{"id":8196,"date":"2016-02-09T06:00:03","date_gmt":"2016-02-09T05:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/?p=8196"},"modified":"2025-07-25T10:28:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T08:28:00","slug":"customers-are-a-pain-in-the-ass","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hatrabbits.com\/en\/customers-are-a-pain-in-the-ass\/","title":{"rendered":"Customers are a pain in the ass"},"content":{"rendered":"
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1753432068906{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Customers are a pain in the ass. They complain, want customised products\u00a0and\u00a0expect special treatment. They always want to have their cake and eat it. Let’s face it, most of them are not engaged with your organisation. They\u00a0are buying from you because you offer a product they want, and perhaps because they like you. The truth is: they really don’t care about your business\u00a0…and they’re totally right. It\u00a0should never\u00a0be\u00a0about you. It’s\u00a0about your clients!<\/strong><\/p>\n

In every boardroom, you hear the same mantra: “customer first”. It’s becoming quite fashionable to talk about your organisation as “customer-oriented”. Yet, you rarely see it being implemented in practice. In the end, the customer stays that tiresome creature that is making everything much more difficult.<\/p>\n

The relationship with your customer doesn’t have to be a struggle. Below you can find 5 ways to collaborate with\u00a0your customer\u00a0and work together\u00a0to improve their ‘customer journey’.<\/p>\n

1. Interview<\/strong>
\nSimply asking your customers what they want is a powerful way to gain useful insights. It’s\u00a0an incredibly easy way to put your customer at the centre of attention and to truly\u00a0listen to their\u00a0needs.\u00a0Yet, you’d be surprised to learn how often this obvious\u00a0approach is ignored or forgotten.<\/p>\n

Interviewing customers can be done on a large scale, for example via digital polls or a questionnaire, but it can also be done\u00a0in a more\u00a0intimate ‘one-on-one’ session. Clients\u00a0will feel\u00a0privileged when asked for their opinion. They are often more than happy to help you. The great thing is, you never know what you will discover. You\u00a0might even stumble upon your\u00a0organisation’s next disruptive innovation.<\/p>\n

Why are you buying our product? How are you using our product? At what moments\u00a0are you using our product? What\u00a0would be an addition to our services?\u00a0For which\u00a0additional features would you be willing to pay?<\/em><\/p>\n

2. Observe<\/strong>
\nYour customers will lie<\/a><\/span>. They don’t lie on purpose, but they will not tell you the entire truth. Because they are ashamed or because they simply don’t know that they are lying. To tackle false statements and to see with your own eyes how customers are interacting with your product or service you should always\u00a0introduce an ‘Observation Phase’.<\/p>\n

Observing how people are interacting with your product will often reveal invaluable insights. Things you would never have discovered by doing desk research and holding interviews alone. Take Haier, for example. This Chinese electronics company discovered that farmers were using their washing machines to wash vegetables. Instead of laughing about this discovery, they utilised this insight and developed a new kind of washing machine for vegetables. The farmers loved it, and it sold phenomenally!<\/p>\n

How are people engaging with your products or services? Are they using it in the\u00a0proper way? Do you spot\u00a0something remarkable? Can you find out how\u00a0this occurs? What’s the reason it’s there?<\/em><\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Refine<\/strong>
\nDeveloping and designing\u00a0a ‘customer journey’ is a great method\u00a0to put yourself in your customer’s\u00a0shoes. Improving the process a client goes through\u00a0is one of the easiest ways to create a better customer experience.\u00a0There are several tools you can use concerning the reform of a customer journey.<\/p>\n

You don’t always need to think big. Sometimes small changes can have a huge impact on the lives of your customers. Especially when it comes to bureaucratic procedures. True, it’s not a sexy subject to work on, but for that very reason, your clients will appreciate it.<\/p>\n

One approach I like in particular to improve a company’s\u00a0management process is; ‘Staple Yourself to an Order’. By following an order as it goes\u00a0through the organisation, you will spot all unnecessary and\u00a0overlapping activities and needlessly complicated procedures.\u00a0By tracking the transactions a customer goes through step-by-step, you will truly be able to view the world from your client\u2019s perspective.<\/p>\n

Something similar is a Six Sigma<\/em> tool, called the ‘Spaghetti Diagram’. It’s the visual creation of an actual flow. It can be applied to products<\/em>, paper<\/em> or people<\/em>. The idea is simply that you create a “cooked spaghetti” drawing, which is based on the movements of your subject. For example, it can be used to create a (temporary) diagram of how people are walking on the work floor. This way it can, for instance, reveal that a machine is placed in an illogical place. Walking back and forth to pick up the phone or to grab some prints is a waste of time and should be prevented. Obviously, the same principles can be applied to track your ‘customer journey’.<\/p>\n

How can we improve our customer journey? Can we make it more lean? Can we remove steps or procedures? Can we merge\u00a0activities? Which steps take too much time?<\/em><\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Create
\n<\/strong>Customers are excellent at telling what can be improved, but they are often terrible at predicting the future concerning disruptive innovations. Rumour has it that Henry Ford once stated: \u201cIf I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s nonsense to act upon everything a client says. They are not always right. In fact, they often are wrong. It’s important to understand their needs and to take them seriously, yet you should always keep in mind that you are the expert. Observing and interviewing your customers is not enough. You will have to come up with new ideas yourself. Concentrate on your target audience, create a ‘persona’ and let the ideas flow.<\/p>\n

There are several thinking techniques<\/a> that can help you with your challenge. The\u00a0acronym\u00a0S.C.A.M.P.E.R.<\/a>,\u00a0for example,\u00a0is a great method to get started.<\/p>\n

What can you\u00a0add to your service? What can you\u00a0replace? Can you\u00a0build your product out of a better material? Can you make it bigger or smaller? Can you find a purpose for your\u00a0waste?<\/em><\/p>\n

5. Test<\/strong>
\nYou never know whether something will work in practice or not. You should always challenge your assumptions and put your ideas to the test.<\/p>\n

Always take into account that you can’t prove or exclude everything in a test environment. During a session with a test group, everybody disliked Red Bull, yet today it’s one of the most valued brands in the world. Sometimes you just need to have the guts and test an unconventional idea<\/a> in practice to see if\u00a0it will work or not.<\/p>\n

Do people really need what you’re offering? Are they using your product in a proper way? Is it\u00a0user-friendly? Can you offer the same product in another way? What (customer) problem does it solve? Is there a market for this?<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Hungry for more?<\/strong>
\nCurious to learn more about generating the most brilliant ideas for -or with- your clients? We offer a variety of training courses to choose from. Visit the training page to see which option fits your needs best:<\/p>\n

Workshops in Dutch<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Workshops in English<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Like this article?<\/strong>
\nIf you enjoyed reading this, feel free to share it with your network by hitting the Tweet, Like or Share button. This way the people in your network can benefit from this post as well.<\/em>[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every company wants to be customer oriented. Easier said than done. Here are 5 ways to collaborate with your customers to improve their ‘customer journey’.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8380,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"mc4wp_mailchimp_campaign":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[197],"tags":[695,696,688,689,687,690,693,691,692,694,109],"class_list":["post-8196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-innovation","tag-co-creation","tag-collaboration","tag-customer","tag-customer-first","tag-customer-journey","tag-customer-oriented","tag-interview","tag-observe","tag-refine","tag-spaghetti-diagram","tag-test"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCustomers are a pain in the ass - HatRabbits<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Every company wants to be customer oriented. Easier said than done. 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