Gremlins
Last week we went to the cinema where my partner is a manager, which meant that when there was a problem with sound coming from the screen next door, we experienced that as a customer, and felt for ourselves the frustration it caused. (And of course, it meant that my partner was able to take action to resolve the issue immediately.)
A Few Good Men (and Women)
The experience prompted me to write about feedback this week. Why? Well, because, had we not been there, a few customers might have complained or given feedback on the issues after the screening. But because the issues were irritating, rather than really annoying, I suspect most would not have.
It’s worth remembering that you only ever get feedback from the vocal minority and that these are some of your most valuable customers.
Here at Trainers’ Library, although we actively contact our customers from time to time, we know there are lots of customers we never hear from. That’s a shame, but it’s also a reality. We rely heavily on our vocal minority to tell us how we’re doing, and what they’d like to see in the future – and we’ve loved getting their positive feedback about the changes we’ve made to Trainers’ Library.
As Good As it Gets
There is no downside to feedback. It does however, have one limitation. It tends to be an assessment of where you are now rather than of where you could be. Whilst it might highlight things that aren’t perfect, and generate ideas for improvement, these will tend to be incremental in nature and based on your customers’ experiences to date. In other words, your customers’ future expectations might, in fact, be limited by their past experiences of you (or a very similar competitor).
In Her (Or His) Shoes
So, feedback is incredibly important but we should never underestimate the value of actually having the customer experience ourselves. How often do you experience your organisation from the customer’s perspective? If you work in retail, there’s a very good chance you do, but for many of us, it’s not often that we get to really see and feel our product or service through the customers’ eyes.
Getting to use Trainers’ Library recently, to create a new training event from scratch for our new customers ACAS, was therefore a fantastic opportunity for me to review Trainers’ Library as a customer.
The event was designed to give the organisation’s trainers a feel for the range of materials in Trainers’ Library as well as introduce some of the philosophy behind our particular style of experiential learning.
The biggest challenge was deciding what materials to include in the programme, but the inclusion of the aims in the list of materials as I browsed the website really helped. (After all there are hundreds and hundreds of training activities and even I can’t remember them all, even though I’ve written or reviewed every single one.)
Swept Away
There's one function we added to Trainers’ Library last year that I like so much I want to shout about it from the rooftops again - and it’s a feature of membership that those who aren’t yet customers probably aren’t even aware of! (We need to do something about that -
starting with this link to the demo on how to use it.)
I’m not even sure all of our existing customers have realised the value of Course Builder, so
here's that link again. ;-) (If you’d like more help understanding the functionality of Course Builder, please do give us a call and we’ll be happy to provide a live webinar demonstration.)
Course Builder is so useful that I was literally able to put my course together, write the agenda (adding my own notes) and print the whole lot off in just an hour or two.
Bringing Up Baby
My experience as a customer was a positive one and for me, new Trainers’ Library proved even better than the old version, just as we planned. Does that mean we’ve finished and there’s no room for further improvement? Of course not! Watch this space.
P.s., The choice of film titles does not necessary mean that I recommend them. (In fact, I’ll be honest, I’ve only seen two!)