What Makes Customers Feel Important?
What Makes Customers Feel Important? Hear from a CX Research Analyst
“I think that’s one of the biggest things I see is that personal touch, and for them it also makes them feel special. For example, I had a man say, “You know what? My reps noticed that it was raining for some of the days of my service that I had rented a machine and my rep had comped me the days that it was raining so that I didn’t have to be on the hook for those particular days.” And he didn’t have to do that, but he did that for me and that made me so happy.” Stephanie, Research Analyst
Complete Transcript
Lynn:
Welcome today everyone. I’m pleased to have with us today, Stephanie White. She is one of our researchers at the Daniel Group. She is based in North Carolina. Stephanie, tell us a little bit about yourself?
Stephanie:
So I have been with the Daniel Group for about four years and I first learned about the Daniel Group through a friend of mine who recommended the Daniel Group as a very good employer to work for. She said that she thought it would be a good fit, so some of my background includes working for the airlines, security, teaching, retail. So I thought that it would go along with a lot of the experience that I already had, and since it’s public facing, I thought that it would be a good fit for me.
So I was very intrigued about the type of work that it was. When I went on the website, I saw the B2B and I was very intrigued about what that really meant. So it made me want to go further.
Lynn:
When you say intrigued, tell us a little bit more, Stephanie?
Stephanie:
Well, I guess when I was first starting out, I didn’t really know what that meant and I wasn’t really aware that a lot of businesses seek feedback. It was something I never knew existed, that a company could seek feedback to make their business better in a non-direct way because I’ve always gotten surveys through my email, you go shop somewhere and I send you a survey, but I didn’t know there were people that did it and I didn’t know that it was something a company could hire another company to do as… It seemed intuitive, but it just never came to my mind. So I thought it was interesting.
Lynn:
Good. Tell me a little bit about the work you do? You’re conducting phone surveys for the Daniel Group. Tell me a little bit about the clients that you’re calling for?
Stephanie:
So a lot of the clients that we are calling for with the Daniel Group are they could be in the construction industry, heavy equipment. I’ve seen Marine, they could work on boats. Anything really to do with heavy equipment. It could even be farming, farming equipment, even if it’s not to do with equipment itself, it could be the parts for that equipment. Sometimes we’re servicing technicians that are repairing their own equipment. So it could really run the gamut from just simple parts to service to larger machinery. And we interview them and ask them how the service is going for them.
Lynn:
And the survey typically asks how long?
Stephanie:
Typically, they’re about three to five minutes. Most of them are under three minutes, but they could run to five.
Lynn:
So you can get a lot of information in that short of period of time then?
Stephanie:
Yeah. If the customer wants to go longer, we always encourage that. We try to be mindful of their time, but we encourage more to get the most detailed feedback we can for our customers.
Lynn:
Good. As you think about the customers that you’re interviewing and have interviewed, what are some of the things that consistently delight them and that they really like about the service experience?
Stephanie:
I think the main thing that comes to mind is personal relationships. They love relationship building with their representatives. I would liken it to maybe a small business feel, but with a large business structure. So for example, building a relationship with their parts representative or with their heavy equipment representative. So I’ve heard customers say, “I can call my rep anytime or day or night. He’s always there for me. He knows me, he knows my business or she knows my business.” They like bespoke service, service that is tailored to them.
So I spoke with a man who owned a paper company and he was very delighted because he said, “I have a very unique business and I have unique needs and my rep knows that and if I need to call him, even if he doesn’t answer, he calls me back.”
Lynn:
So even in this age of digital and email and texting, they still want that personal relationship.
Stephanie:
Yeah, for sure. I think that’s one of the biggest things I see is that personal touch, and for them it also makes them feel special. For example, I had a man say, “You know what? My reps noticed that it was raining for some of the days of my service that I had rented a machine and my rep had comped me the days that it was raining so that I didn’t have to be on the hook for those particular days.” And he didn’t have to do that, but he did that for me and that made me so happy. That was a nice touch. So sometimes those reps give that little personal touch, I guess, that they really like, they like that a lot. I had one man say, “Hey, I had an issue with my invoice. I didn’t even have to do anything. My rep saw it, took care of it for me, let me know. And then it was all good.” So they like that.
Lynn:
It’s interesting you’re mentioning the personal touch that really matters a lot in the world we live in today. Interesting. Now let’s talk about the flip side, the things that really get under the skin of the customer and cause them a lot of anger, a lot of frustration. What are the things that really… the things you’ve observed that really do cause that kind of frustration?
Stephanie:
I think the inverse of that, if they are not getting that personal touch, whether if they’re having a hard time connecting with their dealer, if they make contact and they’re not called back or they make contact and they can’t get through, that can be frustrating. I think in a post-COVID world, depending on how you look at it, I think availability of staffing or availability of parts, that may be something that dealers may not have as much… They may not have as much ability to control that, but that is a source of frustration for some of our clients.
However, if they do have that personal touch, it might alleviate some of the concerns over the lack of staffing or lack of parts or equipment. So with that being said, I think also transparency and communication about whether it’s invoicing, pricing, so they’re not surprised about services they’re going to receive. I think the more they can be communicated with and basically just being there for them, they really like that. And when a dealer is not, they feel that that’s a pain point.
Lynn:
So that transparency, I assume, especially around invoicing. So if someone says, “I think it’s going to be $1,500,” it winds up being $2,800 and no one told them about it, that creates some problems, I’m assuming.
Stephanie:
Oh yes, for sure. And even if it’s not a service, let’s say it’s a warranty and they’re paying for the labor, they may say something to me like, “Hey, I thought my machine was under warranty, but I was charged for the labor for that. I feel like I should have been told.” So just telling people what to expect is a big thing. I think setting expectations with them can really help some pain points.
Lynn:
Now, you’re in a unique position. We’ve got several others that are bilingual, but you’re bilingual English and Spanish. So you’re talking to a lot of Spanish-speaking customers. What are some of the things that are different when you talk with those customers?
Stephanie:
Well, I think they appreciate a lot of the same things that other customers appreciate, with some nuance. For example, they are very appreciative to have an interviewer that can speak their language. They feel included and they really appreciate the call. They appreciate being asked because I think in some industries, they may be overlooked because of the language barrier, but I also think that they carry a lot of… Let’s see, they think that the CAT brand is very prestigious and it brings them prestige to use the CAT brand in their businesses.
So I think they associate a lot of brand prestige with CAT and they want to be associated with that. So that is something that I think a lot of businesses think of, but very more so in the Hispanic community for sure.
Lynn:
Interesting. So they’re really proud when they get that first piece of CAT equipment because it says something about their business. Any other observations about things that you’ve learned, things that have maybe been a surprise as you think about your experience with the Daniel Group over the past four years?
Stephanie:
I was really surprised, basically about having an entire industry that I was just not aware of, learning about the equipment, learning about the customers, their needs. I think it’s really fun just calling someone and they’re in the middle of the ocean somewhere sometimes when you’re in a certain dealer, and it’s a lot of fun to get to talk to all the different people and see all their unique needs from a farmer. The farming community was very interesting. I knew we had a big farming community in the United States, but I didn’t know anything about them and just learning about their lifestyle, who they are, it’s so interesting to me. So a lot of it is surprising in a good way to learn about the people around us.
Lynn:
Good. Thank you so much for your time today. I really appreciate. This has been very, very helpful and I think some of our clients and people who are visiting our website will find it helpful as well. So again, thanks so much.
Stephanie:
Thank you.
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