The Disconnected Call Center
Two years ago I needed to make some emergency repairs to my car. This was before I started on Dave Ramsey’s “Baby Steps” so I hadn’t yet gotten smart enough to have an emergency fund in place to take care of such things. I took out a loan from my 401(k) account to cover the cost.

Now that I’m a little smarter financially, I decided to pay off that loan early so the money will be in the fund (hopefully) earning more than the 5% interest I pay myself on the borrowed money. I called the group who manages the funds, got the payoff amount and made arrangements to pay off the balance.  I went to my bank and got a cashier’s check and sent it off.

Uh-Oh
Two days later I was balancing my checking account and noted that the bank teller had transposed two numbers on the cashier’s check. The check was off by a little over $40. I could have gotten mad at the teller, but I realized I should have checked the amount of the check before I sent it.

The next day, I called the 401(k) people again to explain my problem. The lady I spoke with was very nice and assured me my mistake would be no problem. She told me to send in another check for the rest of the balance of the loan and all would be well. Based on that advice I went to my bank, got another cashier’s check and mailed it off (double-checking the amount, of course). That was that, or so I thought.

The following week I received back the first check I sent. A form letter was attached with a check in the box next to the entry “Check was not made out in the exact amount of loan balance.” Needless to say, I was a little upset. Why didn’t the nice lady I spoke with during my second call mention this to me. Two days later, I received the second check I sent.

This is another example of customer service failing either because they are told to say whatever it takes to make the customer get off the phone or they don’t know what’s really going on. Either way this is wrong. If your organization runs this way, stop it! Your customers deserve better than this.

The Mismanaged Web Form
Yesterday, I was looking into purchasing a service. I went to the web site of the company I thought would be able to assist me best. I checked out the site and didn’t find information for exactly what I wanted, so I filled out the contact form. I asked my question in the comments and specifically checked “Email Me” and did not check the “Telephone Me” box.

“Ring, telephone, ring! Telephone, ring!”
Yes, you guessed it – someone called. Within fifteen minutes of submitting that form I got a phone call from a sales person. After talking about the service I wanted (yes, they had something which would be exactly what I wanted) I asked the person, “On the message you received from my form submission, do you get the information about how I wished to be contacted?” “Yes, it says here you wanted to be contact by email.” “Then, why did you call me?” “That’s policy. We always call to make sure we answer the customer’s questions thoroughly.”

I went on to explain to the very nice lady that I wasn’t mad at her, but it seemed rather a waste to ask a customer how they prefer to be contacted and not contact them that way. If it’s policy to always call, why appear to give someone the option to be contacted by email? I suggested she refer that policy to her management to either change the form or follow the customers’ requests. I wasn’t ugly with her – after all she wasn’t really at fault.

Telephone, ring! Telephone Ring! Telephone Ring!
The story didn’t end there, though. About ten minutes after I hung up with the first lady, someone from the local office of this company called.  She asked me the same questions and and gave me the same information as the first lady. Curious, I asked: “On the message you received from my form submission, did you get the information about how I wished to be contacted?” “No,” she replied, “We don’t get that information.”

The lesson here is: If you give customers an option about how they want to be contacted, and they give you a preference – give them what they ask for. If you’re going to call anyway, don’t ask for a preference.

How about you? Do you have any suggestions to help resolve these two customer service problems? Please feel free to add them in the comments.

PS: If you by chance get the song reference I make in some of the titles, I’d love to hear from you. Drop a note in the comments or use the contact us form (link at the top of the page).

Top Photo:  photo credit: Bob B. Brown

Bottom Photo:  photo credit: cdsessums

Motorcycles do require a bit more maintenance than cars. There’s the regular oil changes, coolant changes, lube jobs and such; but, there is also chain or belt changing, and close monitoring of various mechanical pieces which make the bike safe. Although my wife is more than capable of maintaining the bike, we tend to take it to the dealer for maintenance. This is something I don’t normally consider for our cars.

