My friend is an Englishman who has been living in Krakow for some time. He keeps this very amusing blog which he describes as "him writing to companies and asking for things". Under the disguise of Anglik z Anglii, he complains about various things such as spelling mistakes (a can of tomatoes with 'peeled and choped' on the label), hygeine (a shop assistant picking up chocolate from the floor and placing it back into the display cabinet) and even the cultural ignorance of Polish musical institutions (the name of the group IRA having terrorist connotations in English)
Quite often, however, Anglik z Anglii complains about the kind of things we all complain about. Anglik would like to find apple-flavour yoghurt without cinnamon, he would like to buy biscuits that look like the picture on the packet. He would like to be able to buy a certain brand of beer that has stopped selling. He would like his teapot to stop making tea tasting of plastic.
Anglik z Anglii's blog is funny, lighthearted, clever and entertaining. What is interesteng for me is that it shows how far the gap can be between the UK and Poland in business-consumer relations. It's true that we don't all write to every company about everything, and I wouldn't write to a cinema about not getting free cornflakes, but there is a general rule in existance that when a customer complains, the customer is rewarded for making the effort. This is an unwritten rule, which companies use to encourage customers to provide feedback. However irrelevant it may be, there is almost no other opportunity for a company to get first-hand quality control information so easily. To paraphrase a business guru, if your customers aren't complaining, you should be really worried. Any effort should be made to get any kind of feedback.
My mother used to write to every company that dared to lower its standards. She complained to Cadbury that there weren't enough nuts in her whole-nut bar, she warned Kelloggs to check that there was a free gift insde every pack of Cornflakes, and when Nestle bought Rowantree, she asked if they had changed the chocolate used in KitKats, as she detected a drop in quality. Each time, she received a letter thanking her for her effort, and for providing the company with important information (actually, Nestle said that they had not changed the recipe, and suggested that her tast-buds were over-developed), together with a collection of chocolate bars, cereals, crisps, clothes with company logos, books, etc.
While I'm not suggesting that Anglik z Anglii is doing his best to get as much free food as possible (he does that for himself), it is nteresting to see that, at this time, to companies from around 15 have written back to him. Both of them have written excellent letters which thank Anglik for writing, and assure him that, if action has not been taken over his letter, at least it has been read carefully.
Again, looking at the follow-on effect, Our English Customer is satisfied after the fact, and a story about a company who he would never trust again becomes a story explaining why he would recommend this company to his friends. All for the price of one e-mail -and perhaps some free 'choped' tomatoes.
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wtorek, 15 grudnia 2009
piątek, 10 lipca 2009
Cultural Awareness with fries, please!
There is a large difference between academic knowledge and intelligence, between theory and practice. A reasonably bright child will be able to explain how to drive a bus, but I wouldn't get on a bus that had a child as its driver! Society protects itself by placing age limits on doing certain things -for example only people over the age of eighteen can drive a car. Qualifications and procedures also prevent people from doing things they shouldn't -For example, only qualified surgeons working at a particular hospital can performa surgical operation.
In business, however, the childish and incompetent are free to do what they want, with only heirarchy and internal procedures stopping them. The result is that quite often businesspeople have to make decisions that they are not qualified to make. For this reason, we prefer it when intelligent people with some kind of experience are in decision-making positions. Sometimes, though, especially when a business is doing something new, the decision-maker has to use her or his own judgement. Because there is no heirarchy or procedure in place to control, the person must make a decision and then see what happens. Sometimes the results are quite unexpected. Hoover's famous free flights fiasco, or the famous Mitsubishi Pajero example come instantly to mind. However, the latest example is really quite upsetting as far as executive thinking -or lack of thinking- goes.
In the 'Global Market', local marketing is quite important, to show that, although a company is a multinational conglomerate, it still thinks about the locals. Good examples of this are McDonalds, who even ditched their trademark red colour to use a blue sign in Israel to show that the restaurants serve kosher meals, and Canal+, who finance so many programmes and films in each of the countries it operates in, the locls often forget it is actually a French company. A very bad example has been made by Burger King, who wanted to advertise its Texican Whopper, and chose a symbol of success and wealth to promote it. Their choice? the Hindu deity Lakshmi, goddess of Wealth and Beauty. At no stage of the marketing and advertising project did anybody involved point out the fact that beef is forbidden in Hinduism.
The Texican whopper includes an all-beef patty, a beef chilli slice, and egg-based Cajun mayonnaise -all of which are forbidden by Hinduism. Displaying one of the religion's most popular deities about to eat this unholy trinity of products is sacrilege.
The advertisement ran in Spain, with the slogan "La merienda es sagrada" -the snack is sacred.
Hindus around the world protested, and Burger King quickly removed the ad and apologised, stating that it was not their intention to offend anyone.
They have also recently offended Mexico with an advert featuring a dwarf, a cowboy, a mask and a Mexican flag.
Perhaps for the executives at Burger King, it is time to think in a new area, and make the decision to change the advertising company?
In business, however, the childish and incompetent are free to do what they want, with only heirarchy and internal procedures stopping them. The result is that quite often businesspeople have to make decisions that they are not qualified to make. For this reason, we prefer it when intelligent people with some kind of experience are in decision-making positions. Sometimes, though, especially when a business is doing something new, the decision-maker has to use her or his own judgement. Because there is no heirarchy or procedure in place to control, the person must make a decision and then see what happens. Sometimes the results are quite unexpected. Hoover's famous free flights fiasco, or the famous Mitsubishi Pajero example come instantly to mind. However, the latest example is really quite upsetting as far as executive thinking -or lack of thinking- goes.
