Magic

"Every magic trick consists of three parts or acts.
The first part is called the Pledge.
The magician shows you something ordinary.
The second act is called the Turn.
The magician takes the ordinary something...
... and makes it into something extraordinary.
But you wouldn't clap yet...
... Because making something disappear isn't enough.
You have to bring it back.
Now you're looking for the secret.
But you won't find it because, of course, you're not really looking.
You don't really want to work it out.
You want to be fooled."
The Prestige

Should firm fool customer?
Or should firm delight customer?
Who cares?!

Whatever wows customer...
That's what the firm should do.

Happy Employee Happy Customer?

“Happy employees won’t necessarily create happy customers! Accountable employees do.”

My recent experience with Apple Store confirms this statement.
That Genius is definitely very happy with how he’s being treated in Apple.
Cool employer brand. Cool benefits and perks. Cool status!
But he is so happy that he forgets to align his own personal value with Apple’s brand promise.
So when he comes to interact with customer...
He treats every customer as his customer, but not Apple’s!
And that’s a serious problem!
I am Apple’s fan, not his!

He’s happy; I am definitely not.
But one thing for sure...
He won’t stay happy forever…
I filed complaints against that Genius.
And his manager called me several times to apologize.
I believe that Genius will be sorry for being too happy.

Happy employee only means that employee is happy.
It does not mean that the happy employee will perform.
There is still chance that happy employee will upset customer.
Happy customer is NOT a product of happy employee.
Instead, happy employee is only one of the many ways to create happy customer.

10 BAD touchpoints with IKEA

Below is a letter to the CEO of IKEA HK re a complaint case that hasn't been resolved for months.
_________

Mr Birks

This complaint case has been bothering me for the past few months!
And it still has not been resolved!
We're already in the experience economy.
I find it hard to believe that I am getting this kind of service from IKEA, given that I spend a few thousand every year.

Simply put, I had bad experience along all touchpoints with my recent purchase.

1st touchpoint: Call Center (17 Sep 2011)
- Nobody ever picked up the phone!

2nd touchpoint: LinkedIn (17 Sep 2011)
- I located someone named Tin Wong, Management Trainee at IKEA.
- Below is his reply!
- He has no accountability whatsoever!
- How's IKEA training its people?
- He's only looking for opportunity via LinkedIn?

Hi Daryl,
Received your message on IKEA's service.
Sorry for the unhappy shopping experience, at the same time, I am sorry that this is my private account searching for opportunities.
If you would like to file a complaint, please send an email to enquiry@ikea.com.hk and describe the case. Sorry that IKEA Hong Kong is not having any LinkedIn contact at this time. If you tell me more about the case, maybe I can think of some faster ways to help you as well.
Thank you for your message.
Regards
Tin

3rd touchpoint: Call Center + Email (17 Sep 2011)
- I called the hotline again!
- I was put on hold listening to meaningless messages for more than 25 mins.
- I had no choice but tried email at the same time.
- I received an autoreply to email below.
- It said I'd receive feedback within 3 biz days.
- But as expected, I got none!
- Finally, a gal picked up my phone.
- When asked why I had to wait for 25 mins, the gal told me that everyone in the call center was busy with the release of new catalog!
- For Christ's sake should that be my concern at all?
- She listened with patience, and promised me 2 things.
- That she would send someone to my apartment to take pics.
- That she would get back to me 4 days later for an update.
- Surprisingly, nobody got back to me after 4 days!

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Daryl Choy <>
Date: Sat, Sep 17, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Subject: Complaint
To: enquiry@ikea.com.hk

I called your hotline this morning, and now I've waited for more than 25 mins and nobody is there to pick up the phone!

Your staff came to my apartment to assemble stuff on 14 Sep, and when he unpacked the boxes with his cutter, he scarred up my hardwood floor, and now there are 2 very visible big scars left on the floor!

I demand an explanation and possible compensation!
Order number 0401315276

I can be reached at (852).

Daryl Choy

4th touchpoint: Outbound Call Center (Late Sep 2011)
- I am not IKEA's employee, so it's not my responsibility to follow up on this complaint.
- Interestingly, a guy called me several days later after the 3rd touchpoint.
- He said he'd like to learn more about my experience with IKEA!
- My experience with IKEA?!
- That reminded me of the unpleasant experience with IKEA.
- I immediately asked him to stop the bullshit, and requested him to give me an update of my complaint.
- His reply was amazing!
- He's ONLY responsible for post-sale service follow-up.
- If I'd need help on my complaint, I should talk to someone else!
- He knew nothing about my complaint!

5th touchpoint: Call Center (Late Sep 2011)
- I called the hotline again.
- This time it's not another 25 mins, but within 10.
- But should I be happy with the 15 mins improvement?
- IKEA has just wasted another 10 mins of my life!
- I cut everything short and requested to talk to the supervisor.
- Someone named Sam picked up the phone.
- He said he'd investigate into the matter again, and get back to me soon.