They do good work, of course. That’s the main reason we take the bike there. They also charge us a fair price – at least it seems fair to me. Another reason, though, which stands out in my mind is the relationship we have with the people who staff the service department. When I call to make an appointment to bring the bike in, which is about once every 12-18 months, the service manager always remembers us. He asks how we are doing, how we are enjoying the bike, and whether the problem they fixed last time we were in was still fixed. I don’t know if the dealership has a tremendous CRM system or if the service manager has a tremendous memory – either way they make us feel like we’re part of the family.

We could take our bike to a closer shop, but we drive 20-plus miles out of our way because these guys are good and they treat us well. They are responsive to questions via email and phone and take the time to chat with us when we come in.

That’s the kind of business I like to work with. How about you?

A Typical Cold Call
Like many of you, I get a lot of cold calls from sales folks. I don’t fault these people for calling and doing their jobs but I do fault them when they try the hard sell to get me to buy from them when I don’t need or want their services and tell them so. Here’s an example which is a conglomeration of several calls which stick out in my mind:

Her: I’ve done a search on Google for your key words and I noted you’re not showing up at the top of the results. Our company guarantees you top results in Google, Yahoo! and other search engines.

Me: That’s funny, when I checked the other day we were right on top. What key words did you search on?

Her: Well, I don’t really remember [or lists off key words which we don't try to rank on], but you weren’t showing up at all on the first page of Google.

Me: Really? Well, let me check my main keywords. (types in key word in Google search box and clicks) No, there we are, right at the top where we should be. Thanks for calling, but I don’t think we need your service.

Her: Well, you couldn’t have searched on the most important key words I searched on.

Me: OK. What key words do you think we should be hitting on?

Her: [lists off 6 or so words]

Me: Well, the reason we don’t show for those words is because we don’t consider them key. We know what our customers search on based on our keyword research and we show for those. Thank you for calling, have a nice …

Her (loudly): Well, you certainly don’t know how to do keyword research. Our company has an automatic tool which …

Me: Please. Our SEO efforts are really going along quite nicely. Thank you for calling …

Her (yelling): Do you even know what you’re talking about?

Me: (Click. Hangs up.)

So, what went wrong here?
It was pretty obvious that the people represented by “Her” are following a script and don’t know beans about SEO. Many also must have missed out on the part of the sales training program which advised not to insult a potential customer lest they become alienated and refuse to buy your product even if it’s the only solution to their problem.

Sadly, I get at least one call a week from people trying to sell SEO services who haven’t a clue how it works. Sadly, when people fall for their pitches and buy their software or services they are disappointed and legitimate SEOs around the world take another hit on their reputation.

Tech Support, Too
This someones happens with tech support people, too. Some colleagues and I were evaluating two very specialized software packages for a particular application. When we tried the demo of an upgraded version of the package we were already using we ran into this conversation between their tech support person and one of our senior network administrators (20+ years of experience and was teaching at a local college at the time, too):

Support: Well, it’s strange that you’re having this trouble. None of our other customers seem to have this issue. Let’s go over the installation checklist together. (lists off step by step the instructions we already read and followed on their web site).

Admin: (as the support tech goes through the list) Yes. Yes. Did that. Yes. Yes, we can ping the server. (etc.)

Support: Did you copy the config file from the old server to the new one?

Admin: Yes. I’ll even do it again here just to make sure. (copies file.) OK, it’s done. And we’re still getting that same error.

Support: And you’re sure you copied the config file from the old server?

Admin: Yes. I’ll do it again if you want me to.

Support: Are you sure you know how to copy a file?

Admin: (Click. Hangs up.)

The lesson here is simple
Everyone in your company works does marketing. This person marketed his way out of the sale of a software package worth tens of thousands of dollars. After this exchange (which was on the speaker on our end), the manager of the department we were helping told us, “I don’t care if we have to go back to paper and pencil, I will not buy software from that company ever again!”

A Good Example
Just to be fair, here’s one I thought went way right:

Him: Hi there. We offer training on [specialized high-end routers and switches]. Are you the person I should speak with about this type of training?

