Dearest readers, I hope your summer is going great, wherever you may be. I hope you don't skip this post just because of its title, as I think you'll find it a great read and really important for our daily interactions. These days, many aspects of our lives are getting more intelligent and sophisticated, yet there are still many customer-facing aspects of doing business that are still stuck in the past and making things worse for the entire society- businesses and customers alike. Let's go through a few and name some solutions for each problem.
First things first- customer service people still can't reach out to you in most companies. When you call your cell phone or Internet provider or another similar company, and you have a complex issue to resolve, many times it's all about you dealing with multiple agents making notes, each agent trying to figure out what happened before. This is extremely annoying to everyone involved. Yes, I know companies set it up this way so that an inadequate number of people can handle a huge amount of incoming calls. However, this needs to change precisely because the barriers to new companies entering most sectors are becoming lower and lower. This means that their offers will eventually become so competitive that customer service quality may be the only reason why a customer might pick them over their competitor. That is why companies should hire more customer service staff and turn them into customer service account specialists or account managers. They should also be able not only to dial out to customers, but also to use email, Skype and texting to get things done. The focus should be on efficient problem solving by any means necessary, not high volume inbound inquiry juggling and delays. Based on your experience, I think you may agree with me enthusiastically.
The second thing businesses should change about customer service is related to the first thing. Customer service reps, once upgraded to account managers, should be trained well in the values and abilities of the company for which they work. They could have more autonomy to deal with customers. This would allow them to go beyond the stupidest motto ever that "the customer is always right". The customer is not always right, and I know that for sure as I have been wrong more than once as a customer. If all of us admit that customer service reps know best about their companies, they are the ones who are often right too. This means that companies have to stop mentally punishing and destroying their customer service reps if they don't act slave-like towards customers. If a customer is wrong or uncooperative, the reps should be allowed to act accordingly, even if it results in losing the customer. In a service-based economy such as that of North America, there are many customer service employees. By not allowing them to act freely and also protect their mental health, we create bigger problems that will cost us more and more come tax time and people who burn out doing customer service will inevitably need a break and put a strain on our social systems. This need not happen nearly as much.
Finally, in case of both USA and Canada, I think companies should be encouraged to hire and train competent customer service people to become independent account managers who work from home. The best way to do so, as telecommuting infrastructure also costs money, is for governments to offer tax incentives to companies for every single employee set up to telecommute. Remember, not everyone wants to live in big, expensive cities off of a customer service salary. With telecommuting as a legitimate option, people could live all over the country including smaller towns and rural areas where it would be easier for them to afford buying real estate there and settling down. This would positively reflect on their interaction with customers too, so it's a complete win-win. Oh, and it would pump more consumer spending in small town and rural areas too.
What do you think? Are companies moving in this direction, or will this take a long time? Let me know. :)
First things first- customer service people still can't reach out to you in most companies. When you call your cell phone or Internet provider or another similar company, and you have a complex issue to resolve, many times it's all about you dealing with multiple agents making notes, each agent trying to figure out what happened before. This is extremely annoying to everyone involved. Yes, I know companies set it up this way so that an inadequate number of people can handle a huge amount of incoming calls. However, this needs to change precisely because the barriers to new companies entering most sectors are becoming lower and lower. This means that their offers will eventually become so competitive that customer service quality may be the only reason why a customer might pick them over their competitor. That is why companies should hire more customer service staff and turn them into customer service account specialists or account managers. They should also be able not only to dial out to customers, but also to use email, Skype and texting to get things done. The focus should be on efficient problem solving by any means necessary, not high volume inbound inquiry juggling and delays. Based on your experience, I think you may agree with me enthusiastically.
The second thing businesses should change about customer service is related to the first thing. Customer service reps, once upgraded to account managers, should be trained well in the values and abilities of the company for which they work. They could have more autonomy to deal with customers. This would allow them to go beyond the stupidest motto ever that "the customer is always right". The customer is not always right, and I know that for sure as I have been wrong more than once as a customer. If all of us admit that customer service reps know best about their companies, they are the ones who are often right too. This means that companies have to stop mentally punishing and destroying their customer service reps if they don't act slave-like towards customers. If a customer is wrong or uncooperative, the reps should be allowed to act accordingly, even if it results in losing the customer. In a service-based economy such as that of North America, there are many customer service employees. By not allowing them to act freely and also protect their mental health, we create bigger problems that will cost us more and more come tax time and people who burn out doing customer service will inevitably need a break and put a strain on our social systems. This need not happen nearly as much.
Finally, in case of both USA and Canada, I think companies should be encouraged to hire and train competent customer service people to become independent account managers who work from home. The best way to do so, as telecommuting infrastructure also costs money, is for governments to offer tax incentives to companies for every single employee set up to telecommute. Remember, not everyone wants to live in big, expensive cities off of a customer service salary. With telecommuting as a legitimate option, people could live all over the country including smaller towns and rural areas where it would be easier for them to afford buying real estate there and settling down. This would positively reflect on their interaction with customers too, so it's a complete win-win. Oh, and it would pump more consumer spending in small town and rural areas too.
What do you think? Are companies moving in this direction, or will this take a long time? Let me know. :)