6th touchpoint: Sam from Call Center (Late Sep 2011)
- He's the only one who won't talk shit.
- He's a guy of his word.
- He shared with me the reason why nobody got back to me as promised was because the gal has resigned!
- However, he's helpless!
- Because someone named Philip Wong said it's none of his responsibility!
- His staff couldn't have scratched my floor!
- Oh really?!
- I thanked Sam, but told him I'd try to talk to someone more senior.

7th touchpoint: Martin Lindstrom from LinkedIn
- I located Martin Lindstrom, CEO of IKEA Taiwan
- I shared with him the situation, and he's kind enough to reply.

Dear Daryl,
Only retrieving your message earlier this evening, as all linkedin messages are forwarded to my private email address which I am only reviewing sporadically.
It is difficult for me to have any opinion on the specific case and I am sorry to learn on your frustration in contacting with IKEA in Hong Kong.
To the information received earlier this evening the case is handled and under review by the customer relations team in Hong Kong who are in direct contact with you on this matter.

The team has all your details, and will get back to you separately.

Br
Martin

8th touchpoint: Maria Chiu (mid Oct 2011)
- Maria called.
- She said she's the Customer Relations Manager.
- Martin has helped which I appreciated.
- I shared with her the situation.
- She said she'd investigate into the matter again, and update me later.
- Since I had a few biz trips, I suggested that she should call me a few days later.

9th touchpoint: Maria Chiu (late Oct 2011)
- She did call, but she was not at all helpful.
- She was trying to prove that I was wrong but IKEA was right!
- She told me that what I had shared with her couldn't be possible, because that's not allowed according to IKEA's policy.
- Holy!!!
- She simply drove me crazy!
- She kept telling me not to be unhappy!
- Why would I be unhappy with a crazy woman who couldn't talk sense!?
- Since she so much liked to share with me how IKEA should get things done based on the policy, I asked her about the tipping policy.
- To be more specific, should staff take tips from customers after the assembly services?
- She said no according to the book.
- Then I asked why the 3 staff who did the assembly for me received HK$100 tips from me!?
- She couldn't understand a thing!
- She kept telling me that this was not possible and that was not allowed because of the policy!
- Has she ever visited any client, or she just stays in the air-conditioned office all day doing nothing!?
- Is that what a CR Manager should do!?
- If she does not even understand how your employees interact with end users, how the heck could she support the team to deliver positive experience?
- She's a waste of time!
- Honestly, I do not expect a senior staff to talk shit.
- Since she has problem understanding me, I requested to talk to you directly.

10th touchpoint: CEO of IKEA HK
- I've already updated the situation to Consumer Council.
- One free local newspaper is being copied.
- I'll also connect with more local media.
- This case study will also be shared on Social Media such as Twitter.
- Being a consultant/trainer myself, this will also be used as a case study.
- I appreciate your thoughts back on this.

Forrester on Customer Experience

Forrester: Are you a leader in customer experience? Nominate your company for Forrester's Voice Of The Customer Award http://snipurl.com/g1a7i #FCXP09

Experience: Customer experience? Who's the customer? What's the definition of experience? Is this customer experience movement a similar experience of customer relationship management?

Forrester: Customer experience? What's the definition of experience? There is no standard, agreed upon definition of customer experience. There are some decent ones out there vying for acceptance, though. Here is one from Bruce Temkin's blog that we like: "The perception that customers have of their interaction with an organization." Or you could go with Wikipedia: "Customer experience is the sum of all experiences a customer has with a supplier of goods or services, over the duration of their relationship." Those two are pretty compatible, although I prefer Bruce’s version.

Who's the customer? Depends on the organization. For Wal-Mart it’s mostly consumers. For Oracle it’s mostly people at businesses. For the I.R.S. it’s mostly taxpayers. For NGOs it’s mostly donors. That’s a slight over simplification but I’m sure you get the idea: Customers are the humans your organization serves.

Is this customer experience movement a similar experience of customer relationship management? Customer experience and CRM are related but not the same. If you want to learn more about customer experience – and you’re not a Forrester client – you might want to go to Bruce Tenkin’s blog: http://experiencematters.wordpress.com/ If you are a Forrester client just go to the site, click Change My Role (a hyperlink near the top of the page) and select Customer Experience Professional.

Experience: Thank you for writing back... at least someone from Forrester is listening. That's an important first step.

I find it difficult to accept your definition of expereince. Bruce Temkin is a consultant of Forrester, so I won't take his definition. And wiki... I rather check the defintion from dictionaries.

For the defintion of customer, there are basically 2 types: internal and external. For internal, there are at least 3 layers: subordinate, staff, superior. Or we can refer to the Leadership Pipleline model developed by Drotter, where there are at least 5 layers. For external, you could go from B2B, B2C, B2B2C, B2G, NGO, SE... or simply follow the SIPOC model where you consider not only the demand side but also supply.

What's the defintion of relationship? What's the relationship between relationship and touchpoint? How does experience relate to touchpoint/relationship?

Try not to sell your stuff to the market. Instead, try to understand how the market thinks.