Filed under: Customer Feedback
Okay, time for a giant reality pill. Maybe a whole handful. I’m already hearing boasts from the social networking set that Sprint’s downturn results from a single blogger who learned a Sprint secret he wasn’t supposed to know – and spread it far and wide over the web. The secret, in case you haven’t read or heard, is Sprint covertly creating a hit list of customers who “overused” customer service and proceeding to “fire” these annoying customers. But did one blogger sharing the secret over the web really make Sprint trip and do a corporate face plant? Yah sure it did.
First—Sprint’s not dead yet. It has a whole lot more customers to torture before it slides all the way down. The board did fire the CEO and bring in a fixit guy, not a good sign. But then a mere 450,000 customers went splitsville in December 07—like ships leaving a sinking rat. So how did the new bloke respond? Predictably, by announcing the layoff of 4,000 employees and the closure of 120 company store outlets. Can this guy even spell “customer?” But hey, he’s a CEO for a reason.
More to the point, Sprint’s been killing itself slowly for years—a classic example of spending gazillions of dollars on brand advertising while treating consumers like crap. Sorry folks, but all the brand advertising in the world doesn’t close the barnyard gate. Fine, Sprint may play nicer with business customers. But from the consumer’s perspective, why put up with an insufferable company-first attitude expressed by un-motivated service employees administering customer-unfriendly billing and service policies? Especially in a ferociously competitive business.
Consider this emblematic customer-complaint from one of the “fired” customers, whose sin was calling repeatedly in response to Sprint continually over-billing her.
“I absolutely didn’t call as much as they say I did, but I did always have the hang up/transfer scenario–even today calling in I was hung up on twice and transferred at least five times. I mean I DREAD calling in and sitting on hold, why on earth would I do it unless I had to!”
Hey, yo-yos, too lazy to look for the reasons customers like her spent so much time tying up your customer service lines? Ever hear of “single call resolution?” But just firing customers is easier than finding out what’s wrong.
Fortunately, there is a bright side to this whole situation—and least for those of us struggling to persuade business to take customer revenge seriously. Sprint’s misfortune ought to remind the market that customers are in the driver’s seat—and companies mistreat them at their peril. Of course, many companies will resist getting the message, blaming Sprint’s troubles on “an overcrowded market” or “poor operating management.” And in fact, lousy excuses as they are, they’re not as slack as claiming that a lone blogger pulled the plug on Sprint. Still, most companies play in “overcrowded markets” these days. And “poor management” abounds, as does management that continues trying to give customers short shrift. Going forward, only the fittest will survive, and lame excuses no longer fly.
What Sprint has done for us, though, is provide an almost undisputable example of the risks companies take when they mistreat customers. Everyone knows Sprint. Many have used, or tried to use, its services. The company’s troubles are widely known. All of which combine to make damn good testimony to the costs of customer abuse. When pressed, business execs will have a hard time denying that customers are doing Sprint in, not “market conditions” or “operating management.” And you know what? We need every good example we can lay hands on to persuade business that today’s customers can make or break companies—and will.
So let’s all toast Sprint—the latest poster-company for “not getting it” about customers. And let’s have another sip for some really over-the-edge members of the social networking set. A blogger pulled the plug on Sprint? Yah sure and you betcha.
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