Me: No. I’m not the person.

Him: Would you please give me the name and number of the person who does?

Me: No. We don’t do that here.

Him: OK. I respect that. If I send you an email, will you please forward it on to the person who does?

Me (Very surprised at this – by now the conversations usually go bad): Yes I will. Email me the information at [my email address].

He was polite, respectful and nice. I happily forwarded his contact information because I thought any company who employs someone who operates like this has to have something good going for them. I took the risk of getting on someone’s spam list, but this happened a few weeks ago and I’ve not seen anything spammy out of them. Color me impressed.

The takeaways from this are:

• If you want to sell me something, let’s identify a real problem then help me solve it.
• If you are selling something, please learn about the industry you’re trying to sell to. Don’t try to baffle me with B.S. when you don’t even understand the vernacular.
• Don’t, under any circumstances, insult people you are trying to sell to or give tech support to. I’ve done tech support enough to know it’s easy to be snarky when you’re dealing with people who are less knowledgeable, but you must avoid this trap. Add value to the other person through education.
• Don’t argue if I say “no.” Even if at some point in future I might need your product or services I will not hesitate to avoid you if you pick a fight with me.
• Everyone is in marketing. If you don’t understand this then you need to educate yourself. Go through my book reviews section and check out some of the excellent instruction available from people a lot smarter than me on the subject.
• Listen first. Listen second. Talk third. Get to know me and understand what’s going on and you can truly help. I’ll likely be a customer for life if you do this.

What about you? What kind of lessons have you learned or would like others to take away from your bad sales or support experiences? Please feel free to share in the comments.

Although I recently pointed out that I found TV to be too much of a time suck and cut off our cable service to help make more time for other things like reading and writing, I have to admit that the subscription cost was also a large factor in my decision to cut the cable. With streaming from NetFlix, Hulu.com and YouTube, I can watch pretty much any show I enjoyed via cable at a much lower cost. According to the CNNMoney.com article, the average cost for cable or satellite is $71 per month – I was paying much more than that and certainly resented it.

I wonder if this is just another sign that Bob Garfield’s predictions in “The Chaos Scenario” are coming to pass. People are unplugging from “traditional” media and starting to wander off to new frontiers.

One thing I see happening is the attempt to push payment models on these new frontiers. For example, Hulu.com is preparing a pay-to-watch service and I’ve heard rumors YouTube may start a similar “premium” service for previously broadcast shows. Still, even at around $10 per month for these pay services plus the $15 per month I spend on NetFlix, I’m still coming out way ahead of what I was paying for cable service.

Perhaps that pay model isn’t so bad, after all.

photo credit: mikemol

Ah, but it wasn’t to be. The nice lady working the cash register had no idea how to use it. She scanned the item I wished to purchase, but, since I had no cash and needed to use my debit card she had no idea what to do next. She called for a manager to come assist. Three times she called over the course of ten minutes before someone came to her aid.

I could tell she was flustered. During the wait I asked, “Haven’t you been trained how to work this thing?” Her reply was shocking, but not surprising given the situation. “No. This is my first day here and they stuck me on this thing. No one showed me how it works and I have no idea how to run it.” While we waited for the manager, she went on to tell me she’d worked in retail for a number of years. Although she had been a cashier before, this particular system was unlike any other she’d worked with and she was almost completely unfamiliar with how it worked.

By the time the manager arrived three or four people joined then line behind me – and this was the only checkout open at the time. It was getting tense because not everyone in line was especially patient. I can imagine others joined the line and simply left after realizing things weren’t moving along; abandoning their purchases and going to the other mass merchandiser down the road.

The manager acted like it was a huge inconvenience to have to come and show the new cashier how to do her job on her first day. She treated the lady with a great deal of contempt as she walked her through the process of completing my transaction.

At one time in my career, I worked for this particular mass merchandiser. Then, it was the master of retail. People begged to get into its management training program because it was the best in the business. I remember thinking to myself, “Wow, that would never have happened in my store.”

