I’ve been noticing lately a disturbing trend in customer service. It makes customers frustrated and angry. And it makes service reps lazy and irresponsible. To what am I referring? I’m talking about customer service reps who pass the buck, hand off the baton, transfer customers to other reps, don’t take ownership of customers’ problems.
Real World Story: Recently one of my coaching clients relayed the following story:
“I had a big construction project starting in a couple of days, and I needed to order a dumpster to be placed outside of my client’s residence. I phoned my supplier with a request for a dumpster of no more than 17 feet in length. My supplier’s rep repeated back my order correctly, so I had faith my order would be delivered as planned.
On the day the dumpster was supposed to arrive, I discovered that the dumpster was 24 feet in length and thus would not fit in the desired location. Naturally, I called the dumpster company and explained the situation. The employee who answered the phone could not help me, so he was supposed to relay the information to the appropriate person who would then call me back. FIVE hours later, this “appropriate” person called me but had no information or idea about my predicament. I again had to explain my problem since it was obvious that the person I talked to simply passed me along to someone else without giving me another consideration for solving my issue.
Meanwhile, my workers are leaving construction debris that was intended for the dumpster on the side of the house—creating twice as much work.
The correct dumpster arrived the next day, but by this time, I was frustrated and angry with the lack of consideration, communication, and follow through by the first person I talked to the previous day.”
Strategies that Turn it Around:
- Ensure that your company has a policy that guarantees customers are taken care of from the very start to the very end, preferably with one key contact person handling the entire transaction.
- Ensure that the people in authority know your company’s customer service guarantee policy, so they can provide great service from start to finish, without passing customers along to other reps.
- When it’s absolutely necessary to transfer a customer to someone else, ensure that the next rep has all of the necessary information, ensuring that customers don’t have to once again explain their predicaments.
- When transferring customers, make sure to tell them why you need to transfer them and give them the name of the rep you are transferring to, along with the rep’s name and direct phone number in case the call gets lost.
- Always follow up on another day problem transactions with customers to ensure their satisfaction.
Remember: Customers who have problems with your products or services want to be taken care of quickly and easily. The less effort you require of customers, the more loyal they become. Cool, huh?
What do YOU do to make the customer experience as effortless as possible? Please share in the comments section below.