I love China, but does China love me?

This summer I traveled in China with my 16-year-old daughter and 23 other great travel companions. From Beijing to PingYao, Xian, Chengdu, LiYang, Dali, Kunming, Pingan, Yangzhou and leaving the country from Hong Kong. What a beautiful things we have experienced! Business is booming in China, many products we use come from China, but how do they score in Customer Experience? Is this topic just as hot as in the Western World?

I can answer that straight away. No it is not. I didn't experience real hostmanship. The drive to deliver real service and go the extra mile for me or my travel companions was absent.

Two examples still strike me. I wanted to exchange Euro's to Chinese Yuan in a bank in Beijing. It was 16:15 and I had fill out a form. Identified myself with my passport and was told to wait. I could see what happened behind the bulletproof glass and got a feeling of being in the television series "Tower C". Bureaucracy, people passing papers, counting money, my passport going from one employee to the other, all dressed in the same androgynous outfit. After 30 minutes I started feeling real unease and asked how long it would take (my travel companions were waiting). I was told to wait again and at 17:00 they gave me back my euros and passport. The bank was closing and there was no possibility to change any money now. I had to sneak out the backdoor, the front door was already fenced.

In PingYao we went to dinner (with the whole group) at Sakura Café, a backpackers institute in China and even Laos and Thailand. We ordered food and drinks, but the employees were more interested in each other. They faced their backs towards the restaurant, let the dirty plates on the table for 2 hours and were never eager on filling up on drinks. What a waste of sales and service opportunities! This was no exception. Ignorance, loudness, drivers that smoked on the tour bus, rudeness and most of all no possibility to communicate because of a lack of knowledge of the English language.

The focus is on getting the job done

The lack of service attitude was something our Beijing tour guide recognized and felt bad about. She certainly did everything she could to make us feel welcome and happy. But she explained the lack of interest and drive to improve service. This lays in the upbringing of generations in the Cultural Revolution and the influence of the Communist Party. People had a job, did what they have to do and didn't have to listen to customers. They are trained to follow the rules and most important: listen to their bosses. They are not encouraged to improve, learn and go from Good to Great.

There is hope. We finished our trip in HongKong. Now a special administrative region of China, where there is no censorship on social media and the service levels are Pico Bello. With a special mention of Aqua, a great restaurant/bar on the 29th floor with spectacular views on the HongKong Skyline. Let's hope this service attitude of HongKong will spread across China.

Although the service attitude was lacking, the Chinese did love us. There was a large drive to take pictures and selfies with these long Dutch (strange) people to show at home, school or the office. We were greeted by people on the streets, monks, older ladies in the park that wanted to show their grandchildren to us. So yes, China loves me. Not in the Customer Experience way, but in a human way and I must say "It feels mutual".

Do you recognize this service experience of mine, do you have other explanations or funny stories? Please share below.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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3 Ways to Make CUSTOMERS Cramp Up With a Complaint

There are those moments when you can't believe what an employee does and says. That you stand in a store totally bewildered and feel as if you have been put to shame as a customer. That you would prefer to say something very angry out of sheer impotence. Do you know that feeling?

It was a while ago for me, but last week I experienced it again in person. What happened and what can you learn from it? Read and Weep...

My 16-year-old daughter really wanted to go to Appelpop and camp there with her friends on the festival grounds. That would require someone at least 18 years old to come along, and the ladies persuaded me to accompany them. We used to call it Camping=Cramping at home, so you know I wasn't cheering. But you do anything for your kids! I had no camping gear, so I headed to the Outdoor Sports store for a tent and an air mattress.

I was helped perfectly. Was even lucky that the tent was on sale. So I happily went home with my purchases, where the tent was set up by the two adolescent ladies in no time in the living room. The first test was successful.

The festival

Friday, September 11. We arrived at campsite de Betuwe and were assigned a nice spot, also with top neighbors. Tent set up, airbed inflated and we headed for the fantastically fun festival Appelpop (I'm a fan!). After a musical party, we arrived home in the middle of the night and as I crawled into my tent, I immediately noticed that the airbed was a bit soft. "Had I not screwed the cap on properly?" Fortunately, the pump was within reach and I eventually fell asleep. Halfway through the night I woke up and my bottom touched the cold Betuwe ground. Oh dear, an air bed that was slowly deflating. LEK.

