No it’s not! It’s just not what we want it to be, yet.
Yes, the lament has been heard around the world…over and over and over again. And for good reason, too.
For many years, the larger corporations like Verizon, Dell, AT&T and others have sent their customer service departments overseas. Not a bad idea at first because it lowered their service costs. Not a good idea in the end because it also lowered the service to the customer. And, in turn raised the ire of the customer to such a point that instead of a customer service center being cost-neutral it has now become a revenue loser for a lot of companies.
How does a customer service center become a revenue loser? Consider my last post about giving away product or service to a disgruntled customer. Or offering a dissatisfied customer a discount to continue doing business with you. Or even worse – not engaging the customer in a conversation that results in exceeding their expectation and making them want to not only continue to do business with you but also to spread the word about your company so that others want to do business with you as well.
Many small businesses understand the importance of engaging the customer. Why? Because the owner or manager is in direct contact with the customer. They hear first hand what the customer has experienced by using their product or service. Small businesses are managed and run by people who have a stake in the success of the business. If the owner or manager hears the customer’s complaint, they’re going to act quickly to resolve the issue. And the result will be an improved product or service to prevent other customers from having a bad experience.
The larger the corporation the further away the owner, manager, decision-maker is from the customer.
It is vital for any business, regardless of size, to operate so that each person in contact with a customer believes they have a stake in the success of the business. Take away that stake and you’re left with people who read the script, look forward to the end of day, pass the customer to another rep, or continue to say “it’s not my job” or “I don’t know”.
No, customer service is not dead. It is rare though. Let’s work together to make world class customer service the norm when doing business rather than the exception.