I’m not going to speculate on what was going on that particular day in that particular store. It could be they were short handed and the manager felt she had no choice but to put the rookie on the checkout while she attended to other matters. Was that the best solution? Think of the impression this gave to me and the other customers waiting in line. Think also of the frustration and humiliation the new employee felt. She probably didn’t feel very valued as a member of the team.

If you are going to have employees interacting directly with customers it is essential you make sure they are properly trained. If you don’t make sure they know what they’re doing it’s bad for the customer, bad for the employee, and certainly bad for you and your brand. This person is the face, voice, personality of your company to each person with whom they come in contact. You owe it to everyone to make sure they are adequately prepared for the task at hand.

Granted, it takes time for someone to mature into a role. While this is true, good preparation is essential. Would you rather build your business on a foundation of sand or rock?

What if the manager had run the register and had the new person doing something else that day? How might have the situation been different?

photo credit: karindalziel

Last week I needed my oil changed. Now, I don’t normally go to my mechanic because they do charge a bit more than I can pay elsewhere for this relatively simple service. My regular, locally owned oil change place sold out to a corporate competitor and quit stocking the brand of oil I prefer to use. A friend recommended the place where he gets his done, so I looked them up on the web.

This is a one-location small business managed by the lady who owns it. The shop does quick oil changes, car washes and detailing. I googled them and found their web site. It’s simple, somewhat how I describe a local web site could be in the article I refer to above. I clicked the email link, and asked if the oil I prefer to use was in stock in a message. To my surprise, I received a response within a couple of hours letting me know that they do stock my brand of oil and there is a slight up charge for it. So far so good.

When I went to the shop a few days later, I mentioned our email exchange to the owner. She remembered and noted that I was the first person to actually send an email to her asking about the shop. I explained to her that I work in web marketing and that she “passed the test” because she responded so quickly to my question. She was surprised when I mentioned many small businesses don’t answer their email in a timely fashion – or at all. “Doesn’t everyone answer email from their customers right away?” she asked. She was quite taken aback that many businesses don’t.

“That’s just good customer service,” she said.

And she’s right.

This lady may not yet know the difference between socmed and Club Med, but she knows how to serve her customers. Isn’t that what it’s really all about?

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan

I am a Dave fan and have been for over a year since I first read his book “The Total Money Makeover” (Amazon Affiliate Link). Since then I’ve gone on to take his Financial Peace University (FPU) Class and to be a class coordinator for FPU at our church.

Socmed Savvy
Dave’s organization is very social media savvy. Whether he personally directs this or not, I do not know. What I do know is that he has surrounded himself with some very dedicated, talented and knowledgeable people who have taken to social media and set a high standard for those who wish to follow.

I started following @DaveRamseyLive and @RamseyShow on Twitter last year just before Dave held his Town Hall For Hope simulcast event.  The producer of the Dave Ramsey radio show, Blake, does most of the tweeting for the organization. During the Town Hall For Hope a large number of us who were hosting the simulcast were also tweeting amongst each other and interacting with Blake. I think he was a bit overwhelmed by how many were tweeting their locations and attendance numbers as well as juggling incoming questions and his other duties. Still, he did a great job taking questions on Twitter and Facebook and reporting on what was going on behind the scenes. For those of us watching the simulcast and following on Twitter, this event took on a whole new dimension as an interactive event rather than a one-way “talking to.”

*** Correction (7/14/2010 ): It was rightly brought to my attention that Chris Thomas did the Twitter feed for the Town Hall for Hope. He gets the credit for making the event very social. Thanks to Jack for pointing this out. ***

Over the past year the Ramsey organization has continued to do social media very well. They have tens of thousands following them on Twitter and Facebook. Events and special promotions are well-promoted by Dave’s team members, and those who are fans and followers relay the information. It works very well. These folks really understand “The Groundswell,” “The Conversation,” and how to get people who like their products to spread the word. (Of course, it helps that they have great products, too).

