Was Arlo Guthrie right? Does 50 people a day walking into an organization, singing a protest song and walking out make a movement?
I sure hope so, for I'm feeling a revolutionary itch, and I need to scratch it.
In the July issue I detailed how my former bank had, through some really awful customer service, pushed me into the rather comfortable arms of one of its competitors. Readers responded not only with similar tales from their own banks, but added stories about cable companies and other lack-of-service providers.
There's a lot of anger out there over poor customer treatment. Yet there is no concerted way to focus this anger in a way that organizations will hear it. Furthermore, individual actions — one consumer switching one account at a time — can get awfully lonely.
The organizations themselves aren't going to help. Many count on inertia, the daunting amount of paperwork or the customer service jungle to prevent customers from leaving.
Inertia is a rotten reason to reward poor customer relationship management. What if a loose confederation of consumers — say, the readers of a direct marketing humor/opinion column — were to create “Switch Day” — a day devoted to shedding service providers that haven't measured up?
Before Switch Day, consumers would determine which service providers they wanted to change. On the actual day, they'd steel themselves with a good breakfast before trying to cut through phone trees or searching for the hidden Web pages that will enable them to sever their ties.
The latter part of the day would be devoted to enrolling in new services. The better service providers should welcome new customers with smiling faces and expedited new-account lines. And families would welcome home whichever sacrificial member braved the bureaucracies with flowers and sweets.
When I initially presented this idea online, I received a number of excellent suggestions. What I did not foresee was the number of respondents who linked the idea, or the day, to politicians. One wrote “I would propose that Switch Day coincide with Election Day! The rallying cry could be: ‘Clean House — get rid of poor service and incumbents, too.’(That may be redundant.)”
Another wondered if consumers were approaching the boiling point reached by “Network”'s Howard “I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore” Beale. “I'd like to think so,” wrote this reader, “but consumers are such sheep, loaded with the intravenous apathy created by ‘do nothing’ (nothing constructive, that is) politicians.”
A respondent with a taste for culture suggested that cable TV subscription funds could be redirected into a trip to the theater, or at very least a stack of good books, which could be brought home and enjoyed with a minimum of customer service agita.
Another reader urged that Switch Day festivities include a literacy test in which consumers are urged to read all disclaimers before signing up. She's got a point, but I'm not sure how effective this would be: I've yet to see a cable TV service contract that says subscribers probably will get frustrated navigating an automated telephone customer service system before they give up in a huff.
Several readers advocated vigilante action. One sent in a link to a Web site (http://gethuman.com/) containing “cheats” (her word) for reaching a human operator — although the fact that a mechanism to reach a live person should be considered a “cheat” indicates a sad state of affairs indeed.
A few observed that on any announced Switch Day both customer service reps and managers would take special pains to insulate themselves from customers. Maybe, maybe not. As one noted, “Switch Day would make the effort concentrated — and, perhaps, even break through the insulation.” And another took special glee at the image of CEOs of companies that provide bad service watching their sales go down the tubes that day.
The question remains: When? I love the idea of linking it to Election Day, but not on the day itself: People will be focused on the run-up to the big day, and then the results. With this in mind, I am hereby decreeing that Switch Day — actually, Switch Days — will occur on the three days following Election Day in November. Voters whose candidates lost will be feeling helpless and looking for a way to re-assert control. Those whose candidates won will feel newly empowered and emboldened.
I encourage readers to offer additional suggestions. See you on line somewhere Nov. 8.
