4 ms·

Don't forget the old adage that reality is 90% perception. If your customers "think" they have a problem, that in itself is an issue that needs to be dealt with

by j-b 14y ago

Don't forget the old adage that reality is 90% perception. If your customers "think" they have a problem, that in itself is an issue that needs to be dealt with. My customers don't care if their system issues are actually a problem in my software or not. "Not a problem" doesn't work if you want to keep paying customers around.

cloverich 14y ago
In these types of situations, the cliche "The Customer is always right" is apt.
personlurking 14y ago
This also works in personal relationships. If your SO feels hurt by something and you say "oh, grow up!", that doesn't help, even if you think some 'tough love' was needed/adequate. You have to deal with her as someone who is feeling hurt and until she perceives that you understand her, you'll just be sweeping the issue under the rug. I suppose this can be classified as listening but not really hearing.
- koide 14y ago
  On the other hand, sometimes tough love is indeed the adequate response and makes the SO to notice (s)he's being childish. Especially if said SO is generally mature enough to notice.
  - ak39 14y ago
    I disagree. The reason why we are often too eager to dismiss is because kindness takes effort. Empathy, and certainly sympathy, is hard work. We get lazy, we become exhausted and our reactions become snappy. Almost always the "dry your eyes" advice is inappropriate and insensitive. And it never really achieves its intended objective. I'm not saying we should all participate in crying orgies whenever someone shows signs of weakness (though, as I've aged, I think that is better than showing a cold shoulder) or that we readily invest in "idiot compassion". What I'm saying is: we are all trapped in this existential reality together and we all need to show kindness with all forms of suffering. Being cruel to be kind as a philanthropic philosophy has never worked (for me). Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo (RSA Animate on "Smile or Die" a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich)
    - koide 14y ago
      Note that I didn't say you should always be tough. Of course that being kind and compassionate is the right answer most of the time. It's just that sometimes a figurative slap is the right thing the sufferer needs to wake up from the suffering and realize there's no actual need to suffer like that. It's all very personal and context dependent and, most importantly, it should never be done in anger.
ripperdoc 14y ago
That's true about "customerS" but not for "a customer". There will always be a percentage of customers that expect more than the norm (for good or not so good reasons). The company cannot treat everyone's opinion the same, as they'd then need to design a product and customer support that makes the most picky person happy - which would be nice for all customers but very costly. In the end, the company has to decide where they put the bar for "good customer support", from "making at least 50% happy" up to "making 95% happy" but never "making 100% happy". And of course, the price paid should be in relation to this, which in Apple's case, it may not be (but to be fair - I hear a lot of good stories about Apple support as well, so this one event cannot determine whether Apple does support well).
- antoinevg 14y ago
  All it takes to make 100% of the customers happy at low cost is to give the other 5% special consideration when they aren't happy with the quality control that satisfies the other 95%. Or to put it another way: The cost to Apple's reputation of an angry blog post about ghosting problems on their flagship notebook is considerable. On the other hand, the cost of simply swapping this fellows machine out would have been negligible.

by j-b 14y ago

cloverich 14y ago

In these types of situations, the cliche "The Customer is always right" is apt.

personlurking 14y ago

This also works in personal relationships. If your SO feels hurt by something and you say "oh, grow up!", that doesn't help, even if you think some 'tough love' was needed/adequate. You have to deal with her as someone who is feeling hurt and until she perceives that you understand her, you'll just be sweeping the issue under the rug. I suppose this can be classified as listening but not really hearing.

koide 14y ago
On the other hand, sometimes tough love is indeed the adequate response and makes the SO to notice (s)he's being childish. Especially if said SO is generally mature enough to notice.
- ak39 14y ago
  I disagree. The reason why we are often too eager to dismiss is because kindness takes effort. Empathy, and certainly sympathy, is hard work. We get lazy, we become exhausted and our reactions become snappy. Almost always the "dry your eyes" advice is inappropriate and insensitive. And it never really achieves its intended objective. I'm not saying we should all participate in crying orgies whenever someone shows signs of weakness (though, as I've aged, I think that is better than showing a cold shoulder) or that we readily invest in "idiot compassion". What I'm saying is: we are all trapped in this existential reality together and we all need to show kindness with all forms of suffering. Being cruel to be kind as a philanthropic philosophy has never worked (for me). Watch this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5um8QWWRvo (RSA Animate on "Smile or Die" a talk by Barbara Ehrenreich)
  - koide 14y ago
    Note that I didn't say you should always be tough. Of course that being kind and compassionate is the right answer most of the time. It's just that sometimes a figurative slap is the right thing the sufferer needs to wake up from the suffering and realize there's no actual need to suffer like that. It's all very personal and context dependent and, most importantly, it should never be done in anger.

ripperdoc 14y ago

That's true about "customerS" but not for "a customer". There will always be a percentage of customers that expect more than the norm (for good or not so good reasons). The company cannot treat everyone's opinion the same, as they'd then need to design a product and customer support that makes the most picky person happy - which would be nice for all customers but very costly. In the end, the company has to decide where they put the bar for "good customer support", from "making at least 50% happy" up to "making 95% happy" but never "making 100% happy". And of course, the price paid should be in relation to this, which in Apple's case, it may not be (but to be fair - I hear a lot of good stories about Apple support as well, so this one event cannot determine whether Apple does support well).

antoinevg 14y ago
All it takes to make 100% of the customers happy at low cost is to give the other 5% special consideration when they aren't happy with the quality control that satisfies the other 95%. Or to put it another way: The cost to Apple's reputation of an angry blog post about ghosting problems on their flagship notebook is considerable. On the other hand, the cost of simply swapping this fellows machine out would have been negligible.