In an article at Financial Times Deutschland, the author accompanies a customer service consultant during some "extreme mystery shopping" but concludes that there wasn't anything very "extreme" about it. In the author's words:
"You do not need to be an expert to be a customer and we all know what makes good service: a friendly manner, flexibility, and the quick resolution of problems. Obviously, Beyond Philosophy cannot acknowledge this because it would have no reason to exist if it did so.
Which brings me to my main objection. Mr Shaw stands for a worrying trend: the use of consultants in every area of business, now including customer service consultants. This is not healthy. Surely the one thing business leaders should be able to do is understand what their customers want. What's next? How-to-breathe consultants?"
I'm not a customer service consultant, but I can surely say that if anything, every business should enlist a customer service consultant on a regular basis. How can consultants helping your business be detrimental to your health? And yes, business leaders should be able to understand what their customers want, but in reality this obviously isn't the case. If every business leader knew what their customers wanted, we'd all have thriving businesses now, eh?
Speaking of customer service consultants, this week I will be posting an interview with Tim Whelan of Customer Development Center. Stay tuned!
The phrase that stuck out to me was: "Surely the one thing business leaders should be able to do is understand what their customers want." My years working with Customer Satisfaction Research have given me consistent examples of business leaders who myopically assume they know what their customers want, only to be surprised by the results when they actually ask them.
If there wasn't measurable value provided by consultants, no one would hire them. That's why our group never signs long-term contracts with our clients. If we're not consistently earning their business and providing value - then they shouldn't use us.
Thanks for getting my blood going, Maria! :)
Posted by: Tom Vander Well | July 3, 2006 4:00 AM | Permalink to Comment