Mary Schmidt Marketing Troubleshooter

If not actually disgruntled, he was far from being gruntled. - PG Wodehouse

Merely gruntled (if not “satisfied”, at least the customers aren’t screaming on the phone) seems to be sufficient for many companies. Further, satisified isn’t the same as loyal.

When I worked at a Big Clueless Company, we read expert consultant reports (1) that told us how costly it would be to raise our customer sat rating by even 1% - so, you guessed it, we were happy with “gruntled.” Of course, we ended up in pitched pricing battles with our competitors for many of our installed base. But, hey, what did that have to do with satisfaction? Duh.

Tell me about companies that make you overflow with gruntleness….You can’t stop talking about how great they are…and why. I’d bet the top reasons have nothing to do with those companies’ ad budgets; what their CEO said in a press release (’fess up. Do you even know the CEO’s name?); or their touted “core competencies” (Warning! Warning! Corporate Speak Attack!)

Discuss.

(1) No, I don’t recall who these bonehead “experts” were (We’re talking nearly 20 years ago.) But, such goofball no-value high-cost reports are one reason I have trouble with “expert.” The more people bloviate about their expertise, the less likely they’ll actually do anything for you. Remember, Experts Don’t Know Everything!

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Tags: local touchmarketing troubleshooting, customer service, customer loyalty