Failure to Communicate

Rene A. Henry laments that although advances in technology have made it increasingly easy to communicate, it seems that with every generation the process of responding to stakeholder inquiries and complaints just get worse.

As a young child I learned early that you never want to be asked a second time to do something. Early in my career I had a wonderful mentor who taught me to always promptly answer every letter and return every phone call. As technology evolved, I added faxes and emails.

New technology every succeeding decade made it even easier to communicate and in a multitude of ways, but I found that new generations were getting even worse about responding.

By the 1990s, event planners replaced RSVP with Please Reply on the invitation. Most recipients had no idea what RSVP stood for and would be dumbfounded if they knew it meant “répondez s’il vous plait.” As recipients failed to respond “yes” or “no,” senders enclosed a card with a self-addressed, stamped envelope. But even that has not been successful.

Do we now have several generations illiterate when it comes to good old-fashioned common courtesy? It gets worse every year. Everyone could learn from Robert Allen when he was CEO of AT&T. If you wrote him, you would get a response bearing his signature from corporate headquarters in Basking Ridge, N.J. For a serious issue, someone in his office would follow up with a personal telephone call. CEOs in Allen’s era communicated.

Few today do so. I have written scores of CEOs and senior managers to ask: “Why should I buy your product (or service)?” Usually there is no response.

Too many CEOs today do not want to hear from their customers even when some have positive comments. If you ask a company for the name and address of the CEO, you will get a generic address with no name even though the information is public.

Too many today send one-way, do-not respond emails that involve extra steps and time if you want to respond. Many are unsigned. Some consumer service emails are signed with only a first name. In both cases this is so no one can be held accountable or responsible.

The epitome of CEO customer service is the late Lord Taylor of Taylor Woodrow, a British conglomerate that built nuclear power plants and the English Channel tunnel, as well as housing developments in the UK, US, Canada and Spain. A friend confronted him at a party about a problem. He sent an edict to all employees that he be sent any customer complaint. Failure to do so would result in termination. Because of his hands-on management style and empowering his employees to resolve customer problems, complaints disappeared within months.

Other CEOs have followed old school traditions and found it very profitable. Jim Cabela, vice chairman of Cabela’s, and his senior managers take several hours each week to read and respond to letters and e-mails sent by customers. Cabela’s is the world’s foremost outfitter and is always ranked among the top for customer service. Ideas suggested by customers have profitably been incorporated into the business.

Another successful executive is Mark Cuban. He was a teenage entrepreneur, founded a dot.com and computer technology companies and bought a professional basketball team, a film and television production company, and a chain of movie theaters. He paid $2.9B for the Dallas Mavericks and sold a 73 percent interest for $3.5B. He answers every email sent to him, whether it is from a fan, adversary or someone trying to sell him something. Maybe that’s why he’s worth $5.4B.

Failure to communicate has cost colleges and universities millions of dollars. When I was at Texas A&M University, a professor refused to thank a major donor, and it cost the school a one-million-dollar grant. I suggested A&M adopt a communications policy, but members of the faculty became hysterical. When I implemented such a policy for my office, one staff member filed a human resources complaint against me.

My biggest disappointment came from my college alumni association. The William & Mary Alumni Association ignored my repeated requests for help in resolving a major issue with a cruise booked through the association. Although W&M has spent millions of dollars over the years with the travel agency which booked the cruise, the alumni association ignored my repeated requests for help.

Finally, I did what I should have done in the first place: Googled public information, wrote the CEO, and several days later it was resolved. W&M’s failure to communicate cost me more than six weeks of anxiety, stress and frustration.

The proliferation of misinformation, disinformation and lies on social media have dumbed down society today to the point where many cannot comprehend anything longer than a soundbite.

Too many businesses and organizations rely heavily on social media and battering customers with relentless advertising. Sadly, the lack of personal communication and common courtesy is an unfortunate byproduct of this approach, and no doubt contributes terribly to the polarization that plagues our country today.

As failures to communicate increase every year, I have significantly lowered my bar of expectations. Perhaps I should eliminate the bar altogether.

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Rene A. Henry has authored 10 books, several on customer service and crisis communications and writes on a variety of subjects.