Customer Service Management: Guidelines and Resources

© Copyright Carter McNamara, MBA, PhD, Authenticity Consulting, LLC.

Although Customer Service Management there is a conventional difference between the terms “customer” and “client,” this topic refers to “customers” as meaning both. Also, although a product is a tangible offering and a service is an intangible offering, this topic often refers to “products” as meaning both. The activities of customer service apply to any type and size of the organization, so the term “organization” refers to that wide variety. Before reading this topic, you might read about the Relationship Between Managing Supply Chain, Operations, Quality, Customer Relationships and Customer Service.

Sections of This Topic Include

Understanding Customers and Service

• Why is Great Customer Service More Important Than Ever?
• What is a Customer? Consumer? Client?
• Types of Customers
• Types of Customer Needs
• What Customer Really Value
• What is Customer Service?

Preparing for Providing Great Customer Service

• Create a Customer Service Management Plan
• Begin Changing Your Organization’s Culture
• Train Your Employees About Customer Service

Satisfying Your Customers

• Clearly Identify Customers’ Needs
• Meet Customers’ Needs
• Get Customers’ Feedback
• Measure Customers’ Satisfaction

Retaining Your Customers

• Retain Customers
• Manage Customer Complaints
• Manage Customer Relationships
• Evaluate Your Customer Service Management System

General Resources

• Additional Perspectives on Customer Service
• Glossaries About Customer Service
• Organizations

UNDERSTAND CUSTOMERS AND CUSTOMER SERVICE

Why is Great Customer Service More Important Than Ever?

In the past, an organization was expected to provide a product or service to the customer, and then that transaction was done — the activity was done to the customer. The customer was more or less at the mercy of the organization.

Today, that is changing dramatically. Customers have a much wider range of organizations, products and services to choose from, and they can access them instantly. Customers can also access numerous sources of useful opinions or reviews about the product or service even before they buy them.

Thus, it is more important than ever that organizations remain very good at attracting, satisfying and retaining customers. Customer service has moved beyond being merely transactional to being highly relational.

What is a Customer? Consumer? Client?

Before we continue, we should get clear on what we are talking about. Different terms mean different things to different people. Here is a broad and useful definition of customer:

• “In sales, commerce and economics, a customer (sometimes known as a client, buyer, or purchaser) is the recipient of a good, service, product or an idea – obtained from a seller, vendor, or supplier via a financial transaction or exchange for money or some other valuable consideration.” Wikipedia

A customer becomes a consumer once the recipient begins to use the product or service. A client is a recipient who buys services from an organization, particularly a professional service. For example, nonprofit organizations typically use the term “client” to refer to anyone who benefits from their products and services.

Types of Customers

The topic of customers and customer service can seem so broad that it is difficult to get a good grasp on understanding them and how to best serve them. It helps a great deal to understand that there are different types of customers. You should recognize them, prioritize them and use that ranking in your product development, sales, marketing and customer service.

• Different Types of Customers
• 5 Types of Customers and How to Approach Them (Pt1)
• 7 Types of Customers and How to Convert Each of Them
• The 11 Universal Types of Customers You Need to Know

Organizations can have internal and external customers. An example of a internal customer is a department in an organization that receives services from another department. For example, the Human Resource Department might get its budget managed — that is, serviced — by the Finance Department. An example of an external customer is a person who buys shoes from a shoe store.

Types of Customer Needs

Your organization, regardless of its type or size, cannot survive unless it is meeting the needs of its customers. There is a saying in marketing that customers come to a product or service based on what they want, but they stay based on what they need.

However, there is a vast array of different types of needs that different types of customers have. Also, customers’ needs can change rapidly as they grapple to adapt to a rapidly changing world.

Similar to knowing the types of customers above, it helps to understand the different overall types of needs that they have. What different types (segments) of customers do you have based on their different needs? What types of needs are each of your products and services meeting for each segment? What types do you want to serve instead or in addition to?

• 16 Types of Customer Needs (and How to Solve for Them)
• The Six Basic Needs of Customers
• The Four Needs of a Customer
• 19 Types of Customer Needs

What Customers Value

There is a difference between knowing the typical needs of customers compared to actually meeting their needs. To begin meeting those needs, it is important to consider what different types of customers typically value in meeting their own needs. To some customers, value is the lowest price. To others, value represents prestige.

To others, it represents long-lasting quality. What do your customers value the most from the products and services? How does that value differentiate you from your competitors? Write your unique value proposition.

• Customer Value: What is Customer Value?
• The 30 Things Your Customers Value Most
• Value (Marketing)
• The Harvard Business Review Top 30 Customer Values
• Four Types of Value a Product Offers to a Customer

What is Customer Service?

In the past, customer service usually meant being understanding and courteous to your customers while they were buying your product. However, today’s customers are much more demanding and competition is much stronger. Consequently, it is much more useful to consider customer service to be the type of support that you offer before, during and after your customers buy from you. Many companies today are highly competitive primarily because of the very high quality of their customer service.

• What is Customer Service?
  
• Customer Service
• The 4 Types of Customer Service and How to Use Them
• 7 Types of Customer Service: Pros and Cons
• 10 Types Of Customers Services – Customer Service Channels

PREPARE FOR PROVIDING STRONG CUSTOMER SERVICE

The implementation of the guidelines in each this section should be managed by an Implementation Team comprised of at least one member from general management, and management in the functions of sales, marketing and customer service.

