Good Customer Service, Good Business

I've been a member of the Association of Computing Machinery (ACM) long enough to become a Senior Member. A Senior Member is not someone over 65. They are members in good standing who have contributed to computing outside their daily job. Such as someone who has written a book. Someone like me.

To become a Senior Member of the ACM, you need three people to endorse you—to verify what you've done and confirm that you're a decent person. I posted a message to the local Linux mailing list, a list with hundreds of members, asking for people to endorse me. I expected to easily get several dozen volunteers.

The actual number? One.

I thought that applying for a Senior Membership (with it's deluxe membership card) was pretty harmless. Why didn't more people offer to vouch for me?

In his book "The War Against the Family: A Parent Speaks Out", William Gairdner suggests that Canadians are reluctant to speak their opinions because they don't want to be labeled as intolerant or troublemakers. That is, avoiding conflict or opposition of any kind have become Canadian values. I know of one leading Canadian company that has an official policy of never providing references for former employees, to avoid potential conflicts. And a small local company refuses to give employee evaluations because the owner is afraid of unhappy employees who may "need improvement". In Canada, it's bad to have an opinion. If you have an opinion, you may become a target. If you are target, you may have to defend your position.

I can't be sure why more people didn't vouch for me. But perhaps it has to do with this Canadian mindset. It seems to me that to support and promote open source and Linux is a way to improve life in Canada, promote our country and perhaps even create more jobs by getting recognition for this superior operating system. Maybe I'm a victim of Canadian culture where people are afraid of putting their name on a piece of paper, even if it is just to say, "Ken's a good guy and his book is a great resource."

A few weeks ago, I went to the Martindale Road Superstore to buy groceries. On this particular day, I was carrying my shopping basket full of items to the checkout. The store wasn't busy and there were only two checkouts open: the express and one other. Since I was carrying a shopping basket, and there's no customers in the express line, I figured I'd head over there. Well, bad move. The surly checkout woman whisked my items through, but stops after eight of them.

"I'll ring up your items this time, " she warned, waving a small package of instant pudding, "but express is only for 1 to 8 items. Don't do it again."

I'm a pretty considerate guy. This was the first time in twenty years of shopping that I've been accused of express line abuse. But the programmer side of me thinks, "Well, technically I had an extra six items. In a program, that would be a design error."

However, this is not software. This is customer service.

There was nobody in front of me. So I looked behind me, to see if someone was waiting. Nobody. I looked in my shopping basket. All small items and I wasn't very far over the limit. Now, I understood that the express line was for people buying few items so they wouldn't have to hold their baskets for a long time while waiting on people with large amounts of groceries. Surely I was the kind of shopper that the express lane is there to service. So I wondered why the surly checkout woman complained. Was I honouring the spirit and purpose of the express checkout? Yes. Was I inconveniencing other customers? No. Did I abuse the checkout girl? No. It seemed to me that, whatever the reason for her complaint, it had no connection to me.

It's hard to fault someone for following what the sign said on her checkout aisle. But like the infamous Milgram Experiment (Wikipedia) showed, following orders is no excuse for treating people badly.

I rent a lot of movies from That's Entertainment in St. Catharines. Last year I returned some movies and I was told by the clerk, "You have a one day late fee." Since I rent a lot of movies and always return return them early, this surprised me. I told him I was confused and he called the manager to the front.

"Our computers don't make mistakes," she said impatiently, rolling her eyes. "It says it's late and so it must be. There's no refund." It was clear by the way she spoke that I was not the first person that day with late fee problems.

A manager should know better. Since I rent 50 or 100 times the late fee amount each year, a professional should know that it's good business to let one late fee slide than risk losing an important customer. But the manager didn't see it that way. If I didn't want to pay the $5, I could just take my business elsewhere. Which is why that manager made a fundamental mistake.

I attended a meeting at the Small Business Club of Niagara where the topic was customer service. According to the speaker, over 68% of all customers leave a business because of poor customer service. And each customer doesn't represent one sale, but many repeat sales over a year. To not treat customers with understanding and a grain of forbearance—even if you are right—is a costly mistake.

When I've designed software for business, the owners always want reports for bad customers and overdue accounts. I always challenge them by saying, "And do you want reports for good customers and excellent accounts?" If over 68% of people leave a business because of bad customer service, then surely protecting the good clients is worth even more money than hiring debt collectors for delinquent accounts. It's a matter of spending money where it does the most good, where there's the best return on your investment. That's good process design...and good business.

A few years ago I received a notice from a utility company. A note from the computer. It thanked me for paying my bills on time and keeping their expenses down. Software that tracks the good as well as the bad: that's why I'm talking about.

I'm sure that the Superstore and That's Entertainment are well-run, professional companies and these were just isolated instances. However, it's worth remembering the cost of bad customer service. There was another video store I used to go to called Bonanza Video. They had good prices and a good location. However, they had lousy customer service. When I complained, they told me I could just take my business elsewhere if I didn't like it. I did. I guess other people did, too, because it's not there anymore. Be careful what you ask for or you just might get it.

May 21, 2007