Customer satisfaction going down

Customer satisfaction at the national level is at its lowest point in nine years, according to the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). 

The aggregate ACSI score for the second quarter of 2015 is down 0.5 percent to 74.3 on a 0-100 scale, its sixth consecutive quarterly decline.

"While a sustained decline in overall customer satisfaction is never good news, it may be particularly perilous now," saysClaes Fornell, ACSI chairman and founder. "About two-thirds of the economy is made up of consumer spending, and even though spending growth has edged up it's still significantly below the long-term average – and below what is needed for solid economic growth."

Deteriorating customer satisfaction hurts consumer demand, but paradoxically, it may well be that strength in the job market has weakened customer satisfaction. The overall job market seems to be weakening, but not in retail, which has grown by 20 percent since last year. Some of these jobs, however, are replacements due to turnover in customer service positions. Trained employees are leaving consumer-facing positions for slightly improved pay. To the extent that they are being replaced, it is often by less experienced and newly trained personnel.

"Only once in the past 20 years has ACSI plunged in a similar way, in 1995-1997. Like today, the period of sustained ACSI decline occurred several years after a recession and after both consumer spending and the job market had rebounded,” Fornel says. “The major difference between now and 20 years ago is that consumer spending growth in the late '90s had ricocheted to above-average levels, whereas consumer spending today has not even returned to its long-term average."

According to Fornell, another potential cause for today's declining customer satisfaction may be rudimentary analysis of consumer feedback by many companies. "Companies too often confuse raw data for information, but raw data alone are not instructive or particularly useful. Even though companies have more data, consumer research expenditure remains below 2008 levels."

The ACSI model predicts consumer spending growth of about 2.6 percent to 2.8 percent for the next quarter – still too low for robust economic growth. As a result, it will be difficult for the economy to pick up speed unless customer satisfaction and discretionary income growth improve.

The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) is a national economic indicator of customer evaluations of the quality of products and services available to household consumers inthe United States. The ACSI uses data from interviews with roughly 70,000 customers annually as inputs to an econometric model for analyzing customer satisfaction with more than 300 companies in 43 industries and 10 economic sectors, including various services of federal and local government agencies.

'Addams Family' opens at Peoria Players

Altogether ooky is probably a pretty good way to describe the core characters in “The Addams Family,” once you see the cast in the Peoria Players Theatre production in costume and makeup.

Director Travis Olson doesn’t want it any other way. “They are different from you and me, but we would be different from them. So really, who is to say what normal is? Don’t judge a book by its cover, you know?”

That is basically the theme of the musical based on the once-popular television show by the same name. It opens at the theatre at University and Lake streets at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and continues through Oct. 18.

Olson has taken to directing shows that are a little more out there than the typical love-story musical. His last show at Peoria Players was “Shrek The Musical” in April 2014. But that’s not what drew his interest to the creepy and the kooky in “The Addams Family.”

“I just liked the show from the first time I saw it. Then, when I saw it later after it had been tweaked and improved, I was in. I wanted to do it so I submitted it. I’m glad they asked me to direct it,” he said.

This musical is filled with quirky stuff that go beyond the characters of Gomez and Morticia, their children Wednesday and Pugsly, their Uncle Fester, Grandmama Addams, Lurch the butler and Cousin Itt. Such as the myriad of hair extension sewn together to form the costume of Cousin Itt, or the hand that lives as Thing.

Of course, Olson says there are some surprised audiences will have to wait to see. “I can’t give everything away,” he said, including the identity of the actor portraying Grandma. “We want that to be a surprise.”

Audiences who come to see-um will be struck immediately by the set, which is itself eerie, by design. But how it got here is an interesting tale.

Olson saw “The Addams Family” at the Mercury Theatre in Chicago, where it won a prestigious Jeff Award. He called officials there to ask where he might be able to find certain items contained in the set and was invited to meet with them. When he got to Chicago, he learned the set – which was in several interchangeable pieces – was going to be thrown out two days after the show closed. “They asked me if I wanted it. I said yes and the day before it was going to be trashed I rented a truck and went up there and got it,” he said.

It is a cool set. “We love it. I don’t know what we’re going to do with it when we’re done, though. I hope we keep part of it, at least,” he said.

While he is proud of the set, Olson said he is most proud of his cast, a mixture of community theatre veterans and newcomers.

The cast is headed by George Maxedon as Gomez. Maxedon, who portrayed Shrek for Olson as well as the monster in Eastlight Theatre’s production of Young Frankenstein a year ago, is making what may be his last appearance on a Peoria stage because of a job change involving him and his wife. “I hope he comes back some day because he is so talented and so much fun to work with. He is great as Gomez,” Olson said.

Morticia is portrayed by Michelle Rouland, on stage for the first time since playing Velma in “Chicago” more than three years ago. “She is Morticia,” Olson said. “And the banter that goes on between Michelle and George on stage is great. It really is quite fun to watch them play off of each other.”

Madison Boedecker portrays Wednesday, Kaden Micklos is Pugsley, Josh Shepherd portrays Uncle Fester and Austin Shaw is Lurch. Gareth Mitchell and Ethan Foti split time in the hot and confining costume of Cousin Itt.

Other characters include Lucas Beineke, portrayed by Adam Raso, and his parents Alice and Mal, portrayed by Kellen Nitsch and Clifford Clark, respectively. Lucas is Wednesday Addams’ boyfriend and the conflict in the story comes when she brings him and his parents to the Addams home for dinner to announce upcoming nuptials.

