12 minutes of telephone research torture

It never ceases to amaze me how bad some market research companies are at designing telephone surveys.  Last week I was interviewed for a survey regarding recycling within my business.  Similar questions about a dozen different materials were included.  My business only uses two of them (and we diligently recycle them).  Instead of asking up front "Which of these materials are used in your business?" and then for the rest of the interview focussing only on the ones I use, the researcher asked incessant questions about things of no interest to me ... and despite my protestations, she kept going (the system wouldn't allow her to do the survey any other way).  The survey took 12 minutes even with me saying "pass" for most of the time.   At the end I apologised to the researcher for my obvious frustration saying to which she replied "it's OK I'm a bit slow at the moment, I've only been a telephone researcher for 3 days".

In my business it takes two to three weeks of training before we expect someone to undertake a survey like that.

I haven't got time to be nice!

These are the words of a delegate on a Dealing with Difficult Customers Training Course.

We were discussing empathy.....

... and she had worked out that her conversations would last a few more seconds as she stopped to think about the situation, looked at things from the customer's viewpoint and delivered some words that demonstrated to the customer that she understood how the customer feels.

Sometimes as a trainer you get moments like these.  You stand there like a rabbit trapped in the headlights wondering what to say next.

So, practising what I preach, I took a deep breath, stopped to think about the situation, looked at things from her point of view and said a few words that demonstrated to her that I could "imagine" the pressure she must be under.

She immediately relaxed, sighed, smiled and within moments we were having a different kind of conversation.  Throwing around ideas as to how she could change a few things here and a few things there.

And then I reviewed the last 5 minutes with her; what she had said; what I had said and what had happened between us. 

I saw the lightbulb come on over her head.  She's now an empathy convert.

Customer's have rights to express their opinions

Leader of the British National Party, Nick Griffin's, controversial appearance on BBC's Question Time was a great lesson for all of us in front line customer service who have to deal with difficult or opinionated customers.

Every time Nick opened his mouth, he was shouted down by people who didn't want to listen to him.  If he had been allowed to finish his sentences we might all have learnt more and been able to form better opinions regarding his beliefs. (I personally think he would have buried himself, instead the real views of the BNP are still a mystery to many)

In front line customer service we often hear things we don't like; for example, when customers criticise us, or get things obviously wrong and then blame us.  If we can learn to LISTEN to these things without butting in or reacting in a negative way we will be better able to respond with a positive frame of mind.

Next time a customer expresses an opinion that you don't agree with, take a deep breath and keep listening.  Don't interrupt.

Thanks UK Gov for wasting so many resources

We just tendered for a c£10k piece of research work with a local authority. It took us 3 days to complete the paperwork.

They emailed to tell us that we had not been successful and that they had been “inundated” with tenders.

So I emailed them to ask how many had tendered. This is the reply I received:

“I was surprised to receive over 180 expressions of interest which were followed up by 49 costed submissions within the time frame and another 6 which we received too late to be included. I was surprised as this is quite a small piece of work really”.

What a scandalous waste of precious Small Business Resources! There has to be a better way. 

Giving us free access to tender opprotunities is not the answer.  All this will do is encourage yet more small business to waste yet more precious hours.

When "free" doesn't mean "easy". Why Public Sector work is not on our agenda

The recent suggestion by Baroness Vadera, the business minister, to make access to public sector contracts via www.supply2.gov.uk free of charge is a generous but fairly empty gesture.

OK, we might save c£180 per year but this is a small amount compared to the cost of actually trying to get public sector work.  The completion of the forms and the writing of tender documents costs £,000s.

We want to see an easier tendering process.  We want to see one standard Pre Qualification Questionnaire that we complete once per year and which is available for all in public sector procurement to see. 

And, we want to be treated with a bit of respect.  You get all excited about a possible piece of work and then you read "must demonstrate experience of public sector work".  I now know what a school leaver feels like "can't get a job because I've got no experience ... can't get experience because I can't get a job"

I called one local authority to ask why I needed public sector experience to run a customer service training course.  I got the telephone equivalent of a pat on the head and a  "you just wouldn't understand..."

Perhaps is just hard for those of us selling services.  If I supply a product to a local authority I can match the specification they require and as long as I'm the cheapest, I've probably got a fair chance of the business.  But with services its not so clear cut.

So we will continue to survive and thrive in the private sector.  Thanks for the generous £180 saving - but no thanks.

Read our comments in recent Daily Telegraph article: http://tinyurl.com/q8fs7f

Thanks also to Argo Business Blog for the mention: http://tinyurl.com/kpv5gz