I got into a friendly argument with a friend recently. It started because of a picture and anecdote I posted on Facebook. This was the post:
The argument started because my friend claimed that the cafe allowing me to keep both drinks was not unusual. My friend claimed that Japanese businesses are customer obsessed. I nonchalantly claimed they are not, they are process focused. In the case of the cafe the normal process would be to take the incorrect order away and replace it with the correct one (I’ve had that occur at restaurants even when I made attempts to communicate I wanted to keep both).
Then we went back and forth with examples of bad and good end user experiences. Here’s a couple highlights:
Good Experiences
- Female Hygienic Materials: “Grey plastic bag if you buy something like menstrual pads so other people don’t see what you bought.”
- Steak Place: “I usually order sirloin. Once I decided to change and ordered chicken. The staff knew my order so he started preparing the sirloin. In the end he gave me both.”
- Shopping bags: “Where else can you get extra bags if it’s a gift? Not one… two..Where else can you get a plastic bag to cover the shopping bag when it’s raining.”
Bad Experiences
- Buying a data plan at Docomo: I think the first time I got a phone plan it took like two hours. Then when you go back they are always changing your plan. When the Docomo employee is taking out a fucking highlighter to explain key points in a data plan I am tempted to take that highlighter, and shove it up my nose and see if I can get high and hopefully lose consciousness. Why are these plans and options so complicated? Rhetorical. Last time I was at Docomo I suddenly stopped the Docomo employee, and tried to explain, that to me, the time that is being used by her explaining the difference between option A, which is 200 yen more expensive than option B, but let’s you make 2 more phone calls per month, is more valuable than 200 yen. Don’t worry, I also explained I understand she is just doing her job and I’m not upset. It actually did help expedite the larger process. Oh, and you have to wait a long time. They probably have to sharpen the highlighters or something.
- Buying an apple: That time I was in a convenient store and tried to buy an apple but the cashier wouldn’t sell it to me because there was no price tag on it and he couldn’t figure out how much it costs. I told him to make up a price. Wouldn’t sell it to me.
- Buying something not on the menu: I have a lot of experiences where I tried to buy something, like a drink that wasn’t on the menu but that would only require small customization to make, but the order was refused. できない. Really? You can’t or you won’t? (I never actually say that). Compare that with when I’m in Taipei. I could order a bubble tea with fermented mares milk and they would probably make it.
- Buying something without standard information: At the first startup I joined we tried to make a small purchase from another Japanese company. I watched as my Japanese coworker got upset because the company wouldn’t sell the screws or motor or whatever it was to us because we didn’t have a landline or a fax machine number.
Now the big guns. Go on Netflix, go on Amazon, buy an Apple phone. Aren’t those the current standard of customer focused companies? Are any of them Japanese? Are you not impressed with the omoiyari of Netflix? Have you used online banking in Japan? What about basically any Japanese website or software?
What I conclude is that it may depend on the business type/context.
Also, it brings up an interesting topic. What is the best way to be customer focused? Are more processes the answer? Or in some cases is it simply to give more agency to the staff/employees?
Okay, my favorite memory as a customer in Japan, so you know I’m not radically biased. I went to a special shop to fix my mechanical watch. I chatted with the older Japanese man who makes and fixes watches. He learned to make watches when he was working in Hong Kong. He gave a date it would be ready but started examining it immediately. He started working on fixing the watch while his assistant started the paperwork. I looked around the shop. I found another mechanical watch I liked. I bought it from the assistant. By the time the transaction was done the watchmaker had finished fixing the first watch. He said this time there was no charge for fixing the first watch. A pause. “You like mechanical watches.” he said, head nodding slightly, and turned to go back to his workbench.
What about me, am I customer focused? Our company is business to business, and we are only working with two companies at this moment. But we have sent proposals to more companies. It’s difficult to figure out. A reasonable way to quickly evaluate if I’m customer focused or not may be by answering this question: Could I interview for a job at our target customer company? Yes, I think I could.
If I examine what I know about one of the companies we work with, what do I know about them? I interact with two members somewhat regularly. What do I know about one of them? Everything starts with a person. A person who cares. What do I know about Yuki? (not real name)
I know he’s the 10th (or 11th, I’m bad at remembering numbers) employee at the company. I know he drinks coffee, black. He likes Mexican food. He speaks slowly because he’s choosing his words in English carefully and not using fillers. I know which research papers he read in the last few years. I read the ones I thought were most relevant. He mentions a review paper that looks interesting but that he hasn’t read yet. I read it. I know he probably doesn’t do much exercise due to his build and gate. I know he doesn’t change his haircut. I know he’s almost done with the research project he’s been working on for four years. He can code in javascript. He majored in statistics. I know he has a project in his free time with a blockchain company. I suspect he has a girlfriend and a good sense of humor. He said, “I have some bad news” and I said, “Your girlfriend broke up with you?” he laughed, “No, that would be REALLY bad news.” I know he doesn’t go out of his way to be liked, that he acts the same towards everyone, because he doesn’t do any kind of mirroring, no sign of nervousness. I remember back to last winter — he found ice on the INSIDE of the window in his apartment. I know I don’t have to entertain. I don’t have to impress. I know he forgot about his food while he was talking. Didn’t have braces. Might have had an ear piercing at one point. I know he speaks openly, directly, is reliable, and is sincere.
I know that the company has internal legal and PR staff. I know their long-term construction plans.
I know what that company is doing on the tech side in the next three months and in the next few years.
I know what I would do if I were a director at that company.
And I know that what I know about who we want to solve a problem for doesn’t guarantee our company will be successful.
A world that doesn’t care. An ant that doesn’t smell. A universe that doesn’t conspire. An electron that doesn’t know where it is.
