This month’s newsletter and blog topic is “The growing pressure on middle and upper management.” This pressure comes about from sweeping layoffs in the last year following the pandemic. The consequence has been major gaps in middle and upper management overburdening the remaining few.
Many skilled managers were among those who were laid off. What happened to the various roles they occupied? They had to go somewhere. And so they did, landing on the shoulders of the middle and upper managers left behind.
This series of events puts one particular unforeseen stress on the remainder of management, and can result in the “quiet quitting” of customers.
Quiet Quitting
What exactly is quiet quitting?
The term was coined for employees who, instead of outright resigning from a position or a company, would remain on the job. They no longer had the level of dedication they once had, and would only put in the bare minimum required in preforming their duties while secretly seeking employment elsewhere.
Customer Quiet Quitting
What does “quiet quitting” mean when applied to customers? It means a customer who never tells you they’re no longer doing business with you but, in fact, isn’t. You just never hear from them again.
Why don’t these customers inform you of their decision? Because the customers of today are subjected to a new category of stress. If they complain, they get classified as problematic and assigned various derogatory labels—as do most people today who complain about service. The result of this trend is that dissatisfied customers don’t complain. They just don’t come back.
Relation to Lack of Skilled Managers
How does this relate to a company’s sudden lack of skilled managers?
A customer—especially one who has been very satisfied in the past—will only leave because they are no longer receiving the level of service they have come to expect. And when a company lays off highly skilled performers and managers, that company’s service is very likely to suffer.
One standout example appears in customer service. When a normal customer service representative can’t handle a customer issue, it is usually elevated to a manager with more product knowledge and skill than the average customer service rep.
What happens when that skilled manager has been laid off? The elevated customer service issue lands on the person who absorbed the original manager’s duties. If that current manager isn’t as skilled as the original one, or is too overburdened to adequately deal with the customer’s problem, the issue may not be handled to the customer’s satisfaction. Result? The customer ends up “quiet quitting.”
Be Aware
This is an issue that all businesses today should be aware of, as it happens almost invisibly. You’re suddenly seeing your re-sign or repeat business rates going down, but there’s no apparent reason.
The leaders in that company, observing such a trend, should immediately have a look at their service levels. Are they as good or better than they have been in the past? If not, service levels should be restored right away.
Of course, the real way to not have customers “quiet quitting” is to monitor your service levels consistently and ensure they remain at a high level always. Regularly survey customers’ satisfaction, and take rapid responsive action when low service areas are detected.
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