Savvy at Live Events, Too
Their sensitivity to online social was very evident during their recent Total Money Makeover Live (TMMO) event in Houston, TX.

I bought tickets to see Dave live in Houston back in September, a full four months before the event. I learned of the event through their Twitter stream and got tickets for a special introductory price of $9.99, well below the regular $40.00 and was well promoted through Twitter and Facebook.

The day before the TMMO event, Dave held his Entre Leadership workshop. This set of classes is aimed at entrepreneurs and business people who are looking to strengthen their leaderships skills. There were a number of people live-tweeting throughout the course of the day. Because of the bits of information which “leaked” out, I’m now looking to attend the training myself to sharpen some of my skills.

On the morning of the event, before the doors opened, there were a few of us who gathered outside in the cold waiting to get in. Of course, there were people with their iPhones and Blackberrys going with some, of course, tweeting about the event. Two of Dave’s staff came out looking for us “Tweeters.” They took our pictures to put on their live blog of the event (which was, unfortunately, taken down a couple days after the event).

A little bit after they came out and took our pictures, the two came back out and gave us vouchers for a free item among the many things offered for sale at the event. We ended up giving ours away to a young couple who were interested in taking FPU, but that’s another story. This was totally unexpected and very welcome.

Interactive Through Texting
During the event, the people in attendance were encouraged to interact by texting answers to questions which were shown on the screen at the back of the stage. Attendee comments and answers to the questions were shown on the screen during the breaks.

The events I usually attend are more techie-oriented. Thus Twitter and Facebook are more commonly used. The general public, however, may not be tuned in to the mobile versions of those applications and texting is an excellent way to go. A special 5-digit phone number was set up to make it more convenient to send texts. One sign of widespread participation was the cumulative answer to the question asking how much everyone’s debt load was. The total of those who responded out of the 8000 or so participants was over $700 million.

Of course, the regular “Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, etc.” and “join our online community” slides were shown, too.

Customer Service is Excellent, Too
I’ve been on somewhat of a rant about customer service lately. The Ramsey organization is very keen on this as well. As an example:

I recently purchased six FPU Membership Kits via their web site. I’ve only ever had one kit at a time sent to me, and that was sent to my P.O. Box. I placed my order on a Wednesday and was informed the following Tuesday that my package would go out the next day. When I responded to this notice with my disappointment on the late ship date, I received an answer right away from Josh, the Church Department Advisor. The explanation was forthright and honest. All was shipped according to their policy (which I have to admit I failed to read thoroughly). Still, I did receive my packages before our class started. All is well.

This past Sunday was the first session of the latest FPU class my wife and I are coordinating. After this first class, I received an email query as to how the class went. I assume this initial contact was automatically generated, but the response to my answer was not. I had a great email exchange, again with Josh, about the class and some other things. This correspondence goes to show the effort going on to help make sure the customer is part of the team and not just a sales target. I appreciate that very much.

In putting together this article I had need to contact Dave’s Media Office. Jane came through with the head shot you see above and permission to use the image of me and Jen from their web site. It was all quick and efficient with no hassles nor drama.

Worth Watching
If you’re involved in business, I highly recommend you check these folks out. They do the web and customer service very well, indeed. You can learn a lot from them.

Photos courtesy of The Lampo Group.

A few months ago, I was reading a blog post which I believe was written by either Chris Brogan or Seth Godin* and offered the advice to be extra nice to those who serve you when you are a customer. The encouragement was to smile, call the person by name if you know it or can read their name tag, say “please” and “thank you” and make a joke if you can. The idea behind this advice was to help make their day a little better and encourage better service for you and those who follow you. It seemed a great idea so I decided to try it.

I’ve made it a challenge to myself to try to make every server I come in contact with to smile. I may not succeed in this goal, but I can see as I use each person’s name and act politely towards them their demeanor and stance changes. I note the people visibly relax. It’s an amazing transformation.

