"For God
loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that
everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life."
The holidays are always a time of gauging how good, or not, a company is at providing customer service. Patience is not the virtue of lots of customers who received a gift that didn't fit, or wasn't what they wanted and are faced with the obstacle now of "working" to exchange the item for something that might be better. This is, as Stephen Covey would say is, "the moment of truth". I had one of these experiences with a retailer who did not fulfill their delivery commitment by Christmas (as I paid for) and was promised. So, the day after Christmas the extended wait on the phone made me think that the double entendre of it being "boxing day" was probably being fulfilled. When I finally reached the agent and after explaining my problem, the customer service rep said to me, "Well, I really shouldn't" and then went on to give the refund of the extra shipping costs and then extending it also to my next purchase. I was pleased with the outcome but as I hung up I did think that hearing, "I really shouldn't" can go both ways. It may well be that the policy is that he shouldn't have, and he might be getting in hot water, or that he can do this without asking but thought that making it look like it was an above and extra move would make me good or feel a little guilty. That's not so good either. So, when we think about what our customer service message is, we need to be sure that we are aligning policy, message and takeaways to fully satisfy the customer.
Satisfying others, especially those who are in need, means giving up of ourselves in some respect. Seldom when someone else wants or needs something from us does it align with what we really want to do or have happen. So, we must give to satisfy and meet needs. We just completed celebrating our greatest gift from God. Think about what He gave up to meet the forgiveness of our sins and provide us salvation. Each day in our work we face moments when a little voice inside of us says, "I really shouldn't." When that voice is reinforcing a selfishness about how we decide to give of ourselves to others, or not, then we need to respond, with "I really must". If God can give so much for us, what is holding us back from giving of ourselves to others?
Reference: John 3:16 (New Living Translation)
Showing posts with label customer support. Show all posts
Showing posts with label customer support. Show all posts
Monday, January 7, 2013
Thursday, December 1, 2011
day 782: Who You Gonna Call?
For every child of God defeats this evil world by trusting Christ to give the victory. and the ones who who win this battle against the world are the ones who believe that Jesus is the Son of God.
Anyone who has ever run or led a customer call center knows how it important it is to teach the customer service representatives how to handle a conflict that escalates. Any of us who have ever spoken to a customer service rep also knows how important this can be to the impression and the experience of that company. Being a good customer service person is both skill and art. Being able to listen to hear the level of frustration of the caller and then diffuse that in a way that feels productive and helpful is the art. The skill comes in how to handle the difficult problems that escalate and seem to be going out of control. Knowing when to call on the supervisor, before the customer calls on them is also key. But, every call center needs to have a protocol for how and when to delegate up the problem. I once was exposed to a company whose employee complaint levels were going through the roof and their morale into the basement. When diagnosed it was all about the decision by the corporate HQ to not allow the call centers to push a problem into the HQ staff, no matter how bad the situation became. The senior execs thought they were doing good by allowing for problems to be resolved locally. The call centers felt abandoned and that HQ didn't care. We all need someplace and someone to call when we have reached the end of our rope. Our customers, consumers, vendors, partners, shareholders and employees all need it. And, yes, for some of those the CEO and/or the Board needs to show up. It's worth thinking about where and how far can those who have complaints about your company or organization go? Who are they gonna call?
In 1 John we are told, as believers, where the buck stops. What is so amazing about our God is that it's a one stop hotline to the resolutions of our problems, worries, fears, and concerns. All we have to do is believe and then have the faith to allow God to do His work. Sounds so simple doesn't it? It is the perfect and most elegant of all support systems. Thinking through the current problems on our plate, big or small, which ones are we still hanging onto thinking that we can solve them ourselves or have put them in the hands of another person thinking they can solve them for us? If they are there, then why haven't we sent them up God too? There is no complaint or or problem too big or too small that He doesn't want to resolve for us. He never cuts us off from His "HQ". And when we ask, "Who you gonna call?", He is right there with us ready for that call. So, today, who are you gonna call?
Reference: 1 John 5: 4-5 (New Living Testament)
Anyone who has ever run or led a customer call center knows how it important it is to teach the customer service representatives how to handle a conflict that escalates. Any of us who have ever spoken to a customer service rep also knows how important this can be to the impression and the experience of that company. Being a good customer service person is both skill and art. Being able to listen to hear the level of frustration of the caller and then diffuse that in a way that feels productive and helpful is the art. The skill comes in how to handle the difficult problems that escalate and seem to be going out of control. Knowing when to call on the supervisor, before the customer calls on them is also key. But, every call center needs to have a protocol for how and when to delegate up the problem. I once was exposed to a company whose employee complaint levels were going through the roof and their morale into the basement. When diagnosed it was all about the decision by the corporate HQ to not allow the call centers to push a problem into the HQ staff, no matter how bad the situation became. The senior execs thought they were doing good by allowing for problems to be resolved locally. The call centers felt abandoned and that HQ didn't care. We all need someplace and someone to call when we have reached the end of our rope. Our customers, consumers, vendors, partners, shareholders and employees all need it. And, yes, for some of those the CEO and/or the Board needs to show up. It's worth thinking about where and how far can those who have complaints about your company or organization go? Who are they gonna call?
In 1 John we are told, as believers, where the buck stops. What is so amazing about our God is that it's a one stop hotline to the resolutions of our problems, worries, fears, and concerns. All we have to do is believe and then have the faith to allow God to do His work. Sounds so simple doesn't it? It is the perfect and most elegant of all support systems. Thinking through the current problems on our plate, big or small, which ones are we still hanging onto thinking that we can solve them ourselves or have put them in the hands of another person thinking they can solve them for us? If they are there, then why haven't we sent them up God too? There is no complaint or or problem too big or too small that He doesn't want to resolve for us. He never cuts us off from His "HQ". And when we ask, "Who you gonna call?", He is right there with us ready for that call. So, today, who are you gonna call?
Reference: 1 John 5: 4-5 (New Living Testament)
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