Create a Customer Service Management Plan

Be Systematic in Your Planning

Strong customer service is so vital to the surviving — and thriving — of your organization that it should not be done in a reactive and sporadic approach. Instead, it needs to be done proactively from a well designed customer service management plan. Think about the

1. Inputs to the system, such as best practices in customer service, sales and marketing; computer technologies; funding; and human resources
2. Ongoing processes to sustain great customer service, such as clarifying customers’ needs, meeting or exceeding those needs, getting feedback, managing complaints, and overall managing customer relationships
3. Outputs from the system, such as useful reports about customers’ needs and activities, and more highly skilled employees in providing customer service
4. Outcomes, the greatest of all including increased customer satisfaction and loyalty

Establish Customer Service Goals

1. Consider your organization’s overall strategic priorities. For example, does your organization want especially to increase sales and profits, increase impact in the community (if yours is a nonprofit), expand marketshare and/or reduce customer complaints?
2. Then consider the different types of customers that you have (market segments) and how you want to manage each differently in order to help achieve your organization’s goals. For example, do you want to focus even more on the most profitable customers? Reduce the types that generate the least revenues? Expand marketing to new customers to expand marketshare?
3. Then consider where to focus in your customer service activities in each group. For example, better tools to get feedback from customers, starting a call center, starting a new customer service manager position and/or use more social media?

Be Realistic In Your Planning

Especially if yours is a small to medium-sized organization, or if this is your first time in being focused and intentional about customer service, then be very realistic about your planning. For the first draft of your plan, focus on its most basic elements and then embellish the plan as you implement the plan during its first year.

• Customer Service Business Plan Template
• Why Your Business Needs a Customer Service Plan
• 8 Steps to Creating a Superior Customer Service Plan
• How to Create a Customer Service Plan
  
• How to Create a Customer Service Plan

Also see
How to Do to Planning

Begin Changing Your Organization’s Culture

Great customer service is a mindset. It is a way of thinking, prioritizing and planning about customers in an organization. It guides how decisions are made and how problems are solved regarding customers. When many people in an organization have that mindset, then the organization has a customer service
and customer-centric culture. In that culture, organizations always “partner” with customers to ensure a great customer experience — they always solicit feedback from customers in order to exceed their expectations.

Research shows that long-lasting, successful change in an organization usually requires a change in its culture. Unless the culture begins to change, it does not matter how much advice and many tools that the organization gets. A change in culture will determine whether they are actually used or not.

• How To Create A Customer Service Culture
• Five Ways to Create a Customer Service Culture
• What Does the Term “Service Culture” Mean & How Do Companies Develop a Service Culture?
• How to Build a Strong Customer Service Culture (Without Copying Disney)

Also see

• Cultural Change
• Planning
  
• Team Building

Train Your Employees About Customer Service

Strong customer service requires well developed knowledge and expertise. It requires skills in building trust, having empathy for others, listening, asking thoughtful questions and sharing feedback. These skills do not come easily for most people. Therefore, arrange highly practical trainings for your employees — trainings that match their busy schedules and trainings that include practice sessions.

• The Ultimate Guide to Training for Customer Service & Support
• How to Train Your Employees in Customer Service
• 10 Customer Service Training Tips Your Employees Need To Learn
• Ten Tips for Effective Customer Service Training

Also see
About Training and Development

SATISFY YOUR CUSTOMERS

Clearly Identify Customers’ Needs

One of the biggest mistakes that an organization can make is to assume that all of its customers are the same. The power of excellent sales, marketing and customer service comes from realizing that different types of customers have different types of needs. Do you have different groups of customers who have different needs? How do you know? Do some need prompt provision of products rather than ordering online? Self-maintenance rather than ongoing support? Basic functionality rather than high-quality? Consider the different groups to be different market segments.

• Know Your Customers’ Needs
• 10 Methods for Identifying Customer Needs
• Identifying and Meeting Customer Needs
• Identifying Customer Needs
• 15+ Questions to Ask Your Customers to Know Their Needs and Expectations

Also see
How to Conduct Market Research

Meet Customers’ Needs

Different market segments have different needs. They have different interpretations of value — of what will meet their needs. To remain viable, your organization has to be meeting the different needs of its different market segments. How do you best meet the needs of each different market segments? How do you know?

• Your Customers’ Needs Are Changing. Are You Keeping Up?
• Focus First On Meeting Customers’ Needs, Not On Delighting Them
• What is Customer Value and How Can You Create It?
• Customer Value: What it Means and How to Create It
• Your Customers Have These 30 Needs. Are You Meeting Them?

Also see

• How to Conduct Market Research
• Product and Service Development

Get Customers’ Feedback

The way to ensure that your organization is meeting the needs of its customers comes especially from their feedback. According to Barb Lyon, there are many different ways to ask: post-purchase and post-support surveys, enclosures in the monthly invoice, follow-up phone calls and quarterly or annual surveys. Each different market segment might prefer different measures.

How are you getting feedback from each of your different groups of customers? Is feedback actively solicited or informally collected? What are you hearing from each different market segment? How do you respond to what you are hearing?

• 7 Reasons Why Customer Feedback Is Important To Your Business
• Customer Feedback Strategy: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need
• How to Get Quality Customer Feedback – 20 Effective Methods
• Top 25 Ways to Get Customer Feedback from the Pros
• 2 Types of Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Also see

• Basics of Conducting Focus Groups
• How to Give Useful Feedback and Advice
• General Guidelines for Conducting Interviews

Measure Customers’ Satisfaction

There are numerous different ways to measure the satisfaction of your customers. The challenge with specifying key measures is that not all businesses will use the same metrics. According to Barb Lyon, for call centers, support, and service desks, first call resolution is the Holy Grail. For a shipping operation, product delivery and project implementation, on-time performance is the measuring stick.

In a high transaction business, the first interaction with a customer will be a key determinant of whether the customer will return. How should you measure satisfaction for each of your different market segments? How do you know?

