Your call really matters
From John Atkinson
Today I experienced probably the worst customer service I have ever engaged with. We had been receiving threatening emails from a mobile phone company for non-payment on an account we thought we had cancelled. It was therefore necessary to engage with them, determine the circumstances and agree a way forward that resolved the situation to everyone’s satisfaction. Unfortunately, because we no longer hold the account, it was impossible for them to verify who we are by any means available to the customer service operators. We therefore spent over six and a half hours on phone and messenger. Most of it was ‘on hold’ as phones either weren’t answered or, more frequently, the operator just put us on hold and left to do other things as they couldn’t find a way through their system. This resulted in us repeatedly over the day being picked up by a fresh operator and repeating the pattern once more.
So here are some reflections;
1)Your identity as an individual or an organisation is what you do in this world, not what you say. ‘Your call really matters’ is meaningless when you are on hold for several hours. Nothing says ‘we really don’t care about your call’ more than failing to answer it.
2)Repeated patterns of behaviour tell you more than anything else about how your systems really work. Your software providers or IT managers can tell you the systems are excellent or more than fit for purpose, but if people are repeatedly dropping out of them or failing to find a way through then they are not. The customer care system includes the people who operate the phones as well as the IT. Look at it as a whole. Is it really working as you intended? If not, why not?
3)Be honest with your customers. Don’t tell them the system is there to protect them when it is self-evidently there to protect you. If it is not resolving their legitimate requests then its focus is probably to keep you safe from litigation not provide them with the support they need.
4)Don’t blame your customers for your system inadequacies. If a customer cannot provide you with what your system demands but can provide numerous otherwise reasonable responses, then your system is at fault not the customer. Don’t tell them they have made a mistake.
5)Let your operators be people. If you want satisfied customers you need satisfied operators. Nothing is more frustrating to someone who wants to do a good job than having systems that don’t allow them to do that. Allow escalations that create justifiable work rounds, they’re easy to safeguard.
6)Does it cost more to run your system badly than the occasional loss from fraud? For the company concerned we today spent over six hours on phones talking to more than a dozen operators, follow up is now required, your social media team have had to act for damage limitation and customers who give you damning verdicts to their networks and on review sites all cost you money.
7)What gets measured gets done. If you place the wrong measures on your contact centre staff they will drop a call rather than work with a difficult situation. If you focus on fraud you won’t measure the cost of lost time and customers. Simplistic measures give you a simplistic picture of circumstances.
8)Let people know what is going on. When you are silent, refusing to engage or explain, it feeds irritation and frustration. Simply saying your system won’t let you do something does not move the situation forward. What will you do instead?
9)Purpose trumps process. Why you do something is of more value than the way you do it. Sticking religiously to failing process exacerbates situations that are all ready frustrating.
So integrity matters, in all senses of the word. Look at things in the whole and spot the patterns. Are these helping or hindering your operation? What gives rise to them? Integrity requires saying what you mean and doing what you say if you want to create meaning. Nobody today was a winner. The organisation concerned has no way of learning from the experience, guaranteeing it will be repeated over and over. The world’s best organisations have an adaptive capacity that feeds on an ability to learn from their everyday interactions. Today’s mobile phone company isn’t one of those. It makes its money from having come out on top in the ‘land grab’ for customers. But over time it will fade and fail, however hard its marketing people try to spin their advantages. Because ‘you are what you do’ and what they are doing simply isn’t good enough. Customers experience that, and leave.