Item: Customer service has a broad definition in a brave new world of specific experiential ventures, but it all comes to those 3 famous words: perception, perception, perception.
Perception being a very subjective thing, how’s an organization to learn to gain control of a customer environment, much less customer experience? I suggest reducing the touch point components into identifiable elements, (analysis) identifiying potential individual impact, (refinement) and making sure a whole new combo is created that works well together (synthesis).
My Recent Example
I purchased a Japanese motorcycle today. I owned a Harley, but didn’t fit the bogus-bandit lifestyle of overweight stockbrokers and lawyers in black wrap-around shades, belly-bulging behind black sleeveless T-shirts and flame-emblazoned bandanas. Yes, another story entirely. Harley has sold a brilliant aspirational wet dream to Boomers. And it seems the heavier the riders get, the heavier the Harleys get. Try that in any other sex-based marketing campaign. What, motorcycles are not sex-based? Sure they are – do bikini babes ‘drape the shape’ over Camrys? Nah.
Anyway, I did my research and landed on a model that fit my needs, then went shopping. This particular model was a Honda CB900, a ‘naked bike’, and known as a Hornet 919 in Europe, which although discontinued as of model year 2007, still had a strong cult following. In fact, strong enough to still command a hefty price, two years out and wherever it could be found. Most Honda dealers only got these in dribs and drabs, and did not want to take floor space by actually ordering them. So, they were not keen to sell if it wasn’t on the floor already. As I moved toward private sales, I forgot about the used bike market at off-brand dealers.
The customer service expectation for motorcycles are (apart from Harley and maybe Honda) that walking into many multi-brand brand motorcycle shop remains the same experience you might expect from the 1960′s – underpaid guys in t-shirts who work there to feed their personal bike Joneses. At one older dealer in Houston, the guy actually did not leave his spot behind the dirty glass counter, nor utter a word but glowered at me as I scouted the floor for a 919. I think he grunted when I left.
Enter the more enlightened dealer.
Frustrated, I went online and began filling out email requests to all local dealers( a new phenomena?), disregarding the Honda shops I had already visited. I got an immediate response from a multi-brand dealer on the other side of town. They had 2 bikes of the Honda model I was looking for and wanted to set up ‘an appointment’ to meet with me to show them. I answered their emailed response on my iPhone and set up a meeting on a Saturday afternoon as I returned from a day at Galveston Island (hey, it’s on the drive home, honey). The salesman met me at the door.
My wife was there because of our Galveston trip, but more importantly to keep me from doing something stupid. This was her first time to see the bike. We saw a new 2007 and a used 2007, both exactly the same except for mileage, warranty and wear. The used bike was in my price range, but just barely.
Being a avid passenger, she right away noticed that the twin exhaust pipes swept up into large exposed chrome bulges on either side of the seat she would occupy. I offered weakly that the pipes were shielded, but she said that I could put my legs near them but she would not. In this very subjective case user experience, not non-user experience was highly influential. I was disappointed, but since we often ride together, there was no denying usability testing over bike lust. The salesman had been kept both quiet and his distance, but admitted that this was a problem, and that he had an alternate used bike that eliminated the barbecue effect. The bike was used, but not worn out or damaged and well, actually looked good to both of us.
My wife climbed aboard to test the passenger pillion, announced it safe, and that it looked better than the 919. And she was right. Not only right, but with a lower price than the Honda, I could invest in an even-comfier after-market Corbin seat for both of us using the price difference (yes, I’m an older rider. ‘Seat comfort’ is high on Maslow’s pyramid; go check it our yourself) The salesman intelligently let us think through the new option and saw he had a sale. We told him we’d call Tuesday of the following week to arrange a test ride.
Early Tuesday, I woke to an early morning voicemail from the salesman that he thought there might be a problem with the bike and needed additional time to get a mechanic to check it out and to perform a test ride himself before I spent time driving to his side of town. In Houston this travel time fact o’ life is very important, so he got props for the phone notice – early as it was. I called back, and he had also sent me an email before he left home. Yep, the date/time stamp verified his story. Within an hour he called again to say the bike checked out fine and I could visit at my convenience. I needed to drive over as early in the day as possible to return in time for a conference call, so he agreed to meet me on his lunch hour.
He accomplished a test drive by riding along with me to show me a sample of both highway and neighborhood traffic. During the ride I discovered the clutch lever engaged at the far end of the stroke – too far for my taste. He fixed it. I also saw a missing bolt on the rear fender. He replaced it. The bike was a true pleasure to ride and a great change - from the potato-potato V-Twin sound to the sewing-machine-on-steroids a Four Inline makes. It’s about switching from NASCAR to Formula One. Sold.
OK, if my combined perceptions opened the door to a sale, how would this have been different for someone else? What if he was selling to the tattooed crowd? Would his level of service have been different? Maybe, but he remembered my mentioning how far away I lived, noted that one of my iPhone emails (it had that ‘From my iPhone’ in the signature line) and heard me note the missing bolt when I first saw the bike. He not only recalled these comments, but made sure they were not going to be a problem for a sale. The shop was clean, organized, and the other sales guys were not either falling all over each other grab a sale, or clumped together making bets on which bike each customer would walk over to first.
My perceptions were built slowly and carefully and managed to eliminate whatever problem I felt that could possibly block a sale. Good selling work, but better management of my expectations of value. There is much work to be accomplished by the competition.