Other characters are said to be Addams family ancestors who make appearances throughout the show. In the Peoria Players production those ancestors bring to mind other characters from the current season, including Atticus Finch and Scout from “To Kill a Mockingbird” and a saloon girl from “Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.”

The music was directed by Nicole Fauser and the choreographer was Mariah Thornton. Songs in the show include “When You’re an Addams,” “Where Did We Go Wrong,” “What If,” “Full Disclosure” and “Crazier Than You.”

Almost all the costumes were made for the show by a crew headed by Sue McGrew and Mary Keltner.

Tickets for “The Addams Family” are $20 for adults and $13 for children and can be purchased online at www.peoriaplayers.org or ordered by calling (309) 688-4433.

Show times are 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, Oct. 9 and 10, Thursday-Saturday Oct. 15-17, and at 2 p.m. on Sunday Oct. 11 and Sunday Oct. 18.

Smoke detector survey results disturbing

While most Illinois homes have smoke alarms installed, many homeowners aren't following basic fire safety steps in using them, according to a new survey.

The survey, conducted by Qualtrics for Kidde Fire Safety, the survey found many families have too few alarms installed, don't have them in bedrooms and have outdated models. Kidde Fire Safety, a leading manufacturer of residential fire safety products, is a part of UTC Climate, Controls & Security, a unit of United Technologies Corp.

According to the survey, 15 percent of respondents in Illinois don't have at least one smoke alarm on each floor and 62 percent do not have alarms in their bedrooms. The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) reports half of all home fire deaths occur between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. – when most people are asleep. Installing alarms in bedrooms as well as in hallways could improve a family's escape time by up to 15 minutes. NFPA's current model code requires smoke alarms inside each bedroom, outside each sleeping area and on every level of the home.

"On average, you have less than three minutes from the sound of the first smoke alarm to escape a fire. That's why having alarms throughout the home is so important – the sooner you can hear an alarm, the more time your family has to respond," said Chris Rovenstine, vice president of marketing and sales for Kidde.

The survey also found that at least 22 percent of respondents either have smoke alarms that are at least 10 years old or don't know how old their smoke alarms are, meaning they should be replaced.

"Having working smoke alarms throughout the home can help save lives by alerting families to potential fire risks," Rovenstine said. "We urge families in Illinois to be proactive about their safety and equip their homes with smoke alarms with 10-year sealed batteries."

Other key findings of the survey revealed:

• Four out of five homeowners do not test their smoke alarms once a month, which is the industry recommendation.
• Nearly a third of homeowners admit to disabling a smoke alarm due to a low-battery chirp; more than half of those people left the alarm disabled for longer than a day.
• 36 percent of homeowners are more likely to replace or upgrade their television than their smoke alarms.  
• Nearly all – 99 percent – of those surveyed didn't think of a smoke alarm when naming devices in their home that are always on.

"Unfortunately, results like this survey are part of a nationwide trend," said Rovenstine. "A quarter of homes in the U.S. need updated smoke alarms, and homeowners rank the low-battery chirp as the No. 1 home fire safety annoyance. One solution is to install alarms with 10-year sealed batteries. They provide ongoing hassle-free protection for a decade without needing to replace a battery or hearing a low battery chirp."

For more information, visit www.kidde.com or follow @KiddeSafety on Twitter.

SBA unveils cybersecurity webpage

The U.S. Small Business Administration has unveiled a new cybersecurity webpage for small businesses at www.sba.gov/cybersecurity on the 12^th Anniversary of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month. 

The SBA launched the online tools and resources to highlight Cybersecurity at Work from October 5-9 and in recognition of President Obama's annual proclamation to educate Americans about cyberthreats and cybersafety.

"Cybersecurity is one of our nation's most pressing national security priorities, and America's 28 million small businesses, which create two out of every three new jobs in the U.S., are especially at risk. Small employers are quickly becoming a larger target for criminals looking to access sensitive data because small businesses typically have limited resources for information systems security," said SBA Administrator Maria Contreras-Sweet.

"In an effort to combat cyberattacks against small businesses, the SBA's online tools will help employers identify information security vulnerabilities that put their companies at risk," she added.

A 2013 survey by the National Small Business Association shows that 44 percent of small businesses reported being the victim of a cyberattack, with an average cost of approximately $9,000 per attack. Small businesses have valuable information cybercriminals seek, including employee and customer data, bank account information, access to business finances, and intellectual property. Small business employers also provide access to larger networks such as supply chains.  

The SBA cybersecurity webpage is a resource for small business owners to discover online courses, training opportunities, blogs and webinars, as well as learn cybersecurity information tips, including how to:

• Protect against viruses, spyware and other malicious code;  
• Educate employees about cyberthreats;
• Safeguard Internet connections by using a firewall and encrypting information;
• Use best practices on payment cards, including shifting to more secure credit card payment technology known as "EMV."

The website at www.sba.gov/cybersecurity also includes key steps to take if a firm is the victim of a cybersecurity attack, as well as links to tools from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the Federal Communications Commission, and the U.S. Department of Commerce's National Institute of Standards and Technology.

The SBA encourages small business employers to take the Cyber Security for Small Businesses web course for best practices on protecting businesses and customer information, and to visit www.sba.gov/cybersecurity for tips and resources on safeguarding data against cyberthreats.