Small Business, Big Lessons® — Who Owns the Problem?

Throughout my career and in small business, I’ve heard and used the term “user error”. Maybe your heard “they don’t know how to use our product or service. This week I’d like anyone in business or working for a business to think about is it really user error? Maybe it is user error but want to provoke some thought and discussion.

I was working for a tech company fairly early in my career and one of my peers produced an amazing user guide for customers and partners. It was a work of art. I can’t even recall how many pages it was. It was less than War & Peace and more than 20 pages. It painstakingly outlined what number to call in specific situations, different numbers for repairs, sales, parts, etc. It was very detailed and accurate and I know that it took a significant amount of effort to compile. Rather than our General Manager saying great work, he asked a question “why is this document so large”? The answer was the 800 numbers couldn’t transfer between departments, different process were used by each function, along with incompatible tools. There was no way to make it “easy” for the customer or partner. When contact the company, they needed to have a slew of account information and other data readily available in hopes of being routed to the correct group. I recall his words and guidance from more than 20 years ago as if it happened yesterday. He stated “don’t make our problem the customer problem, we are not training them to work for us. Figure it out and come back with one number to call.”

With so much talk about self-service, AI, and moving more “work” to customers (order online, self-checkout, support via blogs, etc) what are you doing to delight your customers and partners. Some things to consider below:

Details:

1)    Is it user error – It could be. Find a gentle way to solve the customer’s issue. Early in my career, I repaired computer hardware. All too often, something becomes unplugged and the simple fix – plug it in – but many users were offended if I asked them if it’s plugged in and demanded an onsite visit. Cleaners at night would vacuum and it is very easy to accidentally unplug something. I had to come up with different words. Rather than saying – hey dummy – is it plugged in – I guided them – can you look in the back of your computer, find the power cord, now follow it down. Before I could say another word, the person typically apologized and said, sorry, I just noticed it was unplugged, I think we are good. I would offer to stay on the phone and make sure they were up and running. Far better than driving to a location, plugging something in, and billing them!!!

2)    Do you treat them as they work for you – It doesn’t take long for anyone changing from “new in role or business” to becoming “the expert”. As a business owner, you live and breath what you do. Your customer or partners may only occasionally interact with you. Do you talk with them using TLAs (three letter acronyms) and expect them to understand your unique lexicon? Even worse, do you get upset when they don’t understand you? Time to take a step back and make it simple for them. Use their language.

3)    Simplify – Anyone who has been around technology can see the evolution of making products intuitive and easy to use. I actually was involved in making a competitive video showing volumes of manuals required to setting up their product and in under 3 minutes, answering a few basic questions, ours was up and running. Think of Apple, when was the last time you had to read an instruction manual? They revolutionized the tech industry and now others emulate their simplicity. Are your internal processes designed around the customer or are you expecting the customer to learn and adapt to your complexities. If it is the later, expect your competition to take share.

Think through

To finish the story I started off with, my colleague was able to sort out the complexities, have a single number to call, and not require a complex training manual to work with us. That was a big win for everyone involved, especially the customers! Do you have the right people, process, and rewards to remove the burden from the customer? Or are you trying to put up as many roadblocks to never talk with them on an issue? If it is the later, you won’t need to worry about it for long. If you don’t take care of your customer, someone else will.

What are you doing to simplify and improve the customer experience this year? Feel free to post comments or email them to me. Small Business, Big Lessons™ – Who owns the problem – answer you do!