Here are some examples:

Example 1: A couple weeks before Christmas I needed some coffee. Since my wife and I planned to do our regular grocery shopping within a day or two, I headed over to a “Dollar Store” down from the restaurant where we were lunching to buy enough to tide me over. When it was my turn to pay, I took out my dollar bill and, just as a joke, swiped it in the card reader a few times.

The young lady behind the register looked at me like I was a nut and said, “Sir, you can’t swipe a dollar bill. It doesn’t work that way”

“Oh,” I replied, “I never pay with cash any more so I forgot.”

After I paid she bagged my stuff and I grabbed the bag and headed out the door. “Sir,” she called after me, “don’t you want your receipt?”

“Does it work in the swiper?” I asked.

“No.”

“Then I hardly think I want it then.” I smiled at her and at this point she finally got that I was joking and laughed out loud.

Success.

I also succeeded in embarrassing my 13-year-old son to the point where he opted to wait for me outside.

Bonus! (He knows I’m kidding.)

Example 2: A friend and I went into a local chain “casual dining” restaurant for lunch. Our server was obviously new and was a little flustered as she went through the motions of getting our drinks and food orders. I made note of her name and each time she came by I would ask for something small and make a big deal to my friend how she was “going to hook us up.” I made sure to call her by name as I did this.

By the time lunch was over she had relaxed and was serving all the tables around us like an old pro.

Examples 3, 4 & 5: The other day I found myself at the local Veterans Administration hospital for my annual physical. In my opinion workers in VS hospitals are among the most over-worked and under-appreciated workers out there. They put in long hours and deal with a clientele who have an entitlement mentality to the point where they are often rude and sometimes abusive to the people who are trying their best to help them. This often reflects how the caregivers treat them back. I’m not saying that veterans are not entitled to the care – they most certainly are. However, that entitlement does not mean they have the right to run roughshod over those who provide care for them. I also know the VA system has its problems, but overall I’ve never had bad care at any VA facility I’ve visited.

My VA routine starts before 6:00 AM when I arrive at the hospital to get in line to get lab work done. That’s very early for me to be someplace, and I’m sure the folks who work that area of the hospital find it pretty early, too. Most everyone’s tired and cranky, and the person who dispenses labels and number tickets often takes it with both barrels as the first person most of us come in contact with.

When I arrived at the window for my turn I could see she was in a sour mood already. I smiled and gave her as cheerful a “good morning” as I could muster on no coffee. When my name appeared on the screen after I swiped by ID Card I said, “Oh, look. You were expecting me.” Now, we both knew that my name appeared on her screen because the computer hooked to the card scanner did a database query, but the result was great nonetheless. I could see her visibly relax, she smiled and wished me a good day. The next person in line got an enthusiastic good morning, too.

Pass it on!

Next came the person who took my blood for the lab work. He was already in good spirits and we bantered back and forth about this and that while he did his business. I wonder, though, how many people came in there with a sour attitude and took him for granted. By being polite, I may have extended his already good mood.

After I visited with my doctor, it was back to the lab for some more blood work. Back in the line, only this time to find there was a problem with the computer hooked to the card scanner. When I finally got up to the window, there was the man who drew my blood earlier. He was still in a pretty good mood despite the problems he was experiencing and having to deal with the impatient people. That man is a rare gem in customer service: the person who seems unflappable.

To round out my appointments for the day, I had to get some inserts for my shoes. Funny, that while I was sitting there waiting and reading my copy of Trust Agents (note: Amazon Affiliate Link) one of the men waiting for his turn was talking about this very topic with the others sitting around us. He exhorted the people to be polite to the VA personnel because they work hard and try hard to give veterans good care.

The worker who called this man’s name sounded as if he’d rather be anywhere than where he was. Such lack of enthusiasm is noted most often at times such as one’s own execution. The man got up, asked the worker his name, greeted him again, by name and asked how he was doing. As they walked down the hall, you could hear the lightness in the worker’s voice as they conversed.

What a change.

I’m not a student of psychology, but I can certainly observe changes in a person’s attitude easily enough. The changes in just these examples should be enough to convince you to try to be extra nice to those you come in contact with on purpose. I can’t believe the difference in the quality of service I get, almost across the board, as I work on being more pleasant.