• My Top 5 Customer Service Metrics
• How to Measure Customer Satisfaction?
• How to Measure Customer Satisfaction, and Why It’s So Important
• 6 Proven Methods for Measuring Customer Satisfaction
• Why and How to Measure Customer Satisfaction

Also see
How to Design Successful Evaluation and Assessment Plans

RETAIN YOUR CUSTOMERS

Retain Customers

It is conventional wisdom among experienced marketers that one existing customer is worth five new ones. Bain & Company found that, “increasing customer retention by just 5 percent can increase profits by 25 percent to 95 percent.” Yet, conventional wisdom is also that a typical business loses around 20% of its customers per year.

There are a variety of strategies to help retain your customers, as included in the articles listed below. Retention is primarily a result of customer loyalty. What should you be doing to retain the customers in each of your different market segments? How do you know?

• What is Customer Retention?
• The Ultimate Guide to Customer Retention
• 20 Customer Retention Strategies
• 17 Awesome Customer Retention Strategies That Work
• 10 Customer Retention Strategies to Implement Today

Manage Customers’ Complaints

While some organizations consider customer complaints to be signs of failure, others see them as opportunities to learn from. Also, research suggests that customers who experience prompt resolution to their complaints often are some of the most loyal customers.

However, there are some best practices in handling complaints that you should be aware of. How are you handling complaints to each of your different market segments? Is that the best approach for each? How do you know?

• Why Customer Complaints Are Good For Your Business
• The New Rules of Handling Customer Complaints
• Developing a Complaint Handling Procedure
• Handling Customer Complaints
• How to Create Your Own Customer Complaint Process

Manage Customer Relationships

You can understand why the most important aspect between your organization and its customers is the quality of the relationship between the organization and its customers. That quality determines how loyal your customers are to your organization. Fortunately, there has been an increasing amount of research about best practices to manage the relationships.

The field has come to be known as Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Various software packages make it much easier to collect, organize and reference a vast range of information about customers. CRM has been proven to increase the number of customers and profitability for organizations.

• CRM 101: What is CRM?
• What is Customer Relationship Management (CRM)?
• Customer Relationship Management Tutorial
• The Beginner’s Guide to CRM: Customer Relationship Management
• The Top Reasons CRM Software Fails

Evaluate Your Customer Service Management System

Evaluation should be done while you are working to satisfy your customers and to retain them. Periodically, you should stand back and evaluate your progress in achieving the various goals that you had established for your customer service management system.

Be sure to use the learning from your evaluation activities to improve the next round of the planning of your customer service management system. In that way, you are indeed treating your customer service as a recurring system of aligned and highly integrated activities.

• 17 Most Effective KPIs To Evaluate Customer Service Performance
• 11 Customer Service Metrics that Really Matter To Your Business
• How to Evaluate Customer Service
• How to Evaluate a Customer Service Representative
• How Do You Measure Customer Service Success?

Also see
How to Design Successful Evaluation and Assessment Plans

General Resources

Additional Perspectives on Customer Service

• Customer Service Tips
• How to Manage Client Expectations After You Close a Sale
• Do Your Customers Deserve a Bill of Rights?
• Beware of Letting Competitors Distract You From Customers!
• Customer Service or Torture?
• Six Critical Steps to Training High-Quality Customer Service…
• 6 Tips to Delivering Customer Value (a Leadership Challenge)
• Customer Service Answers You Can’t Do Without
• When Companies Think They Are Too Smart for Customer Service�
• Poorest Customer Service in the Land Where it Really Counts
• Key Training Ideas for Your Customer Service Program

Glossaries About Customer Service

• Customer Service Glossary: Words and Phrases to Know
• Customer Service Glossary

Organizations

• Customer Service Institute of America
• International Customer Service Association
• National Customer Service Association
• North American Customer Service Management Association
• SOCAP International

Learn More in the Library’s Blog Related to Customer Service and Satisfaction

In addition to the articles on this current page, also see the following blog that has posts related to Customer Service and Satisfaction. Scan down the blog’s page to see various posts. Also see the section “Recent Blog Posts” in the sidebar of the blog or click on “next” near the bottom of a post in the blog. The blog also links to numerous free related resources.

Library’s Customer Service Blog

For the Category of Customer Service and Satisfaction:

To round out your knowledge of this Library topic, you may want to review some related topics, available from the link below. Each of the related topics includes free, online resources.

Also, scan the Recommended Books listed below. They have been selected for their relevance and highly practical nature.

• Related Library Topics
• Recommended Books

By Guest Blogger: Geoff Rotunno www.linkedin.com/in/geoffrotunno

People are always asking me where I get all my big ideas. Answer: They just come to me.

Drop by my local coffee shop sometime. That’s me right there, front and center, within easy earshot of all the rants from every table in the place. People do love to rant.

Learning to listen well – especially if you are in the customer service business – is, of course, one of the most important skill you can acquire. But these days, great customer service is not built on listening alone: you also have to give.

I remember the day I learned how to give – in the specific context I’m talking about – and it came when I was well outside of the office, and at a moment I had least expected it.

Years ago, bothered by the monotony of yet another business trip traveled by air, I decided to try the bygone alternative: I took the train. From a journal entry recorded during that trip:

This is the Southwest Chief, eastbound from Los Angeles to Chicago. It is the cusp of autumn.

As we finally speed past the last junk pile in a string that seemed to go on forever, the overweight gentleman from Melbourne in the car seat across from mine does not seem to notice the sudden metamorphosis of Tuesday morning landscape. He is held prisoner by his own formidable snore, which seals in a previous moment spent awake. The endless piles of junk sure color his slumber.

