Whatever
Happened to Customer Service?
Why Good Training Isn't Good Enough
Stop anyone on the street and ask about the state of customer
service in America. Most people will say it has deteriorated
vastly. In fact, as you read this paragraph, several of your
own experiences probably come to mind.
Sadly, stories of ignored and poorly treated customers abound.
Yet most company mission statements include a reference to
treating customers right. These same businesses also spend
a significant amount of time, effort and money on customer
service training as evidenced by the fact that customer service
skills are among the top subjects taught by corporate trainers.
So if corporate management purports that customers are king,
why is customer service so bad? Consider the following scenarios
that often lead to poor customer service (note: if your company
does not have a department dedicated to customer service,
the following information relates to whoever interfaces with
customers needing support or service):
Focus on Sales
While customer service may be included in the mission statement
of almost every company in the world, it is the sales department
that gets most of the attention. A lot of money is poured
into recruiting, training and reward programs for sales employees.
Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against recruiting and
retaining and rewarding valuable employees who sell products
and services. What does concern me, however, is that it seems
so many companies work really hard to bring customers through
the door and then ignore them. Statistics show that 68% of
customers who leave a vendor do so because of poor service.
That means that the sales person who received compensation
for closing the deal has to start all over - just for the
company to break even. And those replacement sales will more
than likely be financially rewarded. So where is the good
business sense in that equation?
But consider this: Since service is as important to customers
as sales, why aren't our service employees treated more like
salespeople with similar recruiting and reward systems? Imagine
what such a paradigm shift could do for your company.
Training
While salespeople and managers still get most of the training,
customer service training runs a close second. Millions of
dollars are spent on customer service training in the United
States alone. So again the question: Why isn't customer service
better? One reason is that many companies are training the
wrong skills. In traditional customer service training, many
organizations give employees specific things to say and do
such as "answer the phone on the first ring," "put
a smile in your voice" and "call the customer by
name."
The reality is most customers don't care what you call them.
Customers care that you care. We are so busy teaching our
employees how to act like they care that we have forgotten
to make sure that they do care.
That is why I believe the traditional approach to customer
service training is backwards. Companies should recruit people
who like to work with others and solve problems and then give
employees tools and reward systems that support outstanding
efforts. Add in a little on-the-job coaching or specific skills
training to fine tune employees' customer relationship skills,
and an outstanding customer service department is born.
Recruiting
Customer service representatives are required to listen to
the problems of the world, to remain cheerful with each caller,
to solve problems efficiently and to cut off a conversation
tactfully. Although these are special skills and talents that
not all people possess, rarely are customer service employees
interviewed to determine a genuine love for people nor are
they recruited for their problem solving skills. Instead,
many customer service departments are staffed by entry-level
employees or people who transfer from other departments where
they were not happy. Clearly this is not a recipe for putting
a company's best foot forward.
So if we really believe in the importance of customer service,
let's start treating those who work with our customers like
they are important. Let's recruit them for the special skills
required to do the job well and treat them like the professionals
they are.
Retention/Reward
If we classify customer service representatives as professionals,
we need to implement programs for rewarding and retaining
star customer service employees just as we would with any
other professional group. We need to reward those people who
go out of their way to help customers, and those who do not
perform to company standards must be held accountable.
Systems
Company policies and procedures are often the cause of poor
customer service. If serving customers is truly part of a
company's vision, all policies and procedures must be examined
to ensure that customers' needs are supported.
For example, many companies reward customer service personnel
based upon the number of calls they complete, rather than
creating incentives based upon the satisfaction levels of
the customers who receive support. Similarly, it is common
for a company to require several levels of approval to give
some small concession to the customer. Both of these procedures
will cause customer service to erode in favor of meeting company
expectations. When developing systems and procedures, remember
that each policy or system should support your customer service
goals.
The Bottom Line
While a company's customer service programs must come from
the top, it takes a company-wide effort to make great customer
service a reality. So if your company's customer satisfaction
levels are not where you'd like them to be, take some time
to evaluate customer service misalignments like the ones described
above and make adjustments as necessary. Your customers will
thank you.
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