Just because you are the biggest doesn’t mean you’re the best.
In fact market leadership until recently has often occurred by default. Big organisations, first to market gain a size and momentum that is almost impossible to stop. Telecom, Vodafone, ANZ, BNZ and TVNZ are good examples. With their market dominance often comes market arrogance, what I call ‘business chauvinism’.
These businesses are often run by accountants and financiers who know the cost of everything and the value of nothing. They become skilled at the end game of economic chess to a point where winning (or making a profit) becomes their reason for being. They lose sight of what being in business is all about (looking after the customer).
Throwing your weight around is no longer a valid strategy for maintaining leadership (as the American auto industry is learning).
So when businesses such as Telecom and the ANZ decide to take their call centres offshore as a way of slashing even more costs they expose themselves to ridicule. I’m not talking about robbing New Zealanders of jobs; that’s another story in itself, I’m talking about turning an already shocking service into a farce.
Taking call centres to countries where English is a poor second language, where the people probably don’t even know where New Zealand is on the map is tantamount to telling customers “we’d rather you didn’t call at all. You won’t understand a word we are saying and we have no idea who you are or where you live anyway.”
The phone is the front gate for many of these businesses and ‘dumbing down’ the service to save costs will come back to bite them in their rears big time. The only good news is that it opens the door to competitors who understand that delighting customers is the key to business success. Energy, telecommunications and banking services have become commodities because the big businesses that dominate these sectors haven’t figured out that they could add value (answer phones quickly and intelligently) and make even more money.
But hold the phone folks. AXA is out of the blocks with an advertising campaign promising to answer the phones locally. Good on ya AXA. It appears some of the big guys can eventually figure it out
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The BNZ, regional outpost of Australia's NAB, continue to damage their brand with the public.
They have sent me one of those insidous and unethical "offers" to increase my Visa Lite card credit limit. This is that vile croc where you, the innocent recipient has to actively call them and decline the "offer" or it will unilaterally take effect.
I decided I would speak with the nice writer who had sent me this personally addressed letter, one Chris Bayliss.
After various adventures with call-centre type people, gradually rising up the ranks, I reached somebody who assured me that the offer was only made to 3% of the card's customers and that these were put through a 17 POINT filter system beforehand. Dianne said she was a patriotic New Zealander who wouldn't let anything "nasty" loose on her customers, and that she was the final BNZ vetting officer on offers of this nature. By this time I was unsure whether I should be tumescent or just continue barfing in the wastepaper basket.
I re-iterated my wish to speak with the by now almost mythical Chris Bayliss to be told that HE (at last) was in the USA and would not be back until this week.
During the course of all my conversations (4 so far) with BNZ functionaries I had maintained my
wish to speak with Bayliss. I had also continually maintained my view that the type of offer was illegal, and at best unethical.
I also advised that I would be presenting it to a good friend who is a major newspaper business editor. Similarly I advised them that 5 of my friends who are BNZ customers were universally contemptuous of this chicanery and one in particular who is rather wealthy would most likely remove his funds from the Petone branch of the bank this week.
The unctuous Dianne, after some prompting, agreed to write to me, detailing all she had said during our 30 minute conversation. This was at 5pm last Friday (15/5). I undertook not to go public pending timely receipt of her missive. The bank have all my details including email and nothing has arrived as at 5pm Monday 18/5. Too long BNZ.
I intend to pursue Bayliss and his unethical practice. Watch this space.
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