Train number four rumbles along, just east of Topeka at dawn. Acre upon acre of golden-green farmland frames every creek, and watching the poplar and maple and cottonwood and birch blur by, I discover a connection: I am in meditation with a larger landscape. It is a beautiful trance.

I should have nudged the Australian awake. He had been chatting me up endlessly before his impromptu catnap. His lonely heart would have gladdened at the gesture.

Instead, I let my last call summons to the dining car be a convenient excuse, and began the amble toward the source of the inviting aromas.

Concurrent with my arrival at that portal, a horrifying revelation: There are only big tables here – nothing for one. There is nowhere to hide.

Marshaled convincingly by the car’s hostess, I have no choice but to immediately slide into the fourth a final chair at my assigned table. The visual is absolutely ingrained; it is yesterday once more.

“Mornin’,” I say, in an instantly invented mid-Plains drawl.

Henry, a farmer type with strong gray eyes and two-inch wide pomegranate red suspenders, looks me square in the eye, and I know at once that there will be few words between us.

Jonette, our server, pours me some coffee. ‘Bacon and eggs or oatmeal and fruit?’ Her offering is less a question than a statement – and completely mechanical.

“The latter,” I decode quickly, silently panicking over the social crisis at hand.

My eyes land just to Henry’s left, where a joyous African American woman in her 60s, Miss Rosalinda from New Orleans, is receiving her bacon and eggs and biscuit.

“Mmm-mmm,” she almost sings, “and here’s hopin’ that the coffee keeps on comin’!”

Across from the enthusiastic Miss Rosalinda and next to me is Myrtle, a woman with an ornate walking cane. The lovely specimen has, in fact, just slipped off the edge of the table and tumbled – with an extended clatter – to the floor.

But the ruckus is impotent against Myrt’s ceaseless rambling. She’s from Sola, Kansas, destined for Harrisburg by way of Chicago, and oh yes, her grandson has just totaled his Jeep Cherokee –

“… and Lordy, the glass they took out of his face,” she chortles, “is probably enough to replace that big glass wall at that church in California.”

“Crystal Cathedral,” mumbles Henry.

“Mmm-mmm, I love that preacher,” offers Miss Rosalinda, ejecting bits of scrambled egg from her mouth as she speaks.

In the middle of this declaration, I see Miss Rosalinda’s wheels turn as her gaze finds me and her internal barometer starts to size me up. Her eyes are on auto-focus; they neither betray nor stray very far from the truth.

Myrt continues her rant – something about the sleepless night she’s spent aboard the Southwest Chief’s economy sleeping car, and then it’s suddenly just me and Rosalinda, one-on-one.

“First timer,” she volleys.

“Yes.” My eyes begin to dart.

“No,” she clarifies. “I mean at the big table.”

She sees the state brimming within me and then chuckles softly as she aces another blazing serve: “Thought so.”

Henry has the patience to watch beans grow, and Myrt is in complete rapture now, providing a pointed observation about the ramifications of her neighbor Helen’s lingerie left out on the clothesline overnight – but then Miss Rosalinda is back, this time for match point.

“It would probably be right Christian of you to offer us your name, gentle traveler. I think it might be good to get to know you.”

In our whimsical age of twerks and jerks, endless sound bites, even more endless streams of video clips – and of all of our individual fifteen minutes of fame (do we really get to expect that much of it anymore?), it’s funny how quickly we forget not so much about the importance of taking time to listen – but of the critical need to connect – and to share the journey of which we are all a part.

Do you take the time to really listen to your customers? If the answer is yes, congratulations. But you are really only halfway there.

Riddle me this: Do you also take the time to respond in a meaningful way – to give it back?

To do that – to respond in a way which truly resonates, forget about tables for one – invite yourself to a spot at the biggest one.

I am always ready for the big table now, feasting at it even when I’m not, thanks to Miss Rosalinda and her own big idea – the one which forced me to let everyone see who I was.

So, here’s a big idea for you: When it comes to serving your customers, find them and serve them by being with them. Converse. Listen to what they have to say, and then let them listen to who you are. Dig right in – and like Miss Rosalinda, remember to eat with gusto.

It won’t be a waste of your time. Far from it, because this I can guarantee: you will see needle-moving results like never before.

The Secret to a Steady Stream of Referral Business

Last week, quite unexpectedly, the dreaded ‘check engine’ light on my new (used) Jaguar popped on. Knowing that I needed to pull over immediately, I found myself on the exit ramp calling AAA. Little did I know that I was in for a real treat that day.

My repair shop, Precision Tune Auto on Nolensville Road in Nashville Tennessee, owned by Mike Linehan, was about 12 miles away. But getting the vehicle there was way more important than the $5 per mile (over 5 miles) that AAA charged me. I trust Mike. And for very good reasons.

While my vehicle was up on the rack, I sat in the lobby working on a client project on my computer. At least my day was still productive. Hour after hour, I was a fly on the wall, watching and listening to Mike and his interactions with his customers. I don’t even think he knew I was doing it. But what I observed over the course of about six hours that day was exciting for me – being a business consultant.

The Customer Comes First

Mike made sure I had everything I needed. Water? Restroom? A multi-purpose USB charger sat ready on the table. My cell phone battery was running low, so I plugged it in for a quick charge. What a relief! And free WiFi of course.

Mike has owned this business for over 30 years, and he still personally runs the front counter, six days a week. I figured out why. He enthusiastically greets every single person who enters the front door. If they’ve been there before, he remembers them, and something about them. He asks them a question that lets them know he cares (“Didn’t you move last year? How’re you liking it?”) or he connects with them in some way (“What grade is your daughter in? She sure is pretty.”) He’s energetic, positive and smiles a lot. You’ve just gotta like him!

