Top Customer Service Mistakes Companies Make
We learn so much more from our mistakes, don’t we? I watch my kids, in particular my older son learn everything the hard way. Wouldn’t it be easier to just learn from others and not make the same mistake?
Dennis Snow recently wrote a white paper about the 5 Mistakes Companies Make with Customer Service. In the nut shell they are as follows:
Not clearly defining what the customer experience is supposed to be. Designing processes for the company’s convenience, not the customer’s. Hiring the wrong people. Not making customer service a significant part of new-hire orientation as well as ongoing training. Tolerating poor service performance from employees at any level within the organization.
He nails it on the head. I would just add two additional thoughts:
1. Failing to build the company on the needs and expectations of the customer. So often we decide we have an idea for a business but we fail to take our targeted customers on as thought partners. We can learn so much about what they really want and what expectations they have for the experience if we just ask them before we start down a wrong path.
2. Creating a customer-first culture that holds true at every level of the organization and is the first thought in every meeting that determines marketing messages, policies and procedures. We tend to focus our efforts on the employee that has the actual customer interaction and say that they are ones to provide the service. Yet if the management doesn’t support their efforts, it becomes challenging and often impossible to provide that service because employees’ focus is fractured by conflicting messages.
As Dennis says – understanding expectations, hiring the right people and providing ongoing training, feeback and encouragement are key components to providing a great customer experience.
What mistakes have you experienced in customer service? Help us learn from the error of your ways.
Deborah,
I completely agree with you. Providing a great customer experience is key.
Customer service woes are constantly being committed in the service industry, particularly by cable, telecom and utility companies. Customers are forced to wait for their service technician, package, or installer for hours which may or may not arrive at all. As a result, those with poor experiences are more likely to switch to a competitive provider.
Here’s my mantra to customer service – If you make your customers wait hours for you, you are burning bridges and losing potential business. Personally speaking, I’ve switched to another cable provider as a result of their technicians failing to show up on time.
As a customer, (or shall I say victim?) I recognize the desperate need for companies to better manage their technicians and appointments.
I work for TOA Tech, an on-demand mobile workforce management software company that provides a customer appointment management system that minimizes company inefficiency by reducing overtime, miles driven per appointment and appointment cancellations. I’ve noticed a significant increase in efficiency and customer satisfaction in companies who are utilizing TOA and similar services to manage their appointments.
I’m curious to hear about your thoughts on the quality of customer service in the mobile workforce industry.
Thanks for your comment, Jennifer. I sometimes think that utility companies, in which I lump mobile service, feel like they have us held hostage and therefore can treat us in any manner they see fit so long as they say “thank you for your business” at the end of the conversation.
It is a big issue that many complain about but I don’t see any of the big companies stepping up to the plate to think outside the box. Locally Time Warner Cable touts itself as the “customer service” company but I have personally been on the wrong end of that relationship more than once.
As for mobile – Verizon is my company and I can’t afford to loose my phone number and make a change. Although for the most part I am happy, if I have to make a trip to the store I know in advance to set aside at least 90 minutes. Frankly, I’m not willing to try and resolve the issue over the phone or on the Web.
Definitely a place for improvement in the customer experience.
Again – thanks for the comment!
Deborah