by Robin Dicks | May 27, 2020 | Robin's Blog
A couple of weeks ago our car – probably like many others in the last few weeks – had a flat battery. The thing about modern cars is it’s a lot more complicated than it used to be, you can’t just stick jump leads on any more. In the end it necessitated two different people from two different organisations coming out. I’ve no idea which one was more technically adept, as I struggle to tell the difference between a spark plug and an exhaust pipe. But one guy coughed into open air, and kept rubbing this nose, and was pretty blasé about social distancing. The other had gloves, had clearly sanitised stuff, was respectful of distance, and had clearly thought how to communicate and show me how to do stuff, again at a distance. Who do you think I’d use again? It’s a blunt example, but enabling customers to feel safe and secure in dealing with you is going to be a big deal for a...
by Robin Dicks | Mar 8, 2018 | Robin's Blog
I’ve recently been looking at getting new car. So I make appointments for test drives etc. All good fun. At one car brand/dealer, once I’d made the appointment, I got an email reminder the day before, then on the morning, and subsequently I’ve had about 3 mails, apparently from the head of customer sales (though clearly automatically generated) advising me of the risk of letting the car I really want go by. All very fine, if a bit irritating and intrusive. But the real problem is that the salesperson didn’t turn up to the appointment I’d booked and I left after 30 minutes of wasted time. It turns out the receptionist didn’t pass the message on properly, the salesperson didn’t check. The closest I got to an apology was a voicemail saying ‘sorry I missed you’. I wonder how much effort has got into the automated message system and how much has gone into staff training and behaviour. The former has no impact on my purchase decision, the latter has quite a bit. I won’t be buying a car from...
by Robin Dicks | Aug 31, 2016 | Robin's Blog
I was furious with the service I received recently but the company involved has ‘stalled my hand’. There are lessons for others. Myself and my family had a fabulous holiday in Italy. Great service everywhere. The glaring exception was car-hire. Aggressive attempts to up-sell to me at the pick-up point got my back up. I very clearly said I did not need any additional insurance either. When I returned the car the fee was far higher than expected. Yep, all the insurance had been added on. The invoice I got the following day also included fees for a tank of fuel even though we had returned it 95% full. Here’s the good bit. I received an online questionnaire the next day. I completed it immediately providing a ‘likelihood of recommendation’ rating of 1 out of 10, and briefly describing why. Within 2 hours I had an email from the managing director of the unit involved saying all insurance changes would be refunded. Would I have used them again before this? No way. I was sufficiently fed up that I would have shared the experience widely on social media too, clearly naming the company. Now I probably will use them again. It also made me think about how clients use our ClearerView system. It also alerts firms where responses show clients are at risk. It just shows how responding to these issues quickly can make a big difference. ...
by Robin Dicks | Nov 3, 2015 | Robin's Blog
Here’s a real-life story about a firm which has recently rebranded with a new visual identity, and lots of messaging about client focus and responsiveness. So what happens when you ring someone? The phone rings… And rings… And rings… No acknowledgement or voice messaging system “kicks in”. This happens if you call a direct line or the switchboard. It’s not just a “one-off” as this has been the experience of a contact of mine on three separate occasions. I’ve no idea how much the “rebranding” cost. But the firm isn’t meeting minimum expectations on this. Maybe some of the budget should have gone on the phone system and making sure staff understand the significance of responding. As I sometimes say –could this be happening in your firm? And if so, how much business might you be...
by Robin Dicks | Aug 18, 2015 | Robin's Blog
Most client feedback exercises get feedback about how the firm performs. Better ones also identify what factors have the greatest impact on the client’s continued use of the firm. But few – still – use the opportunity created by the process to get vital insight into the events and commercial issues seen as most likely by their clients. Knowing this can not only alert you to opportunities with specific clients but also help ensure all your marketing and communications investments of time and money – including events, articles, and social media content – are focused on the issues of most relevance to your clients and prospects. Take a look at this...