How to Make Customers Feel Important

Think about it. In those 30 years, how many times has someone asked, “Can you change my oil today? How long will it take?” Mike’s response is always fresh and caring, even though I’d guess he’s answered those questions over 70,000 times (30 years x 50 weeks x 6 days x 8 times each day – whew!) Mike replies, “Sure! We’ll have you outta here in 28 minutes.” And you know what? They’re out in less than 28 minutes.

All of his mechanics treat their customers with that same personal interest, too. When they finish the repair, they come into the lobby and ask, “How are you doing today?” And they even listen to the answer! Then they explained the repair, and offer to show the customer the repair. EVERY TIME. Talk about building trust. Mike and his wonderful crew earn it.

Mike’s Motto: “Under-promise and Over-deliver”

Not only do they over-deliver on their service, but I noticed that he gives discounts and coupons for free oil changes. And he bought candy out of the vending machine for the sweet little girl who was waiting with her parents. (“But don’t tell anybody.”)

Throughout the day, the mechanic kept me informed when they found additional items that needed work, and they explained which ones were a priority and which ones could wait. I never felt pushed. They quoted prices for each repair, and I decided which repairs to OK. When my car was finished, the bill I paid was less than the total they quoted. Mike didn’t even mention it. But of course, I noticed. You bet I did.

I could go on and on. But the point is this: Mike doesn’t need fancy marketing materials and social media campaigns to attract business. With this kind of superb customer experience, I tell everyone who’ll listen about Mike and his fabulous service. I’m telling the world online, aren’t I?

Do you have an awesome customer service story?

For more resources, see the Free Management Library topic: Marketing and Social Media.

.. _____ ..

ABOUT Lisa M. Chapman:

Ms. Chapman’s book, The WebPowered Entrepreneur – A Step-by-Step Guide is available at:

• Amazon.com: http://bit.ly/AmazonTheWebPoweredEntrepreneur
• Barnes & Noble: http://bit.ly/BNTheWebPoweredEntrepreneur

Lisa M. Chapman serves her clients as a business and marketing coach, business planning consultant and social media consultant. She helps clients to establish and enhance their online brand, attract their target market, engage them in meaningful social media conversations, and convert online traffic into revenues. Email: Lisa @ LisaChapman.com

You were given an example of poor customer service. Perhaps an explanation and discussion now will spark an idea for a training solution. That’s all there is to it.

This blog is divided into two categories: Training and Development and Customer Service. It was written for three reasons:

1. I’ve trained in customer service as have many of you

2. I’ve lived through many of its technological changes, (not improvements I said) as many of you, and finally,

3. I’d like to see some new changes, including putting the personal touch back into customer service.

So, if you’re looking for a training solution, look no further. There you have it. Persuade employers not to take the simplest, most efficient technological route. The customer first mindset requires people to contact, as well as the right people to contact.

Customer service can make or break a company. It’s not so easy these days, with global, faceless conglomerates that frequently have so many happy customers in so many countries that the principals wouldn’t know who they were or care. The loss of one or two loyal customers is insignificant. As a result, excellent customer service isn’t all that important. It could be making a comeback thanks to social media. Instead of one person telling ten of his or her friends about disappointed rising customer expectations, we have one person telling hundreds, and hundreds telling hundreds. But that’s beside the point…

Technology has made it possible to make customer service easier and, in some ways, more efficient. Some argue that technology is ideal for making all customer loyalty easier and faster. Those are the people who want basic information but don’t want to talk to a real person and, oh, are probably computer savvy. I believe that technology is best for employers who want to provide cost-effective customer service while giving the impression of excellent service. According to their muddled definition of customer service, it does the job adequately.

Before automation, probably 90% of calls to call centers were for basic information questions that didn’t require a person to look up; an early example would be a bank teller and an ATM. We still use bank tellers if we need a more complex answer than the ATM provides. Of course, that is the most basic form of an automated system. 10% of those calls were more complicated and required a person to assist in resolving the issue; this is when you went into the bank to see the teller or someone else.

Customer service used to make or break businesses. It’s not so easy these days, with the worldwide, faceless conglomerates who often have so many customers in so many contries, the principals wouldn’t know who they were or care. The loss of one or two customers is no big deal. So customer service is not that important. Perhaps, it’s making a comeback with social media. Instead of one disappointed customer telling ten of his or her friends, we have one person telling hundreds, and hundreds telling hundreds. But that’s not important…

Technology has brought us a long way to making customer service easier, and in some ways, more efficient. Some would say technology perfect for making it easier and faster for all for all customers. Those people would be the ones who want to know basic information and don’t want to talk to a real person, and, oh, are most likely computer savvy. I would say technology is best for the employer who wants customer service to be cost effective while giving the impression of having great customer service. In corporate minds it does the job adequately, according to their mixed up definition of customer service.

Probably 90 percent of the calls that came into a call center before automation took over had to do with basic information questions that don’t need a person to look up; an early example would be a bank teller and an ATM. We still use bank tellers though if we have a more complex answer than is offered by the ATM. Of course, that is an automated system at its most basic. Ten percent of those calls were more complicated and needed a person to help resolve the issue; that would be when you went into the bank to see the teller or someone else.

Advance to more sophisticated automated systems, where a human or human-like voice (the first ones were a little frightening) asks you what you need help with. We’ve all been there—some just to pay the bills. In some cases, a real person (a representative) will assist you, but only after you’ve jumped through a million hoops. Be thankful that you aren’t immobile, verbally or physically handicapped, or simply move more slowly or are less agile than you were 20 years ago, because you won’t be able to get help unless you can communicate with someone. Today’s online and automated phone customer service caters to people aged twenty to sixty. The rest can’t do it on their own.

