It's Time to Switch

For quite some time now, I’ve been with the same energy provider for both my gas and electricity. It’s not really a question of loyalty, it’s just that they set up the direct debit in such a way that leaving them would cost me an absolute fortune.

That was up until recently, when I discovered that my account was no longer in arrears. Naturally, I went straight on to the nearest price comparison site – well I say nearest, obviously their location is of little consequence to me – and decided to see if I could get a better deal and unsurprisingly, I did.

Naturally I put the wheels in motion to get my supplier switched over, whilst simultaneously dreaming about what I would do with the £348 I had saved, until I realised that £348 is about 2 weeks’ shopping at any mainstream supermarket so my plans of an exotic holiday or a new X Box Kinect flew straight out of the window.

A few weeks later, I received a phone call from my current supplier- I think we all expected that didn’t we?

“So sorry to hear that you want to leave us Mr Rose”, well don’t take it personally love, I mean you’ve got a few million customers on your books, surely one of us leaving won’t make that much of a difference.

“Can I ask why you’re leaving?” What does she expect me to say? I’m just not sure the relationship is working out? I want to see other providers? You’re smothering me?

“Someone else is offering me a better deal.” Obviously.

“Well we’ve got some great deals on at the moment so if you just give me a second I’ll see what we can do for you”.

NOW STOP RIGHT THERE. At this point I actually got quite angry. This woman has just effectively admitted that her company are ripping me off. They have better pricing structures available but it is only at the point of my leaving that they’re prepared to offer them to me?

Then the letter comes – please call our freephone number to discuss your transfer. Except they don’t want to discuss my transfer, they want to have another crack at keeping me on their books. I put forward the same argument and they point out that, as a company with several million customers, it’s not possible for them to keep everyone advised of their best options.

CRAP. No, sorry, but that really is crap. OK – calculating the best deal for everyone every quarter is not practical, and I accept that. However, how about putting some information on the bill that sends me to a website where I can check that I am paying the best price? If that was an option, surely everyone would take it wouldn’t they?

It got me thinking about customer service. Are you giving the best service and prices to your customers at every single opportunity, or do you up your game when they’re about to leave you?

The fact is that if you have room for improvement, then your new and improved way of working should become policy. We can all strive to be better in what we do, but our default should not be to be regularly working at 80% capacity, holding on to that 20% for when the proverbial hits the fan.

The beginning of the year is an excellent time for you to review all of your client relationships, and just how powerful would it be to call a customer and tell them that whilst you were pleased to have helped them in 2010, that you’re looking for ways to help them even more in 2011. Don’t try and sell them more stuff – just offer them more help and the rewards will create themselves.

So here we go with 2011 – I realise I should have said that last week but I figured I would give you all a bit of a break from my incessant ranting, just for a little while. And now that your break is over, who wants to be my next victim?