First and Lasting Impressions
Filed under: Customer Service, Leadership Callling, Personnel Development
I have had two very bad experiences with customer service this week. Not only was I the recipient of this bad “service” I also saw several other people having the exact same horrible experience.
In both situations the people assigned to dealing with the problem made promises they did not keep. For example setting pickup times and assuring you that if they did not call it would be ready, status updates that did not happen and the approach let’s just try this and I am sure it will work when they really did not have a clue about what to do.
Here is the interesting part at least for my situation. With both companies only because of my pushing I was eventually given to a supervisor to help me resolve hour’s worth of wasted time and finally fix the problems.
When I communicated with these new people they had a much better attitude and brought product knowledge that the front line people did not know. They did simple things like returning my calls on time and then committed to do whatever it took to resolve my issues.
Here is my question? Why not set the bar for all of the front line people in your organization at the same level where the supervisors were operating either in technical training, people skills or the authority to make it happen.
You will never convince me that it is cost effective for any company to pay less than qualified people to take hours of their time and your customers offending people that will probably never come back unless they get the slim chance to talk with their boss.
The front lines of your organization where interaction takes place with the people who are experiencing what you have to offer will always be the place where you want to make the best impression. If you’re weakest and newest team members are given these roles thinking they will grow into the job eventually the problem will solve itself because you will not have any more customers to deal with.
Customer Service That Works
In a day when we tend to have more user identifications and passwords than we do meaningful relationships real customer service that treats you like a person really stands out and separates you from your competition. There may be nothing worse than to be stuck on a computer phone tree that puts you through twenty selections only to drop your call before you get to a real person.
I love technology but when you substitute the personal touch with a phone tree you have gone too far regardless of what the cost benefit studies tell you. These are my non-negotiable items when it comes to customer service:
1. Personal Touch—If you must use automated answering software there must be an option to get to a real person within first ten seconds of call. If people want to use technology they can go to your website and totally automate the entire transaction but when they make a phone call they need to talk with a highly trained friendly individual who knows how to deliver.
2. Inside Staff—When you talk with someone and you can tell they are probably several thousand miles away and they are not well trained it is a horrible experience. I do not think customer service should be outsourced because no matter how much they know about your product they are still not personally invested in your success.
3. Follow Up—There is nothing better than when the person on the other end of the line lets you know they own your problem and they will not be satisfied until you are as well. This means they give you their name, an incident report number and a direct phone number if you need to call them back. They also get your number and call you back later to make sure the problem has been resolved.
There are many areas where it may be prudent and profitable to cut back on expenses to help your bottom line. This is not one of them because in the end if your customers are not satisfied they will find someone else who gets it.
Supply vs. Demand
We all know the basic principles involved in this economic formula and how it affects price. I was recently exposed to a piece of this equation that I had not experienced before.
Last week I returned from a business trip from Phoenix with a stop in Atlanta with a lot of thunderstorms in the area. When I walked into the terminal I knew there were major problems because there were twice as many people there as should be this late in the day.
After checking the departing flight board three times my flight to Birmingham had been delayed to 11:45 p.m. which translated to me that it would probably be canceled. So I decided with seemingly thousands of other people to go and rent a car to drive instead.
It was obvious that demand was out the roof by the number of people trying to get cars. When I finally got mine the rate was extremely high for a compact with no room for negotiation. I wrote if off to supply and demand economics.
When I entered the Hertz lot I was shocked to see hundreds of available cars on the lot. I had experienced for the first time that at least I was aware of the economics of high demand and high supply.
When any company takes advantage of a high demand situation by artificially driving up prices they are digging their own graves. One day the pendulum will swing and the demand will be low and everyone will remember the day Hertz placed greed above customer service.
Charge a reasonable price with world class service and your organization will be able to weather any storm and thrive when others are failing all around you. If you want people to stick with you during your hard times you had better treat them well when they are in the midst of theirs.
Customer Service
Every growing business needs to generate new clients and increase market share. That is why so much money is spent on marketing to try to reach additional customers and open the front door to additional revenue.
However, I have come to believe that closing the back door and increasing retention of existing customers is the most important factor in market share. In one area marketing, we are trying to attract and add new units while customer service is seeking to retain and multiply the impact of people who are already on board.
I would move significant budget dollars away from marketing until I had a world class customer service reputation. I would have real people on the phone that will stop at nothing within reason to satisfy the problems that I am having with your products or services.
The incredible bounce factor out of outstanding customer service is not only do I retain a significant percentage of existing clients; they become the most effective sales force for my organization by talking within their network of influence to generate the new customers I need to continue to grow.
The next time someone is trying to convince you to automate your customer service or outsource it to someone who answers the phone in India forget about it. Move the personal touch to the top of your marketing plan to support your existing customers and they more than any direct retail marketing plan will help you grow your company.
Dan Greer
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