It’s bad enough when the customer journey has done everything the machine has told him or her to do and none of the categories even comes close to what the question or concern is, and there’s no way to talk to a person unless you know the secret. If a customer complaints is particularly clever or savvy with these types of systems (practice helps, and we’re getting there), they can punch “0” and speak to a human. Not always, but occasionally. Customer satisfaction, on the other hand, is frustrated and angry by the time they speak with someone. They had been confused and mildly upset for about half an hour before that.

When customers get past Automaton Lucy, they are referred to the department after department, again and again, to repeat the same identification information in order to verify them as genuine customers on the account, the issue or question if it fits the pre-programmed model, only to be told there is nothing the Frequently Asked Questions spoken verbally can do.

The customers request to speak with the manager due to poor customer service. “It’s company policy,” the manager says. I can do better. I can improve on a couple of things. It is a policy that allows the company thirty days to hold the customers’ money that they withdrew from their account in error; the fact that it was an error on the part of the company does not qualify for expedited service to refund the cash sooner.

Policy is the responsibility of the company, not the people. It is not a legal requirement. It is adaptable in that it can be bent, ignored, or applied on an individual basis. Is it bad for business to abuse it or not use it all the time? Is it there to benefit the company from the loopholes it creates? If it’s company policy to wait or hold something, it’s usually money in a bank account. Right. Interest.

What else is there to keep? Paperwork. Who wants to keep track of something like that? However, money is electronic and in our account, where it earns interest—especially when combined with a large amount of other money in the account.

What does that policy entail? It is never explained, nor are the expedited service rules. No, but this particular case, which took a week to investigate, does not meet the criteria for expedited service. What exactly does expedited service entail? Let us see… a phone call. We don’t use phones much anymore in business. It’s most likely an email. Make a payment to so-and-so. Here’s the account number and balance. Remember how the folder had been sitting on his or her boss’s desk for a week without being expedited?

(1)The real problem here is that policies are not laws. My wife is a lawyer who also happens to be the chief of a police department. She would understand the difference between a policy and a law. For that matter, I would as well.

The slick company’s customer service is the best—it is the most efficient, and Marc Antony’s speech about Brutus being an honorable man is also accurate. Calling customers back in record time by several different customer service agents to give them the same answer and argue with them over a policy point to demonstrate your company’s responsiveness does nothing but enrage them. Especially when a customer support team policy does not count for customer retention. The old adage that if a customer is treated poorly, he will tell ten of his friends no longer applies. The involvement of customer interactions in social media can multiply those numbers exponentially. And if they have a popular blog. Oops.

Who gives good

Who nowadays provides good customer service? Businesses that live and die by word of mouth, successful retail stores, restaurants—particularly good servers in the United States—who make the majority of their money on tips, virtually any successful mom-and-pop business that relies on face-to-face commerce, and large successful corporations and businesses that understand that people are the reason they exist. Some of the obvious ones, such as Disney, USAA, Ben and Jerry’s, and motion picture studios, have probably always done it because the customer factor is right in their face.

Who doesn’t understand? Multinational corporations, large businesses, and small businesses (yes, ordinary businesses and some mom-and-pop shops) that prioritize the bottom line do not. There are also compartmentalized businesses in which one part of the company is unaware of what the other is doing. They’ve become disoriented. They risk jeopardizing their bottom line because they have forgotten about their customers. Some devoted customers even purchase stock. Some people change their minds.

There are those bottom-feeder companies that have salespeople rush measure-quality-customer-experience people to buy products or services in order to get rich. When something goes wrong, they have little flexibility and use policy to get their way, hoping to appease customers with their slick “we’ll get back to you immediately” form of customer service; they use “policy” liberally to resolve most customer service problems, effectively making it the customers’ fault.

My job as a customer service regional representative for five states and the District of Columbia was to “assist” state offices where customer service team efforts had failed, or so the customer empathy thought. And my boss expected me to solve the problem whether the customers were positive or negative. It was my responsibility to be the voice of reason with the support teams.

With no real power to make changes to a client’s case as is the case with most customer service people at that level, I had to hand it off to someone who did. To work with my counterparts in the “company” and the client, I had to use–what’s that word: charisma? I say it in all modesty, of course. The penthouse executives regarded the

With no real authority to make changes to a client’s case, as most customer service representatives do at that level, I had to delegate it to someone who could. To collaborate with my colleagues in the “company” and the client, I needed—the what’s word?—charism? Of course, I say it modestly. The customer with a problem was regarded as an annoyance and an unpredictability by the penthouse executives. Is what happened to the customer always correct? That could solve the problem almost every time without a hitch.

The state and local reps didn’t work for me because I was a regional rep. As a result, the job had a double-whammy effect on me. I had to research a problem that other customer service representatives had already researched, ask my contacts at the State level (perhaps they are slightly higher than the State reps themselves), and provide an answer to clients; if nothing else could be done, I still had to find out why. As I previously stated, policy alone was insufficient. I was frequently asked to explain why the state of national office had that policy. That was sometimes enough, but most of the time when a policy affects someone personally, and customers deserve it, the policy is still just a policy for the convenience of the company, with room for exceptions.

What I could do was get my company’s president or the national rep to speak with the program’s state representatives. Sometimes the mere mention of that action resulted in an exception, other times it did not. Charisma was important. One could hope that my charges liked me more than they feared the unknown. I prefer to imagine the former. Unless the customers’ problem with us is so serious that it warrants extensive media coverage, I doubt my company’s president or even one of her significant vice presidents would have gotten directly involved in the first place.

