The Ten Times Rule: The Only Difference Between Success and Failure

Chapter 19
Customer Satisfaction Is the Wrong Target

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The topic of criticism provides an appropriate segue into a discussion about the
overused and abused concept of 
customer satisfaction
. One of the first protests I
hear from people to whom I promote the idea of 10X actions is their concern that
customer satisfaction will be damaged. They worry that if they and their
company push too much or become overly aggressive, they'll somehow hurt their
brand's reputation in the marketplace. Although I suppose that's possible, it's
much more likely—due to the overabundance of products and organizations
available today—that no one will even know about you or your company or
notice your brand in the first place. The board of trustees of a national cable
channel I was working with became concerned that a new show that the
executives were very excited about did not fit the network's brand. I told them,
“If you don't start bringing TV to people's homes that is current and relevant and
that people have to tune in to, you ain't going to have a brand to defend.” When
you fail to find supporters, establish customers, secure investors, and close the
deal because you fail to do whatever it takes to get the job done and then you
hide under the excuse of protecting brand and customer satisfaction, you'd just as
soon have a shovel in your hand and dig your own grave.
Customer service is the wrong target; increasing customers is the right target.
This doesn't mean customer satisfaction isn't important. Everyone knows that
customers have to be satisfied and happy in order for them to return and give
positive word of mouth. If your service or product or investment isn't built to
satisfy, then you are a criminal, and this book will only land you in jail sooner.
Make your primary focus commanding attention and 
generating
customers
before you worry about making them happy.
Let me explain simply. Customer satisfaction doesn't concern me very much!
Why? Because I know that we overdeliver to our clients and provide customer
service that is well beyond “satisfactory.” We overdeliver to every client, and we
never say no until we absolutely have to. We don't even talk about customer
satisfaction in my office. We do talk a lot about how to get more customers
because attracting customers to our program is the only way to increase
customer satisfaction. You get it. Increasing customer satisfaction is impossible
without increasing customers. Whether someone signs up for our free tip of the
week or buys a book for $30, an audio program for $500, or a long-term training
contract for $1 million, we always overdeliver what is expected. I only concern
myself with getting more customers, then I overdeliver to my clients.
I am most worried about noncustomer satisfaction; that is, the people who are
dissatisfied because they do not have my product and may not even know that
they are unhappy. I know that the only dissatisfied clients we can have are those

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who don't have my products or who have them and are not using them correctly.
We talk about how getting our clients to increase their usage of our material,
systems, and processes is the only way to increase customer satisfaction. Not
getting a client or having the client use your products incorrectly are bigger
“outpoints” than most of the ways that customer satisfaction is thought of. A
customer getting the package a day late is an issue and should be handled, but
the client who never buys your product suggests that you have a real serious
customer satisfaction problem because you never made that person a customer.
The first problem you can easily fix. The second one will kill you.
I seek out clients who are qualified to do business with us. I then attend to that
individual or company until they agree to hire me, knowing that until they get
my product or service, they can't be satisfied. This isn't a pitch. This is what I
believe to be true. The attainment of the customer is paramount to customer
satisfaction, and customer satisfaction cannot exist without a customer! The
attainment of the customer is the most important thing to me. Same thing in
relationships: first it is getting the wife, then it is keeping her happy, then it is
growing the family, and then looking at new ways to keep everyone happy. What
was most important? Getting the wife was paramount to wife satisfaction.
It is impossible for a company to create success by just focusing on customer
satisfaction. I believe that the trend of focusing on customer satisfaction has
been detrimental to customer acquisition. Companies become so consumed
about their current customers' “satisfaction” that many are failing to aggressively
acquire and expand their market share.
Customer service is a business term meant to measure how the products and
services that companies supply meet—or exceed—customer expectations after
the purchase. This assessment is supposedly a key differentiator between the
brands customers follow loyally and those that they abandon entirely. Yet most
places I go into never service me enough before the sale to ever acquire me as a
customer in the first place. Executives tout the importance of customer service
from their ivory towers, yet they forget to promote the attainment of the
customer to begin with. Most products don't get my attention so completely that
I'm compelled to purchase them without the assistance of the company.
Unfortunately, most salespeople never bother to ask the customer to buy when
given an opportunity, and then they fail to follow up. Thus, they never make a
client.
We do mystery shopping campaigns for companies and have validated this
over and over. The biggest problem with companies is that they never make a
customer in the first place! If you have a subpar offering—a product that doesn't

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do what you state it will and that makes people feel like they've been cheated
after purchase—the marketplace will dispose of you sooner rather than later. But
most people don't fail because their offering is inferior or they have a poor
product. Most people fail because they never get enough customers!
Does Starbucks offer the very best customer service and coffee available? I
don't know. I do know that the company has made a serious investment in
making it easy and convenient to buy its coffee. Is Starbucks concerned about
people standing in line too long and getting the right coffee and being greeted?
Of course. But I assure you the company is concerned first with the acquirement
of the client. Does Google provide the best search engine and the best customer
experience and service? Does it look to improve the experience? Certainly. But
first it dominates the space so clearly and gets so much attention that it's the first
site used. What's my point here? Brands that truly deliver customer satisfaction
do not talk about customer