Should you have to pay for internet access? Ever…

My first inclination here is “No way”, when I travel whether it is on business or privately, I hate to have to pay extra for Wi-Fi. Most hotels have free Wi-Fi in the lobby and you can work there very easily, and quite often nobody expect you to buy anything although I will happily buy a drink for the privilege. But if you are a guest in the hotel clearly Wi-Fi is like having a TV or hairdryer in the room and should not be charged.  Yes I will choose a hotel on the basis of free Wi-Fi not only in the lobby but also in the room, (it is not a deal-breaker – but certainly a big influence).

In most cafes, pubs and resto you get free Wi-Fi. I find it perfectly OK that you might have to buy your drinks, and ask for the code – or you get it for free if you can sit through a minute of commercials.  On public transportation in Copenhagen amongst other cities you have free WI-FI.  And although I initially was “Wow – cool” I am now merely shrugging and thinking “Of Course…”.  So it is a complete mystery to me why you would not have free Wi-Fi in airports? (Except of course I realize it is a captured audience and because of that "easy money" - but it is not good service!)When do you think it is OK to pay for Wi-Fi – if ever?

Small World - do we need local languages?

As the world gets smaller, is it OK for big multinationals to serve their customers in one or two languages?

In Europe even in pan-European shared service centers customers are served in multiple languages. But as we get more and more used to self-service via the web or mobile applications which more often than not only comes in a couple of “big” languages, are we now at the point where we want to serve  ex the Nordics and Benelux countries in English or German only.

The argument to support this is

Most people in these countries speak English anyway , they use the internet more than in south Europe for ex and are used to dealing in English so it should not be a way off. Most documentation is in English anyway and as a company it saves money not to have to find the small language speakers – that saving can be passed on to the customer.

But of course there is a different argument

Even if you understand English and can use a webpage (and have easy access to Google translate) it is so much more intimidating to have to string together sentences or understand the spoken word which might be with dialect or some “slang”. That saving is never going to be passed on to the customer anyway.

I believe that if you are in the B2B you can probably get away with it (although I doubt it is good service), but certainly in a B2C environment it is still comparable to shooting yourself in the foot – you will lose business.

Don't let simple housekeeping let you down.

It is a shame when you have a great product, great facilities and your people do a fantastic job and just because you miss some really simple housekeeping you let your customers down. That happened to me today…… I started up being really impressed then quite annoyed.

But the story started already two weeks ago. Alpha-male, son and I were on our way to visit family in the UK and we were – as per usual delayed so in a rush to catch a ferry. On the way we got a chip on the windscreen (a nasty big one) so as we drove on I called Carglass for help – the lady in the call center were fantastic listing us options en-route in Belgium where we could stop by to get it fixed – but as we were late for the ferry she organized that Carglass UK would come and fix it the next morning at our destination.  As promised the next morning a gentleman came and fixed the windscreen in the most pleasant and polite way you can imagine, as he finished off he told me to, when back in Belgium, to go to the local Carglass branch and let them check the fix is OK.

This I did today – to ensure I would not waste my time queuing I first call the call center and explained, again the agent was fantastic told me just to come and it would be done very quickly. To find my nearest Carglass Branch I looked at their webpage typed in my address and was directed to a branch only 5 km away. When I arrived at the address the branch had closed down (and from the look of it for quite a while). So for the second time today I had to call the call center to ask for the address of the nearest Branch which was 14 km in the other direction.  Arriving there I am again being helped in the most professional manner and I am very impressed with the facilities they offer the customers should there be any waiting time.  

But regardless, I still ended up being annoyed for having to waste time driving to a closed branch, call the call center and then have to drive opposite direction. And this would be such an easy thing to keep up to date and that let the overall experience down.

Customer Reviews the next step in customer service and communication.

If you have been following this blog or “Blondies private” you know I do lot of my shopping on-line. And I love it. There are brands that are difficult to get in Belgium; I am not limited by opening hours or running the risk that my choice of color or size is not available in the shop.

