Listening to (and Satisfying) the Never-Satisfied Customer

Listening to (and Satisfying) the Never-Satisfied Customer

by Alan D. Wolfelt, Ph.D.

Trends indicate that there are more families out there who are more difficult to satisfy than in the past. Some observers have noted that today's consumers are "never satisfied customers."

In the face of these challenges, it seems those of you committed to the future of funeral service confront an important choice. On the one hand, you could decide to throw in the towel, to give up, to project that it's this new customer's problem. On the other hand, you could work to really listen to your new customer, to hear what they are telling you and to respond accordingly.

Yes, the consumer-driven marketplace has changed the heart and soul of funeral service. Today's enlightened funeral home understands that customer satisfaction is won only one way: by dynamically serving the customer.

Dynamically serving the customer means providing information, education and choices that meet individual needs and circumstances, creating authentic, meaningful funeral experiences for each family served, and constantly working to make small, gradual improvements in the service you provide.

If we are honest with ourselves, we must admit that many in funeral service have internalized this assumption: "We know what our customers want and need even better than they do." Indeed, it is tempting to believe that years of experience "in the business" have made us omniscient.

Can this kind of thinking get a funeral home in trouble quickly today? Not only can it, it already has for some.

Funeral homes that best understand that there is a new and very different customer out there will work to create and communicate a well-defined, customer-inspired service strategy. The funeral home of the future will be focused on listening to and understanding and responding swiftly to the changing wants, needs and expectations of families served.

The funeral home of the future will create and maintain "customer-friendly" service delivery systems. The funeral home of the future will hire, inspire and develop customer-oriented staff.

Even those of you who think your customer orientation is excellent shouldn't relax into smug self-congratulation. Today's families are: more apt to use technology to consider choices (people are accessing wholesale casket prices on the Internet and bringing them into funeral homes with a demand to meet or beat the price); more diverse and mobile; and more demanding of respectful and courteous treatment. The demands of funeral homes to meet and exceed service expectations will only continue to increase into the future. Are you prepared to not only survive, but thrive?

At bottom, the successful future of funeral service hinges on listening to the customer like never before. This means not only listening to the needs of each individual family who walks through your door, but also paying close attention to trends and new requests. In other words, listen to your customers and change with them, or run the risk of being left behind.

Responding to the trend of the "difficult to satisfy" customer

Let's explore several essential reasons to listen to those you are privileged to serve.

• To recognize "moments of truth" in your delivery of services. Moments of truth occur any time the customer comes in contact with the funeral home and uses that opportunity to judge the quality of service your funeral home is providing. For example, a few moments of truth in your service delivery are:
  1. The moment your staff answers the telephone.
  2. The moment families are greeted when coming in for an arrangement conference.
  3. The moment you respond (or don't respond) to complaints.
• To keep up with trends and the changing needs of those you serve. In these days of fast-paced change, families' expectations and needs are also very dynamic. For example, if you are located in an area where more and more people are opting for cremation, your staff should receive training in how to provide cremation customers with memorialization choices. In other words, as you observe trends, respond. Don't just react. As Yogi Berra once said, "You can observe a lot by just watching."
• To hear the unexpected ideas that families can bring you. A funeral home I consulted with recently had a family suggest that favorite music of the person who died be played during the visitation. They have since been offering this to all families they serveÑwith very positive responses. Bar none, the best ideas you get will come from your customers.
• To involve families in the creation of meaningful services. Trends in funeral service indicate that many families respond positively when they are given creative service ideas. My concept of the "Service Room" (see The Director, November 1997, pp. 30, 32, 33) is all about providing families with service choices and then honoring the choices they make. If you want to not only survive but thrive into the future, LISTEN to the families you serve. The funeral home that will go out of business is the one that doesn't believe there is anything to learn from customers. The future of funeral service is filled with both dangers and wonderful opportunities. Think of it as a time of "dangerous opportunities."

Dr. Alan Wolfelt is well-known to funeral service as a leading educator. He derives great satisfaction from studying funeral service trends and assisting funeral directors in preparing to meet the challenges of the serving the new customer. He will write a regular column forThe Director starting with the February issue. Dr. Wolfelt would like to hear from you if you have ideas for his new column. You can contact him at the Center for Loss and Life Transition, 3735 Broken Bow Road, Fort Collins, CO 80526, (970) 226-6050, fax (970) 226-6051, e-mail wolfelt@centerforloss.com, website www.centerforloss.com.

Managing Customer Service into the Millennium

When the customer changes, management philosophies must change too. While some funeral homes have adapted more contemporary management models, many are still operating on a dated model. Consider the ways in which a 1950s management model vs. a 1990s management model might respond to various customer service challenges:

In short, today's funeral home managers must actively promote excellence in customer service if they are to keep in step with contemporary management philosophies. Those funeral homes that fall back on the status quo will find themselves falling behind in market share.