Ease of Doing Business Blog - All Comments

re: Putting Customers First

pgladney — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 21:07:03 GMT

It was 7 30 am on a Sunday, and my HP notebook battery was fried. I've owned the computer just 4 months.

I called the toll free line that came with the computer, expecting to talk to a voicemail or learn the office was closed. Surprisingly, i ended up talking with a CSR named Albert.

He quickly helped me diagnose the problem with the battery and initiated the process of sending me a new one. I can't tell you how pain-free the experience was, despite the inconvenience of the faulty battery. Kudos to HP for putting into place a system to resolve customer issues, on a schedule convenient to me, not the company!!

re: EODB Assessments and Anniversary

Peter Brickey — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 14:13:56 GMT

Happy Anniversary!

re: EODB Assessments and Anniversary

christina.sullivan — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:38:00 GMT

Mike - Thanks for posting a comment and mentioning Whitney Quesnebery's 5E's. I will definitely investigate. This may be helpful in providing more specific measurement around the "ease" concept. I love the collaboration and ideas coming in this way. Thanks very much!

re: EODB Assessments and Anniversary

Mike Moroze — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 18:16:14 GMT

Very Interesting! It reminds me of several usability "categories", one model I especially like is Whitney Quesenbery's 5E's:

Effective: How completely and accurately the work or experience is completed or goals reached

Efficient: How quickly this work can be completed

Engaging: How well the interface draws the user into the interaction and how pleasant and satisfying it is to use

Error Tolerant: How well the product prevents errors and can help the user recover from mistakes that do occur

Easy to Learn: How well the product supports both the initial orientation and continued learning throughout the complete lifetime of use...

I wonder if there's a simple, reliable way to gather valid data from a customer's perspective based on some morphed combination of these factors (this isn't necessarily self-assessment - but I could see them being a basis for a self-assessment...)? Of course, I always like the idea of a handful of metrics based on attributes such as "were you able to successfully do x?" would you recommend this <product, service, etc.> to your friends? Would you use this <product, service> again? etc...

Congratulations - Happy Anniversary!

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

christina.sullivan — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 15:24:27 GMT

Dear hpsucks: Are you an Enterprise customer? I'd love to discuss with you to understand the specifics of your experience. Please contact me directly at christina.sullivan@hp.com and leave me your contact details so we can discuss. Thanks for commenting!

re: Putting Customers First

Pradeep Solanki — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 05:34:32 GMT

Walmart - delivering the best value to the customer

J&J - Tylenol response - Customer comes first

Wells Fargo - If It’s Right for the Customer It’s Right for Wells Fargo (from values and vision)

Trader Joe's - Every checkout is a listening opportunity!

Enterprise-Rent-A-Car - We pick you up!

Walgreens - Pick up your prescription at any Walgreens

re: Why Aren’t More People Talking about Ease?

David Mommaerts — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 13:33:36 GMT

Christina, I recently found your blog and have been searching for much of the same information you have. I am also excited about the subject and have been trying to define and measure ETDBW in my own organization. I work for a mid sized furniture company and my role involves business process improvement. Your comments about ETDBW being rooted in many places is accurate. Which is why I am finding it difficult to measure.

The purpose of my post is to make note of some similar literature support for the topic. I was first turned on to this idea when I read Michael Hammer's The Agenda. Michael Hammer had an incredible nack for drawing excitement around an issue, but after reading his words I often felt like I was not sure I totally understood how to accomplish ETDBW. Another book you may want to refer to is "What Really Works: The 4+2 Business Formula for Sustained Business Sucess" by William Joyce, Nitin Nohria, and Bruce Roberson. No silver bullets here either, but the authors talked about 4 things every company needs to do. The fourth being simple structure. The authors contend that "winners" "Simplify. Make your organization easy to work in and work with."

THis book is required reading at my organization and much of my role is focused on achieving the fourth practice.

Thanks for your blog and I look forward to reading in the future.

David Mommaerts

david.mommaerts@ki.com

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

hpsucks — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 00:03:15 GMT

Hewlett Packard provides the worst customer experience I've had since AT&T split. Everyone from cust. support to tech is completely useless, rude and unhelpful. How can you possibly title this 'ease of doing business' when hp demonstrates the complete opposite. There's not even a place on HP's website for clients to tell them what a crappy company they are! Sadly, it didn't used to be that bad. Feel sorry for you.

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

Pradeep Solanki — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 05:15:25 GMT

I recently wrote about a Muni N driver who defines customer service in customer terms:

The 8:37 am Muni N train driver delays his departure by 2-4 minutes everyday to accommodate two groups of customers as they cross the street from the SF Caltrain station. Rather than have them wait on the station on cold wet morning this thoughtfulness really strikes a chord. In the past several drivers have driven off complaining of late arrival of Caltrain and that they are running 5 minutes late eating into their 10 minutes of break time. He also prewarns riders to hold on when starting up after a stop.

In this fast paced world where many organizations pay lip service to customer service this attention to detail is exemplary. This driver clearly understands the customer service mission - deliver a pleasant end to end experience to as many customers as possible at the cost of personal loss and delays. He also displays a rare trait of taking intiative and independent decision making to deliver this superior customer experience.

This Muni driver could be a fine addition to any customer service team!!!

re: There is nothing easy about being “easy” to do business with

axel rinaldo — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:12:40 GMT

Just had a support experience that was great. The issue was related to a swedish colour laserjet. Talked to Ashwin via chat that connected in secs, the troubleshooting was methodical and good, your back end systems gathered some basics on my set up to assist and speed up trouble shooting, the issue was solved in 10 mins or so. Happy with that experience which exceeded my expectations.

Best

Axel

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

christina.sullivan — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:40:22 GMT

Dear Frank H.

You wrote in with a customer support issue and I have strict guidelines to route those issues to our customer support team but I'll need your email and product information. Can you please contact me directly and provide that so I can appropriately handle your complaint? Thanks for commenting!

christina.sullivan@hp.com

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

christina.sullivan — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 20:38:28 GMT

Elaina - thank you for writing in. Hope to hear from you again.

Christina

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

Elaina — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 13:51:41 GMT

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Elaina

www.freearticletrove.com

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

Yangpeng Yang — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 11:30:27 GMT

"put the customer first"is very important,I am a Chinese,I want to work at HP，because I want to improve myself and redound the society!

re: Customer’s Clock Rules

christina.sullivan — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 20:57:17 GMT

Thanks Mike for your post and insights into usability. Great comment.