Dick Brunton on Improving Customer Experiences

Dick Brunton, co-founder of market research company Colmar Brunton, finds too many New Zealand firms are doing it wrong by relying on formulas.

A recent survey from Colmar Brunton on the customer experience was widely reported in the media, focusing particularly on exalting the banks and caning the telecommunication companies.

The untold story is that 60 per cent of New Zealanders have had at least one particularly bad customer experience in the past 12 months. Add to that the 40 per cent who consider that business is a necessary evil (as opposed to a noble calling), and one has to wonder if some organisations don't see their customers as a necessary evil.

There are still some organisations which are stuck in the Milton Friedman model. However, the idea of the primacy of shareholder value is obsolete.

As reported in the Harvard Business Review for Jan-Feb 2010: "It's time to discard the popular belief that corporations must focus first and foremost on maximising value for shareholders [which] is inherently and tragically flawed ..." As Jack Welch famously said, "most employees have their face towards the CEO and their arse towards the customer".

However, I am writing on the many organisations that are trying to improve customer satisfaction, and improve the customer experience, but are frustrated.