Subscribe
The People/Process Paradox
Author: Bill Cusick
August 15, 2007
Is it your process or your people that send customers packing?
Research shows the reason fully two-thirds of customers leave a company is “employee indifference.” That sure seems like an important issue for a company that’s bleeding customers. But defining – let alone solving – this problem isn’t easy.
You’ve probably seen stories over the last several years regarding Best Buy’s customer centric-strategy. The approach includes heavy training of its sales associates, a focus on “personas” (like “Sally the soccer mom”) and the use of a key measurement of “employee engagement” to determine the sales potential of a store location. It’s an impressive emphasis on the employee-customer relationship.
And yet, I can’t get a Best Buy experience I had last year out of my head. I went in to purchase a laptop. To say I was dressed casually is an understatement. Still, my wallet was fat, and I wasn’t just window shopping.
Nobody helped me, which actually doesn’t bug me in retail environments – low pressure, right? Besides, I knew more or less what I was getting. So I browsed, compared features and prices, and made a decision: that one, the Toshiba. I looked around; the blue shirts were hovering nearby a minute ago…
I needed somebody to pull the boxed laptop out of the stockroom (so I could purchase it). But there were none to be found. After ten minutes of searching for somebody to help me, to in fact allow me to buy an expensive laptop, I wandered – dazed and empty-handed – back out to the parking lot.
So forgive my jaded perspective on Best Buy. I have no doubt there are scores of great employees running around right now helping customers at Best Buys throughout the land. And one could ask: was that the “people” or the “process”? There weren’t any employees available, but it was the process that dictated I needed a person to purchase something. At Office Depot, you grab a ticket for the item you desire, and just take it up to the cashier.
But I’m going to say it was the people.
On the other hand, I have a banker who pays attention to me. I don’t sense any “indifference” when I call him with a stupid question. He inquires after my family, he offers me extra services at no charge. I sense that he’s looking out for me. He knows I’m a good customer, with the potential to be an even better customer.
But, man oh man, their website is not good. It takes 13 mouse clicks to navigate my way to my current bank balance. Yes, I counted, and yes, that is bad. It’s confusing and they use technical jargon when plain language would suffice. In short, they make it hard to do business with them. Bad process: it’s inconvenient at the least, and at times infuriating.
So which is more important, your processes or your people? Obviously it depends on your industry, and what your customers might say is important to them. Ideally you want to create an overall experience for customers, and that means a seamless flow between processes and people.
But I ask again: which is more important? Well, since my experience at Best Buy, I haven’t bothered going back (too many other choices).
But I’m still at my bank. You figure it out.
No Comments »
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
