“Customer Satisfaction” defined. Customer Satisfaction is defined as a measure of how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass expectations. By definition, this is a historical measure and not forward thinking nor does it give a picture of where the future opportunities lie.
Customer satisfaction survey is a poor measure of customer behavior. Rationally satisfied clients behave no differently than dissatisfied customers. Measures of customer satisfaction are reactive and not proactive and thenceforth is a poor indicator of future customer behavior.
Customer expectations do not reflect what customers really want. Historical and reactive data really doesn’t tell you what your current customers want. Just as an example, if I am walking down your aisles in the store and don’t expect to slip on your floor, my expectations of not slipping on the floor has nothing to do with what I ultimately want when I transact with you. If you were to not meet my expectations, customer satisfaction surveys would just measure how many times I slip when I walk down the aisles of your store – six times versus none.
Customers don’t buy what they need or expect but what they want. Quoting Seth Godin, the fact that you can prove your product or service is better, delivers more value, cheaper, more durable or more efficient, and that your customer won’t slip while walking down the aisle of your store could mean you deliver or exceed customer’s expectations but it doesn’t mean you will close every sale. He further pointed out in his blog post on July 14th 2009 that even hard-headed business people end up buying the thing they want, and not the thing they necessarily need. Merriam Webster defines “need” as a condition requiring relief”, the basic minimum features, synonymous to the benefits they expect to derive. That’s very different from what their wants are.
Chet Holmes, New York Times best seller, says that at any point in time there is really only 3% of the universe that are currently thinking about buying (needing) what you sell. If you have any growth constraints but stops you from accessing that 3% in any way, your universe of customers only has one way to go - down. By growth constraints, I mean anything that stops you from growing - no marketing system, no metrics, ineffective ways of selling, lack of follow ups, inaction because you want things to be perfect before you act, no systematic processes in place to catch any growth, ineffective marketing communications messages...... That is an entirely different topic that I am passionate about helping business owners tackle but is outside the scope of this article. The question I have for you is whether you want to be strategic planning for no more than 3% of the population competing with every Tom, Dick and Harry with the similar offering that focus on customer satisfaction or you want your growth potential to be higher.
Back to our discussions of why you need to think real hard before you conduct another customer satisfaction surveys, and worse yet, allow the results of such to drive your strategic planning direction: “Your customers want more than satisfying transactions. They want engaging relationships.” Dr. John Flemming, Gallup Press, Nov 2007. Dr. Flemming went on to say, “To master the new discipline of the emotional economy, business leaders need a way to think about customer requirements…… Customer satisfaction doesn’t count!”
Jay Conrad Levinson, the Father of Guerrilla Marketing, stated that there are 50 reasons for people to buy. Go to our Monthly Tips area and scroll to the Oct 07's tips. Those are emotive states and values that you satisfy. How would you like a ranked order list of "why your customers buy"? The quality of your internal planning sessions and the results of such would be multiple times better by focusing on satisfying values and importance, not satisfaction.
Lastly, be my “Clients” and not “Customers”. “Customers” receive satisfying transactions at best but “Clients” are cared for by an expert for deep and engaging relationships. Think “Clients” and your mindset will be shifted to position yourself better to the holy grail of client retention and growth.
Value-driven planning, facilitation and coaching methods (VDP) surveys clients’ emotive importance. It helps you know what clients want and put you in a predictive and proactive seat for business growth. It is a business growth tool that big companies have been keeping away from you. For the first time and after four years of hard work, we are able to offer a small-business-centric VDP to help clients get more results from strategic planning. For more information about VDP, call us at 949-488-3283 for more information.
Pandora Pang is an expert business growth strategist and master strategic planner in finding breakthrough business strategies and breakdown in business processes, coaching business owners of small and medium sized businesses and their teams in implementing disciplined steps in business growth. Founder and Managing Director of AllBusinessAdvisors, LLC and President of Outside the Box Strategic Solutions, LLC (www.outsidethebox-solutions.com), Pandora is a Certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and a Fellow of and Accredited Executive Associate by the Institute for Independent Business (FInstIB), providing a vast network of local and global resources, information services and various expertise normally only available to chief executives of Fortune 500 companies.
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