Unfortunately, the rooms at the top are frequently focused on money columns rather than people’s needs. I frequently developed relationships with clients because I tried numerous avenues; not that others hadn’t done the same; however, I was the end of the road for them. If it was a money problem or a problem that caused a lack of funds at a critical time, I was attempting to solve a problem that had a significant impact on their lives.

We appear to have lost sight of the true definition of customer service and what our interactions with customer expectations mean to us. My training question is, who told them that customer service was only about saving money and giving answers—to hell with customers? I’m not sure, and I’m not interested. I’d kick some butt over it if I could.

Be truthful. Don’t you despise automated customer service phone lines or being directed to a company website (some now have chat groups) when you have a complicated real-world question? Sometimes the only way out of the automation prison is to hang up the phone. Otherwise, you’ll go round and round. Bottom line: a machine cannot change an answer that you have already received, such as a billing problem. In any case, not yet. If you read one of my recent blogs, you might see it in the near future.

Customers not only define our products, but they also define how we conduct business and, in some cases, whether we continue to exist. The latter was more prevalent in smaller businesses. They don’t now, but they should. If only customers could go viral…

Happy Training.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

For more on Jack Shaw, check his home site, where you can find access to other publications, including a fantastic novel called, Harry’s Reality.

We all know bad customer service when we see it. It makes us frustrated and angry. It’s been known to ruin days, weeks, months, years, holidays–even Christmas. I’ve got a story to illustrate what I mean.

This story is true. I won’t use any names in order to protect the individuals involved. I will, however, give “honorable mention” to the companies that deserve it–good or bad.

A friend and his wife, Bob and Carol, were approached by the same company company that holds their current mortgage, Green Tree Servicing: Home Loan Services, Mortgage Modification. The original mortgage had been held by an online bank, USAA: United Services Automobile Association. The online bank has a huge exclusive membership for veterans, military members and dependants, and are the good guys in the story. I suspect the couple was approached by Green Tree as they were by many refinancing companies because the couple had never missed a mortgage payment, despite having tight resources, even after Bob retired from the government. Ironically, Green Tree owned the loan now.

Green Tree offered lower interest rates, which would have been more tempting had the couple’s taxes on their house not been so high. Bob and Carol filled out the paperwork post haste because they were getting ready to take the family on a long-awaited cruise–one that had been over a year in the planning.

In filling out the paperwork, the couple spotted a red flag. One document stated that if the closing took place by such and such date, the couple were locked at particular interest rate, but the company would not be locked in at that rate after a later date. It sounded as if the couple, with no control of the closing date, were still bound to take the loan if Green Tree could manage the closing by a certain time that the company was not bound by the locked in rate the couple had agree. The company refused to budge or re-write the paper. Although it sounded fishy, but since no mortgage would take place without their signature on other documents signed at closing, the paperwork went forward.

Green Tree, the refinancing arm, through its broker, did some other fishy things in asking Bob and Carol to find the original paperwork from USAA that sold the initial mortgage to Green Tree. But they already had the mortgage. Yes, the old mortgage was owned by the same company that wanted to refinance it. Bob called the bank. USAA as much as said, “That’s absurd. That information had been sent and submit to Green Tree at the time of the previous and that Green Tree would have to pull it themselves. The customer could ask Green Tree for it. Okay, maybe lazy or slick, but not totally fishy. Just a bit much to ask.

This, however was not the big problem. It was the beginning of an unhappy customer service relationship with Green Tree. Of course, what did the care care after the deal was done? Compartmentalization. The only person who had any face-to-face with the couple was the closer hired from out Green Tree. It seemed the company distanced itself as far as possible from the customer.

Understanding their financial situation was tight, and needing cash for the cruise and bills automatically paid while they were gone, Bob and Carol asked the broker numerous and questions on the phone to ensure that there would be cash in their account in November. The mortgage broker said, “No problem, we’ll take care of you with no costs at closing, and no November mortgage payment. So you’ll be all set for your cruise.”

Bob called his bank before they left on the cruise to ensure a mortgage payment wasn’t expected to be received by the bank and it wasn’t. As far as he and the bank were concerned he did not have an automatic payment through his bank on the old or the new as yet. And, this is all happening a day or two within closing and the trip.

Papers all signed October 30 or 31st. November 1st: Day of the flight to Florida to catch the cruise, Carol goes to buy some necessities for the trip and get cash. Her card is turned down and account frozen. The mortgage payment came out, as well as all the extra expenses in preparation for the cruise that had been spent, thinking that money would be there, including the money for dog sitter.

Thanks to Green Tree, Bob and Carol’s rest of the day before their vacation could only be characterized by two words: it sucked. Not only was there a mad scramble to get all the packing done, there were extra phone calls to be made, extra problems to be solved and a somewhat unrelated event, one of the dogs appeared to have seizures. Fortunately, the dog sitter, who had vet technician experience, was available to come early and see the dog was looked after and treated. The trip plan was to leave right after the kids came home from school. As it was, they barely made it to the airport on time. Bob and Carol found out after the cruise that the check for their dog sitter who came to their aid in an emergency bounced.

Before they left Bob called the bank again and discussed the situation. The bank agreed to unfreeze the account, move savings and extend their debit card limit so they could have some cash. The bank even said, he could stop payment, which would allow time for an investigation, but was really a delaying measure. The damage had already been done. USAA note the problem in the account and when it was all over would remove all bank charges for overdrawn checks, etc. The bank didn’t have to do that, or even believe the couple’s situation, but it did; USAA had a lifelong customer.

Carol called Green Tree. No answer. No machine. She went to the web site and found a comment section for customer service and aired her concerns and displeasure with what had happened.

