What turns you off as a customer? Is it being ignored or simply not being able to locate the price on an item? A study was done that looked at customer turnoffs. [link to Timms]. The research had shown that ten items accounted for 97% of customer complaints. Researchers then took these ten items and broke them down into three categories of turnoffs:
- Values Turnoffs
- Systems Turnoffs
- People Turnoffs
A value turnoff exists when the perception of value does not exceed the anticipated outcome. For example, my husband and I went out for dinner. I ordered a cheeseburger and he ordered a grilled cheese sandwich. We ordered two beers each and split an order of fries. The food was OK – but nothing special. Our bill came to $50.00 without a tip. We both decided that this restaurant did not provide a good value for us. We were turned off by the lack of value we experienced at the restaurant. As a result of this and other, similar experiences at other nearby restaurants, we now cook more meals at home.
Many customers perceive value intrinsically or extrinsically. Intrinsic value is something that comes from the inside of a person. You cannot see or touch it. Most of the time, perception of intrinsic value is triggered by an emotion.
Going back to my restaurant story, we may have found value in that restaurant if we had experienced something that sparked an intrinsic response. Hearing our favorite song or smelling something from the kitchen might remind us of a favorable experience from the past.
Extrinsic value is something that can be physically seen or touched. Many people get a sense of extrinsic value from obtaining more money and “things”. In my example, if our waiter had brought our food and said the meal we were going to eat was prepared by an award-winning chef that used only rare ingredients only found in this area of Michigan, we might have found extrinsic value in our meal.
Please review the wine cork story for more discussion on this topic [link wine cork story].
The second category of customer turnoffs is called system turnoffs. The system is the process that delivers the product or service to a customer. A company’s policies and procedures are examples of systems [link to other examples in Timms book]. System turnoffs can endanger a customer’s long-term relationship with a business in this day and age of electronic commerce. Customers lead very busy and fast-paced lives with little time for reading and navigating difficult policies.
The final category of customer turnoffs is people turnoffs. We usually recognize this turnoff when we have a face-to-face transaction with an employee of a business. I cannot tell you how many times that I have been checked out by someone who was talking to another employee while working the cash register. Recently I had a cashier comment to the bagger about the items I was buying at the grocery store [for more examples see link].
Many of the people turnoffs are from poor training or a complete lack of training in customer service. Good customer service begins with training and empowering your employees. Empowerment of employees gives them the opportunity to solve the problem in an efficient way without involving a manager. This results in a happier customer because they do not have to wait for a solution to their problem.
Some customers prefer to skip the people component of the business and serve themselves. These customers are called coproducers. You are a coproducer if you have ever used an ATM, pumped gas, or checked yourself out of a store. Coproduction is on the rise due to the ease and efficiency of the transaction.
In the introduction we talked about values, systems, and people customer turnoffs. These three categories cover most customer complaints. It is important to know your customers’ likes and dislikes because this will give you the opportunity to improve your product or service.
Week 5 – Critical Thinking Quiz
Essay: Customer Turnoffs – Using Dialog to Find Solutions to Customer Problems
Wanda and Alex own a bar. Alex takes Mrs. Adams’ order for the Friday beer and fish dinner special for $9.95. She wants to substitute coleslaw for a salad and to skip the potato for a price reduction on the dinner. Alex informs Mrs. Adams that the dinner comes with no substitutions or price adjustments. Alex then takes Mrs. Adams’ draft beer order. Mrs. Adams samples the beer and tells Alex that the beer tastes like the tap is dirty and needs to be cleaned. Mrs. Adams wants to order another beer from a bottle. Alex says that is fine but that the bottled beer doesn’t come with the fish special. Mrs. Adams is very unhappy with the entire situation and tells Alex that she will never return to the hall. Alex exclaims “What do you expect for $9.95? You get what you pay for! Good riddance!” Please help Alex fix Mrs. Adams’ turnoffs by discussing and giving examples for the following turnoffs: value, systems, and people.
