Meltdown on "The X Factor" – What Are The Customer Management Lessons?

"The X Factor" only garners about half of the usual "American Idol" audience and is not even as popular as fellow Wednesday and Thursday shows like "Modern Family" and "The Big Bang Theory," but it found itself placed firmly in the limelight after this week’s results show.

Results shows on musical competitions often epitomize grace and optimism, with the eliminated contestants often smiling as their dream pursuit appears to have reached its end. They commonly express gratitude to those fans who, in actuality, did not vote hard enough to keep the contestant in the competition.

Thursday’s "X Factor" followed a different pattern. While middle-aged Stacy Francis handled her elimination with poise—a far cry from the "pissed off" demeanor she showed in response to negative judge criticism the night before—fellow "bottom two" vote-getter Brian "Astro" Bradley managed to get the entire live crowd to turn on him, a rare feat in what is often a "cheer no matter what" atmosphere.

Astro, a teenaged contestant who is 100% a rapper (he doesn’t even really "sing" the choruses), had previously been viewed as a frontrunner to win the competition. He brought something unique to the usual "sing ballads as loud as you can" aura of these talent competitions. He had charisma and confidence, and he seemed ready to sell records like hot cakes once the show ended. His on-air mentor Antonio "LA" Reid had been a staunch supporter, and all judges, including Simon Cowell, had little negative to say about him.

So, yes, his placement in the bottom two—below critically-panned acts like Leroy Bell and Chris Rene—was surprising. But instead of powering through with joy (which should have been easy given that he had to figure the judges, who have the final say between the two bottom-dwellers, would save him over Stacy), he handled it with complaining, arrogance and frustration.

After initially questioning why he should even have to sing a "save me" performance for the judges, he delivered a half-hearted, lifeless rap as his survival number. The judges, however, seemed willing to forgive him—ahead of Simon’s decision, 2/3 had voted to keep him around. Simon confronted Astro about his attitude, and the rapper, with his arms crossed and an annoyed look on his face, said that he did not want to sing for people who felt he belonged in the bottom two, as they obviously did not want him there. The crowd booed, and Astro started to tear up as he defended himself before ultimately giving a forced apology.

Following the show, Astro continued the odd behavior on Twitter, re-Tweeting a comment from someone who alleged the results might have been altered for ratings purposes and ranting about behind-the-scenes politics and fans not knowing what he knows.

Though he undoubtedly boosted his profile and made himself a newsworthy figure (and may be able to milk it for more votes), Astro, by most accounts, transformed from a favorite to win the competition into an "X Factor" pariah, angrily hated by many of the show’s fans and critics.

Customer management leaders can learn from his meltdown; that of a presumed-popular person who, upon facing the reality that people may not like him as much as he had hoped, stressed over their lack of support instead of working hard to rebuild their trust.

Appeasing the customer

The Netflix example is too easy and has been covered to death on sites like Call Center IQ. In that case, a popular, seemingly-invincible organization came face-to-face with its first bit of adversity (the price increase) and made it worse with its handling. Instead of accepting the failure and committing to reproving itself to its audience, it demonstrated arrogance (who cares if prices are now 60% higher, we’re still the best value around) and a lack of appreciation for the situation. As a result, more people were turned off.

More broadly than mere "crisis management," the Astro incident can teach a lesson about never making complacent assumptions about the customer experience. Customers are fickle and unpredictable, and no matter how well and how long an organization has served them, their opinion can change at any minute, even if the organization never, technically did anything wrong.

Unlike Astro, successful organizations never assume they are entitled to a certain degree of customer satisfaction; they can never be 100% sure they have done enough to keep the customers happy. As a result, they are constantly willing to accept feedback and willing to embrace missteps and bad news as opportunities to get bounce back better than ever, rather than as unfair condemnations of their services and signs of poor appreciation on the part of customers.

In that sense, Netflix’s "competitor" Blockbuster represents another great example. The Blockbuster model was a fixture for the American consumer…until it wasn’t. Sure, there was always some outcry about its pricing, but the idea that customers would suddenly decide they did not want to rent movies and video games seemed crazy.

The company thus felt safe and entitled to a certain level of success with customers; not even a positive early response to Netflix was enough to rattle the cage.

Sure enough, Blockbuster felt it was continually doing its thing as well or better than it always had, and the result was a blindness to the way home entertainment customers were changing and an unwillingness to adapt. Just like Astro’s presumed "recovery," which at this point will definitively come after some damage has already been done, by the time Blockbuster finally got on the Netflix model bandwagon, it was already too late.

Instead of saying, "customers like us, and it looks like it will stay that way," Blockbuster should have been asking, "Just in case this Netflix thing takes off, what should we be doing to remain customers’ favorite option for video rental?"

Research in Motion’s Blackberry is far from at "Block bottom," but it, too, has suffered from "complacency inertia." Long the obvious smartphone choice for business customers, even as alternative smartphone started to make noise, RIMM seemed completely safe in its niche. Plus, as its devices provided an, "I’m a successful businessman" aura, many regular consumers would purchase them as status symbols. All potential audiences seemed happy with their Blackberries.

What RIMM apparently did not count on, however, was a consequence of evolved smartphone technology—the lines between consumer phones and "business" phones would blur. Sure, there are still some elements of the Blackberry that appeal to businesses, but the reality is that iOS and Android-powered devices can handle most corporate functions with flying colors. They can be just as "business" as Blackberries.

On top of that, they are also designed with the average consumer in mind—they contain features and "apps" that actually make life easier and more enjoyable for the average Joe. Now, instead of buying a smart phone primarily to "look business," customers can buy phones that offer them substantive end-user value and can still perform in the work environment, should they need them to.

With its lack of app development and resistance to a user experience that is enjoyable for the most casual of customers, Blackberry falls far short on that ground. What is unfortunate, however, is the fact that it did not need to get left behind—if it had simply remained committed to going above and beyond for customers and proving itself at every turn, it could have remained the dominant force in smartphones.

Why? Look no further than the BBM messaging service, which was popular with teens and young adults who had smartphones. Had Blackberry admitted its message was dated and changed its image to reflect what customers really liked about the product—components like BBM—it could have remained the go-to device in the space.

Just like Astro, when an organization puts forth a product of value, it will gain its share of fans. But fan support is a temporary thing—not a marriage—and companies have to be 100% willing to adapt as customers suddenly change their tastes. If they get to a point at which they are wondering why their once-loyal fans are unhappy or switching to competitors, their reaction was too late.

And, when that happens, they better do everything necessary to prove themselves to those who are disappointed. It is certainly not the time to display arrogance or bewilderment.

But it’s not just about customer interactions

Keeping eyes on the prize as it relates to customer relations is paramount, but the lessons from this week’s "X Factor" also relate to how customer management leaders approach their employees.

Insofar as driving the customer experience requires a cultural buy-in from the staff, customer service representatives must always feel empowered by and connected to the organization in order to properly serve customers. The second they stop believing in the company, the second they become a detriment to the customer experience.

That means that organizations cannot install nice air conditioning, in-office cafeterias and gyms and provide great benefits and then hope the work gets done. They must consistently make their employees feel valued, and they must consistently strengthen the relationship between employer and employee. CSRs should feel like—and want to continue feeling like—team members and stakeholders in the organization. They should not feel like mere employees.

Organizations should, thus, never see their culture as sufficient to keep morale and productivity up and attrition rate low. They must consistently keep their ears open to employee feedback and assure they are prepared to deliver the caliber office experience they want translated into customer experience.

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