The plain and simple truth about good customer service
When I received an invitation to go "extreme mystery shopping" with Colin Shaw, my reaction was to decline, on the grounds that ordinary shopping is nightmarish enough, without adding extremity and mystery to the mix. But as it became apparent that Mr Shaw was a new breed of consultant specialising in customer service, I figured I should I go for the sake of my own customers, the readers out there, to work out whether he was worth hiring or not.
The 48-year-old former BT Group executive began by explaining that "extreme mystery shopping" was a service offered by Beyond Philosophy, his "customer experience" consultancy, and involved the test-driving of services from the point of view of customers. Over the years this test-driving has gone as far as crashing cars and flooding houses (for insurance company clients) but my afternoon was not going to be quite so dramatic: we were going to visit a series of retail outlets on Regent Street in London, so that Mr Shaw could show me what, in his opinion, made customer service good or bad.
The starting point was Hamleys. As we walked around the bears section of the toy store, Mr Shaw discussed the ways in which the company was exemplary. It understood, for instance, that emotional engagement was key to good customer service, going to great lengths to entertain customers with free demonstrations and employing engaging assistants, some of whom were out-of-work actors. Hamleys also understood, he said, how stimulation of the five senses could enhance the customer experience: everywhere you go in the store there are things to see, hear, touch, smell and taste. "A natural company if ever there was one," concluded Mr Shaw as we left.
The comment was a reference to the Na?ve to Natural Model?, which Mr Shaw expounds upon in books such as Building Great Customer Experiences, and involves the classification of companies as "naive", "transactional", "enlightened" or "natural" according to their proficiency in customer service. While Hamleys was an example of the best kind of service, a company that "naturally" focuses on the customer, across the road we found something more depressing.
In fact, if the Regent Street branch of HSBC bank were a person it would have slashed its wrists. The windows were filthy; the floor was littered with rubbish; the reception desk was unmanned; and when a member of staff did eventually arrive she seemed more interested in gossiping to a friend than dealing with us, potential customers. "Typical of a transactional organisation," remarked Mr Shaw.
The remainder of the afternoon was spent having similarly contrasting experiences and we ended at The Rainforest Café, a themed restaurant, which Mr Shaw declared "certainly enlightened and potentially natural" for the way in which it stimulated the senses: the place was festooned with greenery and lively animatronics.
As I sat opposite Mr Shaw, perched on a duck-leg-shaped stool, next to a snapping alligator, with birdsong twittering over a speaker into my ear, I reached a number of conclusions, the first of which was that "extreme mystery shopping" was a gimmick. My afternoon had involved nothing extreme or mysterious and, actually, no shopping either: we did not buy anything. Second, I did not agree with Mr Shaw about the importance of sensory stimulation. Certainly, children appreciate a sensory assault, but adults do not. Besides, I am not sure how an electricity company would stimulate smell and taste.
I also did not agree with Mr Shaw's frequent assertion that "customer experience is the next competitive battleground". His argument is that in a world where price competition is fierce and reliability is, well, reliable, customer service is now the primary way in which companies can distinguish themselves. But the rise of low-cost airlines and internet shopping shows that price is still a key battleground, and the recent woes of Mercedes, the German carmaker, show that reliability is still an issue.
Indeed, the argument is symptomatic of Mr Shaw's generally over-analytical approach to customer service. His Na?ve to Natural Model? is just a fancy way of categorising companies according to how good or bad they are at it, and the extensive number of pie charts and ? signs floating around his writing are unnecessary. There is more to good customer service than wishing someone a nice day, but 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 is an illustration of a worrying trend: the use of consultants in every area of business. Chief executives can already employ management, information technology, public relations, branding and image consultants. But now they have the option of customer service consultants too. 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?
In spite of these reservations, Beyond Philosophy still gets my seal of approval. The reason for the endorsement is that shopping, in Britain at least, is as pleasurable as having your limbs sawn off with dental floss. Evidently many business leaders either do not know what customers want or do not know how to deliver it. Over-analytical help is better than no help at all. So give Beyond Philosophy a call. Should you be disappointed, you know where to send the complaints.
