Dell Really, Really Loves Its Customers
Dell, which has lost so much of its mojo in recent years that Michael Dell was forced come out of retirement, has decided its salvation will come from better customer service so it’s launched two new initiatives - Dell IdeaStorm and StudioDell, which, in theory, will let customers have more effective ways to provide ideas and feedback. IdeaStorm is a Digg-like service, while StudioDell lets people upload videos. What I want to know is where’s Jeff Jarvis, who ignited the “Dell Hell” campaign in 2005 when he blogged about his unhappiness with a Dell computer. Maybe Jarvis has cooled down since meeting Michael Dell in Davos recently.
While you have to give Dell credit for putting a renewed focus on customer service, you have to wonder where they went wrong given Dell is a marketing and sales company as opposed to a computer manufacturer. How did Dell lose focus on the customer when the customer was supposed to be its focus? If you think about Dell’s roots in which Michael Dell was building computers in his dorm room, you have to believe customer service was a key part of his entrepreneurial DNA and success.
Maybe it’s difficult to keep you focus on the customer when you get big and successful. Maybe outsourcing customer service off-shore - while cost-effective - creates a gap between you and your customer because your not directly dealing with the customer any more. Give Dell credit for trying to focus on the customer again. While they’re at it, they should do some work on improving the quality of their products, which have lost their premium cache in recent years.
For more thoughts, check out Read Write/Web, which provides an overview on IdeaStorm and StudioDell; Peter Cashmore, who blasts Dell for ripping off Digg; and the Guardian’s Jack Schofield, who describes IdeaStorm as “brilliant” while noting that two top ideas so far are that “Dell should provide the option of a crap-free installation (ie without the junk paid for by Google* and assorted anti-virus vendors), and that Dell should “own” green the way Apple “owns” pretty”.
Technorati Tags: Dell, Michael Dell
February 17th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
[…] And with a great name - IdeaStorm - to boot. Essentially, it’s a suggestion board with Digg-like voting (fresh off the heels of the Yahoo! Suggestion Board controversy, though, like Pete Cashmore, I think inDiggnation over other sites using voting is as pretty tedious use of one’s time). Details at Direct2Dell, and Jack Schofield at the Guardian blog has a nice overview. Update: My friend Mark has also blogged the story. […]
February 17th, 2007 at 1:44 pm
I think it’s a good idea, as long as they follow through and put some of the ideas in action. If they don’t do this, people will realize that they don’t actually have the power to influence the company and Dell is just trying to give that illusion. Some of the ideas there are quite good. What surprises me the most is how much the more popular suggestions have the interests of the company in mind as well as the customer; in other words, they are more realistic than I would have expected.
February 17th, 2007 at 2:19 pm
If they provided good customer service and computers without operating systems I would consider them again. Will be interesting to see if the moves are just warm-and-fuzzy-feel-good (but ignored) tactics or if anything will be acted on
February 18th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
Dell’s “customer service” is a joke. I have consulted to them in their call center operations for years, and the only thing they have ever cared about is cost per call, cost per call, cost per call. I love it - they measure CE (for customer experience) as the per-cent of callers who rate themselves either dissatisifed or very dissatisfied with Dell! No other company we’ve worked with (and we work will hundreds….) measure Customer Sat in some upside down and perverse way….Dell hires people with absolutely zero experience in call center operations and expect them to manage the operations. The current director of outsourcing was formally head of diversity - not a great job to equip one to actually run an operation! But, since customers don’t matter, she can get her ticket stamped “I ran something” other than a few secretaries. And the head before her was one of MD’s Executive Assistants from McKinsey - again, zero operational knowledge but a great butt kisser. Dell is no different than the airlines - “customers” are to be “harvested for their money” (a term I’ve heard several VPs at Dell use….) because “they’ll forget the lousy service because when it comes down to it, all the customer cares about is a cheap price”….. And as long as they can sell their average products at a cheap price, they’ll continue to do so. Not one exec at Dell has compensation based on CSAT or repurchase behavior…only on the stock price. They’ll never change. I think we have the Packard Bell or Zenith of the new century….sell your stock and buy HP - they’ve been through adversity and have proven they can get out of it. Dell can’t - their solution is to fire the exec team to buy 18 months on Wall Street….