"Glass Half-Empty" Customer Service

    How do you perceive your customers? Most companies don't take the time to get to know their customers, so everyone from the CEO to front-line CSRs are left to their own perceptions. While you can trust a few individuals to look at the glass-half full, my experience tells me that - left to our own devices - we often let a negative attitude taint our perception.

    Years ago, our group was asked to make a presentation in a board meeting for a large retail corporation. Prior to our presentation the board was was having a discussion about their corporate identity and mission. One of the board members said, "we sell [expletive deleted] to nerds!" (I don't think this is what Drew would recommend as a tag line!). The interesting (and sad) thing was, we found that the front-line CSRs had a similar impression of their customers. The negativity about their customers trickled-down and tainted most every phone call and service experience.

    Working in client contact centers for almost 15 years, I have found a common experience in every call center. Let's say a Customer Service Representative (CSR) takes 20 calls from customers before his break. Nineteen of the 20 customers were decent, pleasant customers and the CSR was able to resolve their issues capably. One of the 20 customers was frustrated and angry and vented his frustration on the CSR. When break time rolls around, who do you think is going to be the subject of conversation? We don't focus on the 19 pleasant, decent customers who were happy we helped them - we focus on the one difficult customer who couldn't be satisfied.

    Working with customers can be a draining experience. Human nature is easily led to focus on the few negative experiences rather than the positive. Companies must consciously work to remind themselves of the great customers and great customer experiences they have each day:

• CSRs should keep a note pad or sticky-note handy for a day. Put a hash mark down for every nice, decent customer you helped that day. Then, put a hash mark down for every angry, insolent customer. It becomes a visual reminder that the negative customers are few and far between.
• Companies regularly get "thank yous" from happy customers. These cards, letters, or emails usually end up on a dusty bulletin board somewhere that few ever read. Warm-up to existing technologies such as wiki, intranet, blogs, and RSS feeds to push these positive messages to everyone in the company!
• You probably have some raving fans out there. Find them. Offer these customers a tour of your operation and give them some tchotckes. Bring these customers in to your contact centers or a team meeting and let them meet customers (who love them) face-to-face.
• Use QA to track the percentage of negative customer calls they hear over a period of time and broadcast the results. Data will likely show that "those" customers are the minority.
• Do the reasearch to get to know your customers and what they think of your company. Broadcast the results to everyone in your organization making sure to compare those who were "very satisfied" with their call to those who were "very dissatisfied". If your company is like most, the numbers will help dispel the "every customer's is upset and angry" myth.

You can impact how your employees perceive and engage your customers!

Creative Commons photo courtesy of Flickr and evilpaulie.

Comments

[Terry Starbucker]

Great ideas Tom! And thanks for the link love. Companies all too often choose to focus only on the negative. I choose differently, since I prefer to smile more than frown. :-)

All the best!

[Tom Vander Well]

When it comes optimism, SB, I am merely the student - you are the master!