We
find suggestion box in many places asking for feedback. These boxes are
located in areas customers could easily spot them and hopeful that they
will throw in, of course their feedback.
The last time I helped a
client open up the Pandora box, we found everything but feedback. Thus I
conclude it is either mistaken as a dustbin or people are just too fed
up that nothing happens with their feedback.
When customers lack the
confidence that feedback is acted upon quickly and thoroughly, they will
stay away from investing their valuable time on such task. This reminds
me of a Tamil movie that I watched not so long ago. This is about a
young news reporter who was challenged by the incumbent Chief Minister
(CM) of Tamilnadu, a state in India, to take over his (CM) job.
Obviously he took the challenge and won through public polls.
One of his immediate key
initiatives after taking over as the CM office was to place suggestion
boxes all over the state. He assured the people that every feedback
would be reviewed and acted upon promptly. He explained that only when
these boxes become empty over time, he could claim success in managing
the country well. And that is because people don’t have any issues to
report to him anymore as that is a sign that the administration of the
state is managed well. He appointed a team of trusted comrades to
collect these feedbacks from all over the state and review them
thoroughly.
Of course this movie is not
short of all the melodramatic actions and love songs. But it points out
an important message across. When the top management commits to an
initiative, employees and customers tend to demonstrate a behaviour that
truly support such initiatives. The managers need to walk the talk by
first communicating their commitment to an initiative clearly. Next,
they must be able to act on issues raised through initiatives. The
actions must be firm and effective in making the change.
Back to the suggestion boxes,
when companies put up such initiatives, how sincere are they in such
initiatives? How much do they care about such feedback? What process
have they established in managing those feedbacks? Many a time we see a
severe lacking in the companies to be motivated in hearing from their
customers or prospects.
Some companies put it up as a
part of the ISO9000 requirement to solicit feedback from customers.
Today most companies acquiring such standards (ISO) are as nothing more
than to have a certification emblem on all their products, letter heads,
envelope, name cards and so on. Therefore one can imagine the kind of
importance such feedback have on these companies.
Similar suggestion box are
now available electronically on some high tech companies, but the effect
is still the same. My mobile operator uses an electronic tablet on each
helpdesk counters. The display on the tablet asks a simple question:
“Are you satisfied with our service?” with a radial button of “Yes” and
“No”. I observed many customers don’t bother participating to that
question. I even saw an agent flipped the tablet and clicked on her own.
It only goes to say how much the company emphasizes on improving their
customer service!
In conclusion, when a company
is not serious in improving through customer feedback, don’t bother
asking them – it is enormously counterproductive and many times degrade
their reputation.
Satya Narayanan