Anyway, it's a festival, "you win some, you lose some." It kind of goes with the territory. Saturday was just such a festival day with several musical highlights. Unfortunately, it had turned rainy and when we got back to the campsite at 1am, it was raining cats and dogs. I quickly crawled into my Wildebeast tent and once I was lying down, I heard "Drip, Drip, Drip." After a brief investigation, the zipper of the awning turned out to be as leaky as a basket. Water was running right into my inner tent. Fortunately it dried up after a few hours, but I was bummed. During the night I had to inflate my airbed twice more, because unfortunately no gnomes had come to fix the leak. Sunday morning I came out of my tent pretty broken and decided to go right back to the store that day. With tent and airbed, because this couldn't be the intention.

Returning

There I stood at the counter. A girl stepped up to me. Asked what she could do for me. I explained the situation and she called a colleague. Did I still have the receipt? Of course! They looked hard and asked if I had set up the tent properly. Whether I knew that zippers in awnings always leak when the rain is on them. I told them I couldn't imagine that. That I wanted a new airbed and my money back for the tent. Because the camping season is really over and suppose if I also get tent with a "flaw" now, I won't find out until next year. They couldn't do that, but they were going to figure out what they could do for me. Turned their backs to me and walked away. "You wait here."

Sure. There I was. Between tents, hiking boots, backpacks. There was no empathy for two broken nights on a leaky air mattress. No "annoying that you bought a leaky tent." I couldn't believe my ears, and because of that broken night, my capacity for empathy wasn't optimal either. But I decided to control myself. Waited and yes there came the Sunday helpers again.

"Hello madam, in principle we don't give money back. But for this time we do". So, could I squeeze my hands for a moment.... And then it came. "But next time you buy a tent, and it's important that the awning doesn't leak? Make sure you inform yourself better. And then buy a more expensive one. " My mouth fell open. I got my money back and now a kick in the teeth that I had misinformed myself. In an angry voice I replied " I was here on Thursday and got advice from a colleague of yours and he didn't ask if I wanted a leaky zipper in the awning. I relied on his advice and therefore bought this tent. Then provide better advice yourself and in all honesty; don't sell junk.".

But I still wanted another air mattress. Unfortunately, that wasn't possible. They were sold out in the store, but I could just order a new one at home. In the corner of my eye I saw a tablet, of course they could have done that for me. But no, that thinking and doing was not in the cards. So I got my money back for the airbed and tent. It was a whole hassle with receipts behind the cash register and the money would be refunded to my account. Even though I had my money back, I didn't have a good feeling about it. Lightly sneering, I went home.

How not to deal with a complaint

What lessons can you learn from this? Especially what NOT to do in case of a complaint.

1. Tell customers exactly what they themselves have done wrong

Without any empathy for the two broken nights and the hassle, these ladies told me that I must have set up the tent wrong. That I was so stupid that I didn't know that all awning zippers always leak. My tip: Show empathy. Empathize. Ask through. Nod, hum. But drop all criticism. You'll only make things worse.

2. Tell what is not possible

The moment I indicated, what I wanted in terms of solution, they immediately told me that this was not possible. They didn't give money back in this kind of situation. And they no longer had airbeds. Strange that the solution in the end was that I got my money back. Thinking with me about other scenarios, that was not an option. My tip: Listen carefully to what the customer wants. Ask through to why they want this solution. Then find out what the possibilities are and think along with them. Ask if this satisfies the customer, then you can be sure you are right.

3. Give a kick after

After they explained that I would get my money back, it was also explained to me in great detail that I should do better next time when choosing a tent. In other words, the tent with the leaky zipper in the awning was my own fault. Because I hadn't done my pre-work properly. My tip: when you have come to a solution, ask if this is a good solution. Then take stock of whether you can help the customer with anything else. I would have liked help buying an air mattress.

