Human Resources

Q&A with John McKean reveals:

Human touch is best strategy to reach out to customers

By Dina Berta

John McKean is a business consultant, author and now — following his latest research and book — a self-described blasphemer.

In a business world that bows to customer-relationship marketing doctrines, McKean is proclaiming that customers are not looking for relationships with businesses. Customers John McKean want to be treated like human beings, and one of the best ways to make that happen is for employers to treat their employees like human beings, said McKean, executive director for the Center for Information-Based Competition in Centerville, Ohio.

His book, "Customers are People: The Human Touch," which hits bookstore shelves this month, is based on interviews with managers — including those in hospitality and foodservice — and customers. McKean found that the main reason a customer patronizes a business has less to do with the product or service and more to do with how well that customer is treated.

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Are you saying customer relationship marketing is ineffective?
Customers don't want a relationship. I know; it's blasphemy. I've been a consultant for 10 years. CRM is a $16 billion-a-year business and rising. What I found is that customers don't want a relationship. They simply want to walk into a restaurant or store that has a good product and good prices and will treat them like human beings. They don't want intimacy. They don't want shared privacy or artificial closeness.

I can treat you like an exceptional human being without violating your privacy. I can say "please" and "thank you." Make eye contact. Smile. It's about how people are respected and acknowledged.

Treating customers humanely seems pretty obvious, doesn't it?
It's so obvious. It's so simple, and yet it's so overlooked. This is the most incredible research we've ever done. We've talked to people all over the world and see [the principle] ignored in so many situations. The biggest challenge for business is to recognize this. It's so intuitive and simple.

If you take the No. 1 maître d' or waiter, you will find an abundance of those skills on an intuitive level. Customers may have a favorite waitress, and they don't come for the food she serves or how efficient she is, but for the human feeling they get when they interact with her.

So, as a business owner or restaurateur, how do I begin to treat my customers more humanely?
First, you've got to hire employees with that human touch. You've got to treat them humanely so that they will satisfy the customers' need to be treated as human beings. People want to be acknowledged, respected, trusted and to be able to trust you.