systems.  They are like the GPS system in your car.  They guide you through the ‘traffic of life.’  Todays’ employment environment heavily favors employees.  If they don’t like where or who they work for, they will leave and have another job within days. 
3. They have purpose.  Profit is an outcome, not a purpose.  Organizations that get it know why they do what they do. 
4. They understand their customer.  Organizations that get it know exactly who their customers are and why they are customers of theirs… down to ridiculous, finite details. 
5. They understand the customer journey.  Every customer has multiple touchpoints with your organization.  Businesses that get it, know every step the customer goes through and they craft an experience that makes it easy for those customers.

Oh, and as a bonus…  senior leaders also use their own customer service services so that they can experience what good looks like.  Leaders that are short-term in their thinking have their executive assistants call the customer service number for them.

Robert Murray is a Vancouver, BC based Business Strategy Consultant, #1 Best Selling Author, and International Keynote Speaker. For further advice, insight and inspiration on how to unlock your inner leader, follow Robert on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.

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