The Customer Service Survey
VocaLabs' weblog providing news and commentary on the challenges of providing good customer service.
Flexible Service
Tuesday - November 15, 2005 02:58 PM in
While I have far more empathy with the sales person than the curmudgeon customer (Peter really isn't as much of one as his last entry might indicate.*), he does however have a good point. When a company decides to bump up customer service quality, they can go too far. Wendy is probably a fine individual, stuck or perhaps indoctrinated with the management fad of the week. But just as companies can view customer service agents as incapable of independent action, so too do some managers see the sales person as incapable of reading the customer and adjusting their sales approach accordingly. A "one size fits all" approach to either sales or customer care is only slightly less silly than the company that pays little attention to customer satisfaction at all. I suspect, or hope that in the end Wendy will take her training and modify it to her personal style. Best of luck to her that she can accomplish this without incurring the wrath of the narrow minded manager who put her in the position of sales person automaton.
This example is just another version of one of the oft repeated but seldom implemented rules for a successful call center. Namely: empower the agent. If you think your agents are entry-level employees that require rigid rules (Parodied by the TV ad campaign for Capital One where the agent can only say "No"), they will usually lower themselves to your expectations. But if you empower them with tools and flexibility to serve the caller they will respond with good service and a positive attitude that is seen and appreciated by your customers.
Posted by Rick Rappe'
*Truthfully Peter would have been the happiest if they'd sold him a box of unassembled refrigerator parts along with an instruction sheet written by someone to whom English is a second language. As it was, it took him several hours to reverse the door openings and hook the new fridge to a water line for ice water, but he was humming the whole time.
Posted by Rick Rappe'
*Truthfully Peter would have been the happiest if they'd sold him a box of unassembled refrigerator parts along with an instruction sheet written by someone to whom English is a second language. As it was, it took him several hours to reverse the door openings and hook the new fridge to a water line for ice water, but he was humming the whole time.
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