101 ways to hang on to your customers in a stroppy world

By IRENE CHAPPLE

If consumer dissatisfaction can create a revolution, author Graham Harvey would be the self-appointed guru; his book, Seducing the Vigilante Customer, the bible.

Harvey's alarmingly simple how-to guide in marketing has gathered consumer grumpiness from around the globe, condensed it, and given businesses 101 tips to keep their clients happy.

Basic suggestions such as putting push/pull signs on the door and having pens that work may have corporates sniggering into their lattes, but Harvey says such simple oversights are harming businesses' bottom line.

Customers, he says, are starting to vote with their feet.

"The feedback I am getting from clients is that despite it being common sense, these tips are by no means common practice," he says.

"Customers are no longer prepared to be treated like second class citizens. For example, anecdotal evidence shows customers are refusing to deal with automated phone systems, and are turning to ones where the first point of contact is with a person."

In Perth, "banks employ people to say 'do you realise you can use the ATM outside?' when many actually want to come inside and have the human interface", says the Waikato-born expatriate.

"There are a lot of people who just accept that, but we all have the power to change it."

Harvey, described in the book as a professional speaker, vision coach and marketing futurist, is a first-time author.

The tips are a consequence of 15 years of anecdotal evidence gathered from his audiences. They include gems such as returning phone calls within the day, smiling at customers and spelling names right.

Harvey believes a proliferation of product and service suppliers, largely due to the introduction of the internet, has given consumers negotiating power.

He has labelled the new, stroppier breed of customer the vigilante. "They are no longer prepared to play by the established rules of the business, they play by a new set - their own."

Customer satisfaction "is not about spending squillions of dollars, it's about looking after the customer. If you take any one of the tips they're seen as really simple; when you add them all together they make good sense."

Harvey remains cautiously optimistic about the success of his three-year project, but is already planning a second book which will collate consumers' complaints.

"It's so easy for people to walk away with a good story, not a bad story." But, he asks: "How many do?"