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Just before boarding the 8.40am train for Crewe this morning I noticed a stand of besuited business people chatting to passing travellers.
It turns out that this is a regular monthly event whereby the senior managers from London Midland train company hang out in either Birmingham or Euston stations and chat to customers who happen to be passing by.
I spoke to the marketing director who said it was a great way of getting feedback, even if they had to put up with moans about the trains being late. Apparently, it serves as a rallying point for all senior London Midland folk before they start their monthly management meetings.
All very commendable, of course, but the downside for me is that there is no research company involved. On the other hand, it is great to see managers getting inspired by customer feedback.
Steve Phillips
Steve is the Chief Happiness Officer of Spring Research. His work focuses on understanding consumer motivation and behaviour and he was instrumental in developing the Snakes & Ladders approach to exploring the purchase journey. This work won the ‘Best New Thinking’ award at the MRS Conference and also led to Spring winning the industries Innovation award. As part of the 38th Floor Group, Steve is also a partner in both MESH Planning and Tuned In Research.Recent Posts
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Readers' comments (6)
Trevor Godman | 9-May-2012 10:51 am
Are we researchers expecting to have a monopoly on providing customer feedback now??!!
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Steve Phillips | 9-May-2012 4:54 pm
Oh, if only!!
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Alison White - Face Facts Research | 9-May-2012 6:00 pm
Love this Steve. I recently hired a van from Europcar to move some office furniture around. I got a follow up call a few days later. Turns out that the woman calling me to do the customer sat survey was the "Customer Experience Director" and not a research company or a normal interviewer. They have a policy of each of the senior people internally to do 1 sat call per day to get first hand feedback. I can tell you the insight she got from me, from working in research, was certainly invaluble to her. She might even be getting involved in the Mafia conference! Small world and even though its possibly taking work away from research companies its refreshing to see companies doing this kind of thing cause it proves they really care.
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Alistair Nicoll | 10-May-2012 11:39 am
When I worked on the railway I always advised senior managers and directors to talk with their customers like this. This was not to do myself out of a job as their market researcher but as well as them finding it a valuable experience it also led to research projects to perhaps quantify or examine solutions. There was another benefit in that it often enabled them to understand better the reasons behind research results.
I know of more than one MD on the railway (when I was working there) who would take phone calls from customers ringing to complain
I do not see why you would expect research companies to be involved
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Steve Phillips | 10-May-2012 12:23 pm
Completely agree Alison, I thiink its great that managers are becoming so much more directly engaged with customer feedback, can only help us out in the long run...
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Teresa Hadfield | 16-May-2012 6:13 pm
There is no substitute for real life interaction with customers, for clients and researchers. The only risk for clients is if they don't hear what is being said.
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