In the 'Global Market', local marketing is quite important, to show that, although a company is a multinational conglomerate, it still thinks about the locals. Good examples of this are McDonalds, who even ditched their trademark red colour to use a blue sign in Israel to show that the restaurants serve kosher meals, and Canal+, who finance so many programmes and films in each of the countries it operates in, the locls often forget it is actually a French company. A very bad example has been made by Burger King, who wanted to advertise its Texican Whopper, and chose a symbol of success and wealth to promote it. Their choice? the Hindu deity Lakshmi, goddess of Wealth and Beauty. At no stage of the marketing and advertising project did anybody involved point out the fact that beef is forbidden in Hinduism.
The Texican whopper includes an all-beef patty, a beef chilli slice, and egg-based Cajun mayonnaise -all of which are forbidden by Hinduism. Displaying one of the religion's most popular deities about to eat this unholy trinity of products is sacrilege.
The advertisement ran in Spain, with the slogan "La merienda es sagrada" -the snack is sacred.
Hindus around the world protested, and Burger King quickly removed the ad and apologised, stating that it was not their intention to offend anyone.
They have also recently offended Mexico with an advert featuring a dwarf, a cowboy, a mask and a Mexican flag.
Perhaps for the executives at Burger King, it is time to think in a new area, and make the decision to change the advertising company?
piątek, 20 lutego 2009
Firm sorry for 'Mr. Blind' blunder
I came across this news article today. A man in Hull, England, received a letter from Council contractors addressing him as 'Mr. Blindman'. The company apologised saying the error happened when Mr Harris's disability was mistakenly entered on its database.
The 'Blindman' story did remind me of the urban legend of the man who complained about finding insects in the sleeping compartment of his overnight train. He complained, and then some time later, received a gracious letter from the Director of the company himself, apologizing, and ensuring that this was the first such case, and that his comments would be acted upon, and he was, in fact, contributing to improving the Company's standards. This pleased him immensely, until he found a transcribed note in the envelope: "Send this guy the bug letter!"
There is a danger when we perform repetetive tasks of our brain shutting off, and so we don't pay any attention to what we're doing. Data entry is perhaps the most obvious example, but there are others. A relative of mine owns a wholesale cash and carry business, where many business owners come and spend a long time selecting various luxury items to sell in their own businesses. The amount of time they spent there meant they often had phone calls relayed from their own office to the warehouse. I remember one case where a receptionist switched on the P.A. system and called "Mr. Tierney to reception. Telephone call for Mr. Tierney," followed by a pause, when normally the P.A. would be switched off, and then "...the big fat f---er!" I believe that was her last day in the firm.
I can't remember which one of the institutions in Krakow it is (as a foreigner, I had to register at so many), but occasionally I receive letters addressed to Miss Keith Byrne. This is as much due to the clerk not knowing if 'Keith' is a male or female name as it is to the clerk simply not checking.
The overall effect, however, is the same. There is a feeling that the company providing the service just doesn't care. And nobody wants to stay with a company that doesn't care. At the first opportunity, the client goes to a competitor. In the worst case, the client goes onto the news.
A good rule to follow is, when doing anything that is connected with a client or customer, or that may be seen by somebody outside the company, remember this, and always check, double check, and then check again. The next rule is to treat everything you do as belonging to this group of tasks. You just never know who's listening to you telling someone to send this guy the bug letter!
The 'Blindman' story did remind me of the urban legend of the man who complained about finding insects in the sleeping compartment of his overnight train. He complained, and then some time later, received a gracious letter from the Director of the company himself, apologizing, and ensuring that this was the first such case, and that his comments would be acted upon, and he was, in fact, contributing to improving the Company's standards. This pleased him immensely, until he found a transcribed note in the envelope: "Send this guy the bug letter!"
There is a danger when we perform repetetive tasks of our brain shutting off, and so we don't pay any attention to what we're doing. Data entry is perhaps the most obvious example, but there are others. A relative of mine owns a wholesale cash and carry business, where many business owners come and spend a long time selecting various luxury items to sell in their own businesses. The amount of time they spent there meant they often had phone calls relayed from their own office to the warehouse. I remember one case where a receptionist switched on the P.A. system and called "Mr. Tierney to reception. Telephone call for Mr. Tierney," followed by a pause, when normally the P.A. would be switched off, and then "...the big fat f---er!" I believe that was her last day in the firm.
I can't remember which one of the institutions in Krakow it is (as a foreigner, I had to register at so many), but occasionally I receive letters addressed to Miss Keith Byrne. This is as much due to the clerk not knowing if 'Keith' is a male or female name as it is to the clerk simply not checking.
The overall effect, however, is the same. There is a feeling that the company providing the service just doesn't care. And nobody wants to stay with a company that doesn't care. At the first opportunity, the client goes to a competitor. In the worst case, the client goes onto the news.
A good rule to follow is, when doing anything that is connected with a client or customer, or that may be seen by somebody outside the company, remember this, and always check, double check, and then check again. The next rule is to treat everything you do as belonging to this group of tasks. You just never know who's listening to you telling someone to send this guy the bug letter!
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