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Understanding your customers is key to delivering a service they will remember. So when it comes to collecting feedback, do you only want to know how great you are? And is that a good idea? What are you going to do with that 99% CSAT score? If the answer is to use it to market yourself, you have missed the real purpose of feedback – it is not there to pander to your ego, it is there to improve the service your customers pay for!
“Unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning” – Bill Gates
Collecting feedback should be about improving the service you deliver to your customers. But if you only collect approval, how can you improve your service? It is terrific when you get glowing comments and have people say how great you are, but what about your clients that are unhappy, why don’t you seek them out?
Seeking negative feedback seems like a foolish approach to a CSAT score, but if you stop worrying about the score and concentrate on finding ways to improve your service, negative feedback is actually the most important.
“We have been brought up with the belief that negative feedback is wrong” – Seth Godin
Negative feedback is welcome because it points you towards what you are doing wrong not what you are doing right. Think about why a service desk exists – is it for people to tell you that their computer is working OK? No! It is to fix what is broken so you can improve their service. So do the same for your feedback – if you find out what is wrong, you can do something to fix it.
It is not just a question of collecting feedback – positive as well as negative. But once you have it, what do you do with it?
For each type of feedback, you need to assign an owner. That owner must be able to take positive action without approval. They need to be empowered to go above and beyond in order to resolve any issues. Teach those responsible about the ‘service recovery paradox’, which is that you can, with the correctly empowered team, turn an unhappy customer into a raving fan.
When we say ‘above and beyond’, we are talking about someone’s total commitment to resolving the issue present. This means you will need resources, knowledge and, most of all, time – to correctly empower your team you must allow them to put their day job to one side and spend time recovering the customer.
Once you have done everything in your power to recover from the bad feedback and have resolved the issue, you need to ask for feedback again. If the feedback has not improved, you have not gone above and beyond.
“Raving fans are your greatest salespeople” – Ken Blanchard
Feedback is the voice of your customer; they need to know they are heard and to believe you care. By seeking negative feedback, you are demonstrating that you are listening and that you do care, especially if you then act upon that feedback. You can then take steps to recover a bad opinion and turn an unhappy customer into a raving fan.
In our next blog, we will explain how we collect and act upon our own feedback.
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Keidan Harrison LLP
Lumina have supported us so well through the difficult circumstances of 2020. They worked extremely hard to ensure we were able to work remotely and continue to operate our business successfully. The support team are very friendly and knowledgeable, and have excellent response times.
The team have also enhanced our cyber security which is so important in the legal sector, and they continue to provide high quality advice to help us move forward with our IT goals.
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Technical Director, Trap Oil Group plc
Richard and his team are a real inspiration to anyone who meets them and I have watched Lumina’s growth over the last few years with interest and admiration. Richard has been an amazing supporter of the Hospice of St Francis, being a Gold member of the Corporate Partner Network for almost two years. He takes an active interest in the community and is passionate about his company and his town: nothing is too much trouble, he is always willing to help, to give up his time and to provide business advice when asked. Lumina is an inspiration to any company wanting to set up business in Hertfordshire.
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Corporate Fundraising Manager, The Hospice of St Francis
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Lambert Energy Advisory
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Connect Dacorum
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Hawkstone Management Services Ltd
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Managing Partner, Charles Douglas Solicitors LLP
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Amoun Travel & Tours Ltd
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Group Technical Director, Salamander Energy plc
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COO, Perrett Laver Limited
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Managing Director, Society Limited
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CEO, The Vita Group
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Chief Operating Officer, Estu Global Ltd