This is not to say you being nice will work every time. I think, just as in any relationship, customer service is a two-way street. I think these examples show there needs to be effort by both parties if excellent service is to be had.

This is also not to say that it is less incumbent upon the server to provide good service.  They are certainly primarily responsible for their service. But, if you as a customer can help the process along, why not do it?

The Golden Rule applies here as it does everywhere else: Treat others as you would like to be treated.

* I checked their blogs and couldn’t find this particular piece. It may have even been written by someone else. Please feel free to link to the proper post in the comments if you know it.

photo credit: jamieleto

I’m reminded of an episode of Monty Python’s Flying Circus which illustrates this. It tells the story of giant Blancmanges from outer space invade the Earth in order to win the tennis championship at Wimbledon. At one point a lady (played by Eric Idle) is reporting a strange incident to a police sergeant (played by John Cleese). The dialog went something like this:

Lady (dressed in Tennis Outfit): Yes, that’s right, I was just having a game of doubles with Sandra and Jocasta, Alec and David …

Sergeant: Hang on!

Lady: What?

Sergeant: That’s Five.

Lady: What?

Sergeant: Five people. How did you play doubles with five people? Sounds a bit funny if you ask me; playing doubles with five people.

The lady goes on to explain how they play doubles with five people

Sergeant: Look, it’s your affair if you want to play with five people, but don’t go calling it doubles! Look, at Wimbledon, right, if Fred Stolle and Tony Roche played Charlie Pasarell and Cliff Drysdale and Peaches Bartkowitz, they wouldn’t go calling it doubles.

You can watch the whole exchange here on YouTube.

A Tale of Two Experiences
A friend of mine recently had two experiences with telephone and email customer service with different companies which gave me pause. They are examples of how we should not do customer service for those who purchase our goods and services.

Tale The First – The Mobile Carrier
In the first, she had a cell phone stolen. It was a rather pricey smart phone. Right after it was stolen, she wanted to replace it. Theft insurance wasn’t available for this particular phone so replacing it outright would have cost her quite a bit of money.  After consulting with the customer service people on the phone, she purchased a less expensive “regular” phone with the promise that she could get the smart phone again at upgrade time at a much lower cost. Her anniversary was within a few months, so it made sense to her to wait.

When the few months had passed she called to get her new smart phone, only to be told by the customer service person that her upgrade date had been changed and she would have to pay the full price for the phone or wait a few more months. When she asked why the date was changed she was given a number of reasons, none of which made any sense. At one point a customer service representative on the phone told her that she must have been in “roaming” too many times during her contract period, which would cause her upgrade date to slide. This was not true, as she is on a national plan which purports to have no “roaming.”

Not satisfied with the answers she got from the main customer service number, she called the local store for her carrier. They checked her account, told her to come in and she got her phone that day.

Now, what happened here? The representatives at the store were at a loss as to why she was refused an upgrade over the phone. They also told her there was no such reason as “going in to roaming too many times” for sliding one’s upgrade date. Why did the people at the call center tell her this?

There are many reasons, I suppose. Perhaps the call center people were not authorized to make such a transaction. In that case, why not just be honest? Tell the customer something like: “I’m sorry, we’re not allowed to do that over the phone. Please go by your nearest store and they will be able to take care of you today.” Yes, the customer might be irritated, but not nearly as much as being blamed for the problem and given a bunch of excuses for not taking care of the request.

Tale The Second – The Shipping Company
In another incident, this same friend ordered an item from a web site and requested 3-day shipping from a large delivery service. When her order was shipped, she checked the company’s web site tracking and found that the scheduled delivery date was set for four business days instead of 3. When she emailed asking about this, the customer service representative replied that “3-Day” is actually a form of “ground” service and delivery may be made after the 3 business days. When she inquired further via email and by phone, she was told that the pickup day doesn’t count in the three business days. When she pointed out that the date she expected delivery took that fact into account, she was again told that “3-Day” doesn’t necessarily mean delivery in 3 days.