Is this only about this outdoor sports store? No! Because this happens a lot more often. Unfortunately. The ladies who helped me were weekend workers, earning extra money as students. Sure they could sell well, but were seriously lacking in the service area. Probably had learned nothing about resolving complaints and the importance of empathy. They followed the internal rules and knew how to explain them to me perfectly. Make sure you have qualified staff. Not only in terms of product knowledge, but also in terms of solving problems. Invest in that, because this costs customers and is bad PR.

The nights over the weekend I had gotten through camping pretty ok, despite the discomfort/ But when dealing with my complaint I felt like I had gone CRAMPING. Unfortunate and unnecessary.

What do you most want an organization to do when you have a complaint? What is crucial to you in resolving it? I'd love to hear it in response to this blog!

PS. I took this photo as a selfie while setting up the tent on Friday.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

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The Big Four in Employee Engagement

In june I visited the Gartner Customer Strategies & Technologies Summit 2015. Besides listening and engaging in sessions and workshops, I hosted a panel discussion titled "For the love of your customers, make employee engagement work!" With this blog I share the insights from this engaging discussion.

With me on stage, were two leaders with best practices in the Employee Engagement field. Both Rob Graham (Customer engagement center director of Tesco) and Graeme Gabriel (Strategic Back Office WFO Consultant at Verint) shared their learnings.

Employee Engagement is often seen as soft. Both men obviously had a different opinion. They said that Employee Engagement is an important driver towards business success. They both showed their professionalism from a leadership perspective and told snappy examples that triggered the audience.

What are their 4 Do's to get real Engaged Employees and happy customers?

1. Ask your employee for feedback and Act upon it

Too many surveys are sent out to employees, where no actions are taken upon. Take actions that will really impact their happiness or possibilities to serve customers in a better way. If you are not able to act upon, be honest about it. Transparency is KEY.

2. Hire the right people for your company, find you Goodliness

At Google they have described what kind of people they want and if they match the criteria, they have the Googliness factor. Only people that have that Googliness are hired and Google doesn't make exceptions. So find you own Googliness and make sure only people that fit your wishes enter the company. Engagement ensured.

3. Act not Add

Give your employees the freedom to act. Especially on social media. Let them handle complaints or emergency situations in a human matter. A woman called in to Tesco and had to cancel her delivery, because she unexpectedly went into labor. Instead of following the rules, the agent send her a bouquet of flowers. The customer posted a photo of the flowers on Facebook and this received more than 100k likes. Another example was not so fortunate. A guide dog and blind woman were banned from a store and the company tried to resolve, but the public didn't take it. The learning is still: Let your employees act upon what happens. Sometimes they get it wrong, but much more often they get it right

4. Get the C-Suite to See

This is actually an open door, but so true. Get the leaders to see and experience how customer service is done. Let them walk through stores, get them to help customers themselves, listen to telephone calls, interact with employees. It works both ways. In employee engagement of the customer facing employees, but also in the decision making of the leaders. They can walk the talk and act upon what they have seen. A big driver of Employee Engagement.

 

*****

Nienke Bloem is often called the Customer Experience speaker in the blue dress. 

She's a global CX thought leader, educator and a global keynote speaker who inspires audiences with best practices and proven methodologies. She leads a speaking practice, a CX game company and a training business; she breathes Customer Experiences and is author of two CX books.

Her two-day Customer Experience Masterclass is known as the best program to prepare for your CCXP and she is the go-to person for CX leaders who want to advance their leadership and bring direct results from their Customer Experience transformation programs. Since 2020, she hosts a CX Leadership Masterminds program and helps leaders spice up their leadership and deliver an engaging CX Story including a solid CX Strategy. Besides, she is a modern-day pilgrim and found the parallel with leading customer centric transformations. 

With her over 20 years of corporate experience, she speaks the business language. Her keynotes and education programs in Customer Experience are inspiring and hands-on. She is one of the few Recognized Training Partners of the CXPA and it is her mission to Make Customer Experience Work and help you deliver business results. 

 

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