Customer Service – Trick or treat?

Great customer service can be a treat for both businesses and customers. It builds loyalty, relationships and makes all our lives easier.

But, it can feel like a “trick” when expectations fall short.

Poor customer service can haunt customers; you see where I’m going with this!

Unresponsive or unhelpful representatives can lead to dissatisfied customers who might just disappear like ghosts into the night, seeking better service elsewhere.

But before we blame the customer facing people, it’s often not the representative’s fault.

They might be juggling scary antiquated systems, multitasking across multiple screens, being the voice of unhelpful policies and the gaps between the marketing promises and the realities of the service delivery, with very little training in how to manage or lead a call.

And then there’s digital customer experience. I was battling to buy something yesterday, struggling with loss aversion. Their website promised free next day delivery, but when I came to pay, the area where the code needed to be entered was greyed out. That’s where the loss aversion spell kicked in – I didn’t want to lose out.

I hopped on their chat.

The response – “you should be able to put the code in”

“It’s shaded out, I can’t find a telephone number on your website, can you let me know the number I can call on and place an order please”

“You can’t place orders over the phone we record calls”

“What would you suggest I do please?”

“If you could send a screenshot that would be great”

“If I do that, you’ll see my credit card details……..”

All of these can be fixed with one simple shift – stepping out from systems and processes and stepping into the customer’s world to help fix the problem.

That requires training and management attention.

But as customer’s; wow that would be a treat, and not just for Halloween.

Shout out to all those businesses who care enough about their customers and their experience to invest in training and coaching for their customer facing people.

Now that’s a real treat, for their people and their customers.

Diane Banister