Not every change improves the serving experience

Sitting in a fancy restaurant the other day I couldn't help overhearing a rather noisy conversation on the next table about this wine v that wine, this vineyard v that vineyard. 

And then the moment to order the wine came..... after much deliberation with the waiter, a wine was chosen, and the waiter agreed that this was "indeed a fine choice to go with the duck"

The bottle was brought to the table and shown lovingly to the diners; all nodded with great approval.

Then the waiter turned slightly away and nervously twisted the screw top with as much solemnity as he could muster.  And it wasn't much I can tell you.

Screw tops may be better for the wine but they have taken away a big part of the fine dining experience.  No more careful placement and turning of the corkscrew, no more of the pleasing faint "pop" of the cork or its presentation to the diners.

Now it's a faint squeaky metallic sound! 

Not every product change improves the serving experience!

Why can't a market researcher have an opinion?

A few days ago a colleague was being interviewed by a market researcher.  After 5 minutes or so she was asked...  "what is your profession?"

"Market Research" came the reply

"Oh, I'm sorry" replied the interviewer but I can't continue with the interview"

Despite my colleague's protestations the interviewer was adamant.  "We're not supposed to interview fellow researchers"

For the life of me I've never understood why we researchers are not allowed to have opinions. 

Rest assured that if you are in market research and one of the In-house team interviews you, your comments and opinions will be more than welcome

Buy one get one free .... REALLY!?

Sometimes the term "BOGOF" seems so appropriate.

I was ordering new glasses from Specsavers.  "That'll be £164" said the assistant, "would you like a second pair free?"

Who wouldn't thought I. And then I mused, "What if I only want one pair?"

"Then it's £115" she said.

Confused... I asked the obvious... "So if I pay for one pair at £164 I get a second pair free, according to your buy one get one free offer but if I only buy one pair I get them for £115?"

"Yes" she said.  "Because single pairs get a £49 discount"

"OK, then I'll take a single pair at £115 and a free second pair"

"NO!"  came the swift reply.  "You can only get the special discount if you buy one pair"

The mind boggles at the lengths to which marketing folk will go to confuse their customers.

The Specsavers brand is a little less trusted in our household tonight.

BOGOF!

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.