What’s Negatively Impacting Your Customer Service? - Keith Wyche
“Please hold while I try to connect you with our Service Department.” The haunting words every customer dreads hearing. After 30 minutes of listening to the same elevator music, you’re finally on the line with someone. Another 30 minutes pass, the conversation has gone nowhere, and your issue has not been resolved. We’ve all been here and have experienced poor customer service before — it’s not a fun time.
In today’s highly competitive world, no company wants to receive negative customer ratings. But why do so many companies still have awful customer service and why are they doing nothing about it? I had the opportunity to consult with several companies to help them find the root cause of their bad customer service. By visiting their stores and experiencing their Customer Support Hotlines firsthand, I came across 5 common themes:
- Unfriendly Associates: One of the first things I noticed in my several interactions was that the workers were not engaged and did NOT want to be bothered; they seemed annoying to be doing their job.
- Unknowledgeable Associates: On the other hand, I have encountered some very friendly associates. However, they were unaware of how to handle my issue and therefore, my time was wasted.
- Unavailable Associates: A customer can’t have a positive customer service experience if there is no one there to offer help. Associates should be easily and readily available to provide assistance to customers.
- Unconcerned Associates: Something worse than not being able to find help is finding help that is unconcerned. It is the most frustrating thing when there are several angry customers and several employees standing around doing nothing to help ease the situation.
- Untimely Resolution: The ultimate goal in the Call-Center world of Tech Support and Customer Service — “First Call Resolution.” It is important to not only be able to resolve the customer’s issue, but to resolve it in a timely manner. This entails minimal holding periods and as few handoffs to other departments as possible.
Any, and all, of these 5 themes can create a negative experience for a customer that can turn them away. If you want to remain competitive in today’s marketplace, you need to have a strong understanding of not only what your customers want, but how to best deliver your product and services in a “timely, pleasant, helpful manner.”
You can view the original article here.
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Keith Wyche is a change management leader who strives to assist organizations in reaching their potential. With decades of experience managing billion-dollar businesses across several industries, Keith applies a holistic approach to sustainable and efficient change. Keith is an author and leader who advocates for diversity, equity and inclusion in workplace talent and in customers through bridging community gaps. His vast experience and skills allow him to turn around struggling organizations and create strategic solutions for the best results.