“极端神秘购物”记
收
到与科林?肖(Colin Shaw)一起参加“极端神秘购物”的邀请信时，我的第一反应是拒绝，因为即使不与极端、神秘等字眼混合在一起，平常的购物体验已足够成为噩梦了。但由于肖先生显然已成为客户服务领域的新一代咨询专家，我认为应该为了我自己的客户（那些读者们）去一趟，看看他究竟值不值得聘用。
首先，这位48岁的英国电信集团(BT Group)前高管解释说，“极端神秘购物”是由他的“客户体验”顾问公司Beyond Philosophy提供的一项服务，涉及从客户观点出发的服务尝试。几年来，这种尝试已发展到了撞车和水淹房子（针对保险公司的客户），但我一下午的体验不会那么富有戏剧性：我们将逛逛伦敦摄政街(Regent Street)的一系列零售店，以便肖先生能向我展示他眼中造成客服优劣的因素。
起点是哈姆雷玩具店(Hamleys)。当我们漫步于玩具店的小熊专卖区时，肖先生谈到了这家公司值得仿效的几个方面。例如，它明白情感参与是良好客户服务的关键，它竭力通过免费演示来娱乐顾客，并雇用了富有感染力的店员，他们中有些是失业的演员。他称，哈姆雷还懂得五种感官的刺激如何能强化客户体验：在商店的任何地方都有东西可以看、听、触、闻和尝。“如果真有自然型公司的话，这就是一家，”肖先生在我们离开时总结道。
这句话中涉及到“从天真到自然模型”(Na?ve to Natural Model?)。肖先生在《建立伟大的客户体验》(Building Great Customer Experiences)等著作中详细说明了这个模型，并根据客服的专业程度，将企业分为四类，即“天真型”(naive)、“交易型”(transactional)、“启发型”(enlightened)和“自然型”(natural)。哈姆雷代表了最佳服务类型，一家“自然地”关注客户的公司，然而穿过马路，我们却发现了令人不悦的东西。
事实上，如果摄政街的汇丰银行(HSBC)是个人的话，那他一定是割伤了手腕。窗户污秽不堪，地板上到处都是垃圾，接待处无人；当一名员工终于出现时，她似乎更有兴趣和朋友闲聊，而不是接待我们这些潜在客户。“典型的交易型组织，”肖先生评论说。
下午余下的时间都花在类似的比较体验中，我们最终来到了一家名为“雨林咖啡”(The Rainforest Café)的主题餐厅。对其激发感官的方式，肖先生称之为“确属启发型，有可能成为自然型”：这里到处点缀着绿叶植物和栩栩如生的电子动画造型。
我坐在肖先生对面一个鸭腿型凳子上，靠近一条张着血盆大口的美洲鄂鱼，啾啾鸟鸣通过扩音器传入耳中，这时我得出了几条结论。首先，“极端神秘购物”是个花招。这个下午没有涉及任何极端或神秘的体验，并且事实上也没有购物：我们没买任何东西。其次，对于感官刺激的重要性，我不同意肖先生的看法。无疑，儿童容易受到感官袭击的影响，但成人却不会。此外，我不确定一家电力公司如何刺激嗅觉和味觉。
我也不同意肖先生频频提到的论断，即“客户体验是下一个竞争战场”。他的论点是，在一个价格竞争激烈，而产品可靠性相当高的市场上，客服现已成为企业脱颖而出的首要方法。但低成本航空公司和网上购物的兴起表明，价格仍是关键战场，而最近德国汽车制造商梅赛德斯(Mercedes)的困境表明，可靠性仍然是个问题。
确实，肖先生的论点体现了他对客户服务总体上的分析过度。“从天真到自然模型?”根据公司的服务好坏对它们进行分类，只不过是一个华而不实的方法，而他的文章里出现的大量饼图和?符号都是多余的。良好的客服不仅仅是问候一声“祝你愉快”，但不必为了成为客户而去做个专家。我们都知道什么样的服务才是良好的服务：举止友善、服务灵活，以及能快速解决问题。
显然，肖先生的Beyond Philosophy不会承认这一点，因为如果承认，它就失去了存在的理由。而这正是我主要的反对理由。肖先生代表了一个令人担忧的趋势：在商业的每个领域都要用到顾问。首席执行官们已能雇佣到管理、信息技术、公共关系、品牌和形象顾问。但他们现在也可以选择客服顾问了。这种现象是不健康的。无疑，企业领导人应当有能力做的一件事情是，理解客户想要什么。然后呢？教人怎样呼吸的顾问吗？
虽然持有这些保留意见，我仍然对Beyond Philosophy表示赞成。原因在于，购物（至少在英国）和用牙线锯掉你的四肢一样痛苦。显然，许多企业领导人既不知道客户的需求，也不知道如何提供。分析过度的帮助胜过压根没有帮助。因此，给Beyond Philosophy打个电话吧。如果失望了，你知道该向哪里投诉。
