| By Gavin Chait,
on 23 January 2007
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 "May I put my hand in your tea-pot, Sir?"
From Rio de Janeiro, where waiters peer over one’s shoulder studying the menu with morbid fascination; to London, where staff glare at you for rudely interrupting their analysis of who was sleeping with whom on Crossroads; to India, where wallahs bring you exactly what you didn’t order, cold and an hour later when you have already succumbed to starvation; to Cape Town, where servers glide effortlessly past you as you wave your arms about like the nearly drowned attracting a life-guard. Each a microcosm of business disregard for their patrons.
“I wonder if it’s on purpose?” I asked myself as I mopped up the water dammed behind piles of my clothes. The flooding was caused by a plumber who opened the main tap without first emptying the geyser. He built the dams to prevent the water escaping into the rest of my flat. Then he fled.
It can’t be that every business owner embarks on a quest to make life unpleasant for their customers. Certainly there are those who despise their clients but most are genuinely shocked when you have had an unpleasant experience. Their complaint is usually that they did not know.
This is wilful ignorance on the part of business owners. They are fully aware that clients are getting a shoddy deal but – for as long as clients don’t make a fuss – they are able to ignore the problem. People tend to avoid confrontation and business owners are happily capitalising on our fears.
But businesses, at least, suffer the frequent indignity of having their crasser habits exposed in local newspapers or blogs. Development organisations can get away with even lower standards of care since their clients, on the whole, are desperate and uneducated (otherwise they wouldn’t be in need of charitable services) and hardly likely to complain. The donors don’t experience the service directly and have no idea what should be done either.
In this organisations are doing themselves a disservice. It is not just that clients have no loyalty for their service providers. It is also that organisations are losing a wonderful opportunity for innovation and product development.
Clients do know what they like and don’t like. When offered a reasonable choice they will switch to the service that offers them the most reward for their investment of time, energy and (occasionally) money. If the relationship has become confrontational – one of complaint and apology – then it is unpleasant for both sides. If clients are considered a component of business development and improvement then they become part of the overall strategy.
People change their preferences on a daily basis. The changes are subtle, but they are there. They change the amount of sugar they consume in coffee. They prefer it slightly stronger, or weaker. McDonalds was caught completely by surprise by the obesity movement and has had to launch a dramatic turn-around, introducing salads and low-fat alternatives. Yet the discussion over increasing obesity has gone on for over a decade.
The low grumble of clients is not a personal attack on the organisation. It is the gentle murmur of consumers hungry to be part of the development of their favourite products. It is an opportunity for business owners to listen and remain a part of the economic landscape of winners.
And, when they do get round to testing those waiters, I hope it involves lots of electricity.
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