Fortunately she had used other credit cards for purchse, ship costs, etc; she wanted to use cash for any excursions or souvenirs. The cash the family had left was quite limited, therefore, their activity off-ship was limited by the uncertainty of their account.

Upon return from probably not the best vacation they had ever had, there was one call from Green Tree with a message saying the company would look into issue (this from the comment section and get back to the couple as soon as possible. The next day in the mail. They received a letter that stated that since there were no unusual circumstances (not defined) to warranted it the company would return the mortgage amount via check 30 days from the day of the erroneous withdrawal.

Bob called Green Tree customer service after receiving the letter, since it was the company’s error, and was told it is policy to hold the checks. Customer service’s respond: he was being rude, to be quiet and let them finish telling him the same “standard language” he had heard before. But he hadn’t called anyone names or threatened anyone so they didn’t hang up. He did hang up. Later that evening, customer service called again with a different voice but the same answer: It is policy. He hung up on that phone call, too. And, Bob’s not a hang up the phone kind of guy.

It’ll be an interesting Christmas for Bob, Carol and family as they get their finances back in order. They’ll continue living, where not only taxes are high, but also mortgages. They’ll survive. They won’t have to go homeless. Others don’t have it so well. It’s still sad to think that this company because it was “responsive” however late, thinks that it’s customer service is great. I was a hands-on customer manager as well as a trainer; there are exceptions for policies. This might have been a good time for one. Bob told one of his ten, me, and I’m telling you.

Responsive and slick doesn’t equate to good customer service. USAA is a big company, possibly bigger than Green Tree and a customer has to jump through many security hoops to get through to a person, but when you do, they’ll even call the customer back. The company gets great marks for being people-oriented. Personally, I still hate jumping through the hoops like anyone else, but banks like USAA are safeguarding my money, so it’s necessary; I’m still a person. By the way, I almost forgot something very important. No one in Bob and Carol’s customer service contacts said, “I apologize for the mistake,” or “I’m sorry that happened to you.” The latter even takes the blame off the company.

Earlier before the trip, Carol had left a furious message for the broker, which he could have ignored; his job was done. He hadn’t received until the couple and family left. He called back and said, “I apologize for the mix-up. I don’t know how it happened. I am so sorry this happened to you. Are you going to be alright? I want to see if I can fix this.” And he promised to do what he could, but it was a big company, he admitted, and it was hard to get to the right people. Oh, so true.

Bob and Carol, who had already been through corporate hell. Bob answered for the both of them and said: thank you for just say acknowledging us. I doubt the company will change their mind, but if the couple can get the check earlier that would help, but what’s done is done.

Had Green Tree been a bank, they would have withdrawn all their funds and moved on. Another business would lose their business. The perceive fishy business in the beginning was forgotten all with a thank you. Recognizing the difficulty the situation caused so close to a vacation, where no one would be reachable, and followed by the holidays was survivable for Bob and Carol who had lived on the edge before. It would be unconscionable for someone with less means to juggle credit cards and recover financially.

So, while we train world class customer service, let’s not forget the basics. It’s not about cost cutting. It’s about serving customers. We make products they told us they need and not to cancel. We develop and provide services they want. We refine all of the above based on their feedback. Do we want to throw it all away. Without customers, businesses die and without businesses, we die.

Remember, policy is not a law. Policy can be bent or exceptions made. It’s not like a customer who needs an exemption is going to go tell everyone and make the company go broke; it’s one happy customer who’s going to say good things.

Put people who care about people back in customer service.

• Customer service reps are champions of the people.
• A customer service representative is a company ambassador who always puts his or her best side forward.
• Customer service reps are problem solvers, not policy wonks.
• Customer service reps maintain your company’s good name and reputation.
• Customer service reps are among your smartest, savvy initiators of change.
• Good customer service people don’t need standard language and have good communication skills.
• Good customer service reps speak the language of the country they serve fluently, and can easily be understood.
• Good customer service reps are charismatic, are not judgmental, and do not put company or colleagues down.

Be honest. Don’t you hate automated customer service phone lines or being referred to a company web page (some have chat groups now) when you have complicated real question to ask? Sometimes there is no way out of the automation prison, but to hang up. Round and round you go otherwise. Bottom line: a machine can’t change an answer you’ve already received, i.e., a billing issue. Not yet anyway. Read my last blog and you’ll see it can.

Not only do customers define our products, they define how we conduct business, and sometimes whether we continue in business. The latter was more the case in terms of smaller companies. Not so much now, but they should. If only customers go viral…

As luck would happen, or compartmentalization, Bob answered the phone less than a week later and someone from Green Tree was trying to sell insurance on Bob and Carol’s major household appliances and valuable items. You could say, Bob was less than receptive. He didn’t get angry. He simply said, “This would not be a good time to talk to us.” There was double meaning in what he said, but there was no point in taking his grief out on an innocent employee.

Carol received word at work from Green Tree customer service team is indeed possible some twenty days after being told it wasn’t. So, in the end Green Tree came through. I’m not one to beat a company when it is down. There could be a number of reasons why it took so long to resolve the issue.

Resolving the issue is only one aspect of great customer service. Response time can be great. Providing instant basic detain can be great. Solving the problem can be great. But without compassion and flexibility and people on the front end who can adjust policy accordingly, the customer service will only be coated with Teflon. Here it appears compartmentalization or “company gigantism” and diversification may have lead to the series of missteps and miscommunications with serious financial concerns. Again, we come back to: what looks good in the strategic plan and follows a great vision can be missing a critical element. In customer service, that element is the customer itself.

Happy training.

For more resources about training, see the Training library.

For more on Jack Shaw, check his home site, where you can find access to other publications, including a fantastic young adult science fiction/dystopian novel called, In Makr’s Shadow.