This seemed a bit incredible to me. Why would a company instruct its customer service people to do what amounts to a “bait and switch?”  What was the real reason for the delay in delivery? Could it have been because more people shopped on line this year and the service was overburdened with more packages than expected which caused delays? Whatever the reason, an honest answer would have been better. In the end, my friend (and everyone she told about this) was antagonized and may think twice before using this particular service for package delivery.

Companies – those large and small – take heed: Customers are not going to stand for this kind of treatment for long. If you blame shift, make bogus excuses and lie your customers are going to figure it out. Not only will you lose their business, you will also lose the business of a number of their friends and acquaintances. If they spend any time on line, the potential audience for their story can be quite large.

If there’s a problem, admit as much and go on. It’s OK. Your customers will understand the occasional glitch. They will appreciate your honesty and tell their friends good things about you.

If you’re playing with five, don’t go calling it doubles.

photo credit: yingtak

The other day I was shopping at the local location of a mass retailer. I don’t think I expect too much from this company: lots of  selection, discounted prices and the convenience of buying grocery items as well as “stuff” at the same time. I also expect the store to be reasonably clean and the people friendly; and it’s unusual that either isn’t true. Despite the jokes and the criticism, in the past, this store normally delivered what I want they way I want.

Over the past few months, I’ve noted a deterioration of the quality of this particular store. For example:

• There’s no music
  They used to play a variety of tunes mixed in with information about specials and tempting advertisements for the fast food outlet at the front of the store. I enjoyed hearing the occasional song I liked and it made for a nice distraction from the rigors of shopping.
• The store isn’t as clean as it used to be
  I personally know a couple of the people who clean the store. I know they work hard and I see them working hard and they tell me they’re working hard. But, I notice the store is a mess most of the time.
• Things don’t work they way they should
  Stores have TVs and other displays to aid in their selling. Most of the content on these devices is nothing but crass commercials. Every so often, though, something is shown which interests me. But, when there is no audio or the picture is too fuzzy, it’s useless and may as well be turned off.
• Many of the items I regularly buy are out of stock – a lot
  It seems like every time I go to this store they are out of two or three things I need. Because of staff cuts, it’s hard to track someone down to ask if there is any in the back. Most times when I do ask, there’s nothing in the back to bring out.

Many of you may be yelling at your screen by now, “Hey dummy, If the place is that bad shop somewhere else!” And I would if it weren’t for the fact that despite the downturn in quality, in my opinion they are still the best place to shop overall.

Here’s Where Milk Comes In
Yesterday, though, they hit a new low. My wife went to grab a gallon of milk out of the cooler and found that each and every gallon bottle of 2% milk was drenched in spilled milk. This is no exaggeration – each and every one.

It caused me to stop and think: Someone had to take those gallon bottles out of the containers they came in and load them in the racks in the cooler. Each of those bottles was handled by someone who saw they were wet and they didn’t bother to grab a rag or something and wipe them off.

The reasons he or she didn’t wipe them are irrelevant. The fact is many customers were turned off by the mess. Some shrugged their shoulders and went on with their business, their already low opinion of this store reinforced. Others didn’t purchase milk they otherwise would have, thus losing the store some sales. Still others walked out and will never return, thus losing the store even more in sales.

Employees in other stores thought the same way the milk stocker in this store did. “Why bother? Who cares? It’s just milk.” Those stores were at the top of their game at one time: Sears, Kmart, Woolworth’s … the list goes on. Where are those stores now? Some are gone, some are on their way out and some are trying to make a comeback. What if their employees had tried a little harder over the years? What if they had wiped the gallons of milk, or mopped up the spilled drink, or straightened out the mess on the shelves? A little here and  a little there and they might have stayed on top.

Yes, one person – YOU – can make a difference for your brand – whether you’re management or not.

Are you going to be the one to help make it better or the one who helps lead its decline?

photo credit: LFL16