Your business is a promise you make to your customers and your shareholders. The people, processes and technology in your business interweave to align with the delivery of your products and services and this promise.
Peter Drucker said that the purpose of business is to create a customer. For thousands of Training and Personal Development companies, a customer has a couple of faces – number one as a participant AND number two as a facilitator and trainer – once they partake of the in house certification programs available to them. The conversion of customers into stakeholders via the sale of training programs is an effective and common strategy in many business plans and a particular feature in the PD industry where the lure of potential income is strategically marketed.
The recent headlines about the three suicides by participants of one particular Australian personal development company program have shown the spotlight on the importance of risk management policies and training for facilitators, trainers and volunteers for every company selling these programs and then utilizing these people as volunteers at their program events.
The global volunteer industry is burgeoning – let’s face it – the world economy is largely dependent on volunteers. For a personal development or training organisation, a facilitator or crew volunteer is an effective profit tool. The experience provides valuable training opportunities as well as community connection. When working with facilitating volunteers keep in mind the actual real time cost of this resource. Do you know your ROI per volunteer?
Research shows that approx 70% of customer’s will discontinue dealing with a business when they no longer feel the exchange is of value. It costs at least 6 times more to attract a new customer than it does to retain an existing one. What statistics do you have about the customers you have lost over the past decade? How much could you have saved if you retained those customers instead of the six times more expense you have incurred?
A facilitator volunteer is first and foremost a customer and as such, part of the customer contract is a promise for the business to deliver a customer service. As the Personal Development industry explodes worldwide, many businesses have experienced unprecedented growth. The downside to this growth is the lack of time to build systems, codes and policies to manage the resources involved. A hallmark of the Personal Development industry unfortunately shows that people fall between the cracks. Ask yourself this question – how much money are you losing with each facilitator volunteer that asks questions which remain unanswered? What is the ultimate cost of your growth?
The conversion of a dissatisfied, questioning, complaining customer into a long term joint venture profit partner is an effective customer service strategy. What valuable feedback do you collect from every whiny email and phone call received? These are the customers you can see – they are actually taking the time to give you critical business information – information you are not paying for in surveys and market research. They have invested in their own time in order to make that last ditch connection before they defect to your competitor. What about the customers who simply leave without letting you know? What is your strategy to retain them? If you lose 50 a year, that’s a potential $100000.00 loss. Do your statistics track your retention rate and financial losses?
Creating lasting partnerships with your customers in the way that you engage them and handle challenges is a foundation activity for enterprise. Infatuation with the brand is like eating Chinese food – it will only last so long. Have you compared the cost of your current “system” with an effective profitable long term customer service plan? How much money is this present “system” costing you?
“To make new discoveries we must see with new eyes”…. Albert Einstein
If you looked through the eyes of your disgruntled customers, what opportunities may you see?
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