252 The Revengeful Consumer
252 报复的顾客
In recent years, Israeli consumers have grown more demanding as they become wealthier and more world-wise. Foreign travel is a national passion; this summer alone, one in 10 citizens will go abroad. Exposed to higher standards of service elsewhere, Israelis are returning home expecting the same. American firms have also begun arriving in large numbers. Chains such as KFC, McDonald’s and Pizza Hut are setting a new standard of customer service, using strict employee training and constant monitoring to ensure the friendliness of frontline staff. Even the American habit of telling departing customers to“Have a nice day”has caught on. ‘Let’s be nicer’, says Itsik Cohen, director of a consulting firm. “Nothing happens without competition.”
近几年来，以色列消费者的要求变得越来越高，因为他们现在更加富裕了，也更加精于世故了。在以色列，境外旅游已成为一种全国性热潮，仅这个夏天，就将有十分之一的公民去国外。在其他地方享受到了更高标准的服务之后，回到国内的以色列人仍期望能得到同样的服务。美国公司也开始大量地
涌人以色列。诸如肯德基、麦当劳和必胜客等连锁店为顾客服务树立了新的标准。他们严格地培训员工，经常监督以确保一线员工能够对顾客友好。甚至连美国人对即将离开的顾客说：“祝你有个好心情“的习惯也开始在以色列形成。”没有人会在早上一醒来就说：“让我们做得更好一点。”一家咨询公司的董事伊特斯克‘考恩如是说，“没有竞争就不会有发展。”
Privatization, or the threat of it, is a motivation as well. Monopolies that until recently have been free to take their customers for granted now fear what Michael Perry, a marketing professor, calls “the revengeful consumer”. When the government opened up competition with Bezaq, the phone company, its international branch lost 40% of its market share, even while offering competitive rates. Says Perry, “People wanted revenge for all the years of bad service.” The electric company, whose monopoly may be short-lived, has suddenly stopped requiring users to wait half a day for a repairman. Now, appointments are scheduled to the half hour. The graceless E1 A1 Airlines, which is already at auction, has retrained its employees to emphasize service and is boasting about the results in an ad campaign with the slogan, “you can feel the change in the air.” For the first time, praise outnumbers complaints on customer survey sheets.
私有化，或者说私有化的威胁，也是一种刺激。直到不久之前，垄断者从未把他们的顾客当回事，但是现在他们开始畏惧那些被市场营销教授迈克尔·皮雷称为“报复的顾客”的消费者了。当政府允许国外公司与拜扎克电话公司进行竞争之后，尽管该公司提供了很有竞争力的价格，他们的国际分支机构还是失去了40%的市场份额。皮雷说：“人们在经受了多年的恶劣服务之后想进行报复。”电力公司的垄断地位本来已不大可能长期维持下去的，但是他们却突然改变了以往的做法，顾客不再需要半天时间才能等到一名电工，现在只需提前半个小时预约即可。从前服务态度粗野，现在正在被拍卖的艾尔·阿尔航空公司，已经在重新培训员工，以提高服务质量，并在一次广告宣传活动中，用这样的一句口号来宣扬自己改革的结果——“你们可以从空气中感受到变化”。由此，它们在顾客调查表中得到的表扬首次超过投诉。