If you know the product you are shopping for it is fairly easy to do online, but what if you do not know the product. Example: I need a dress and I would look at Net –a porter or Boden or even M&S. If I like what I see in the photo and if the price I right J I will look at the reviews. These reviews are my “best friend” as long as I can trust them.  My bar for whether I can trust the reviews or not, are bad reviews – if I can find reviews on the site that are bad or at least less good then I think I can trust the reviews.

These reviews does drive my buying behavior, if something I like gets bad reviews I am much less likely to purchase and on the other hand if the reviews are good the possibility of me buying is significantly greater. Going back to my need for a dress, I found a dress online from a brand I know and it looked like it fitted the bill perfectly, however the reviews were so bad that I decided against buying it.

As a company of course you take a risk, opening up for reviews like that, but not doing it creates an even greater risk , some potential buyers might not buy because they are not sure of the fit, quality etc., or even worse they  essential do not trust you. Zappo increased their sales by “cleaning” the reviews (http://t.co/UUQ5T4Rv) and I am absolutely all for that as long as the cleaning you do consist of correcting spelling, grammar or similar mistakes, the gist of the review needs to remain.

And the communication gets better, what we see more and more is the company replying to customer’s reviews. Obviously they do not need to reply to each individual review and it is mostly necessary when the reviews are less good.

Going back to my dress, the reviews were bad – almost across the board and what Boden did was to answer these reviews with an acknowledgement; stating that the company is sorry that the dress is not up to their usual standard and for the winter collection they will redesign the problem areas. Do I buy the dress, no of course I do not buy the dress just because Boden acknowledge that it is bad, but it makes me feel better about the company and I would not hesitate to buy from them again (provided of course the reviews are goodJ) because I do not fear their quality has gone completely to the dogs.

This is a classic example of taking customer service to the next level keeping the communication open and the great benefit of influencing the conversations about your brand.

Stereotyping customers can cost sales.

In March 2009 I needed a new company car. Armed with a generous budget I set out to order a car. I have no knowledge of cars whatsoever (if the oil needs changing I ask for help in the gas station and a flat… well that is why you have roadside help is it not?). I drive long distances a couple of time a month so I want a powerful car that drives smoothly and I like having small compartment for cards, coins and yes lipstick, but basically this it the extend of my needs in a car. Close to the office we have a Audi dealership and as we (alpha-male and I) have driven Audi before I thought I would spend my lunch break checking out the kind of car they could offer.

What happens: I arrive, hover around a bit looking at the cars whilst waiting for somebody who can help me, although I am the only customer in the showroom they all seem very busy doing paper work, and as I approach the desk one guy get up very reluctantly from his desk and decides that he have time to serve me.  But the service is non excitant, clearly he has come to the conclusion that no way am I going to make a decision without a man present, and thus he tries to fib me of with showing me just one car. Bearing in mind this was in early 2009 and the economic crisis were full on you would think that they would be more eager to sell me a top-end car.  My thinking here is obviously that if I get no service whatsoever when I am standing there with money in hand ready to spend – how are they going to serve me if I have a problem? Clearly I took my business elsewhere and now I am the very happy driver of a Volkswagen.

 The point missed by Audi in this case was they stereotyped me, by looking at me they decided that I was not the decision maker for this transaction. Completely wrong as the first time Alpha-Male saw the VW was when it was delivered. Treat every customer the way he/she deserves, do not jump to conclusions but take the time to give the service and make that sale.  If I get good service and a good product then I am a very loyal customer; my next car will almost certainly also be a VW.  Audi did not miss one but probably multiple sales.

Inefficiency costing sales??

I have just returned from a 24 hour trip to Dublin. DAA Dublin Airport has opened a new terminal recently – and for the first time I went through it today. I was really looking forward, the old terminal is a bit dated – and I do love the new airports for their airy feel (like terminal 5 in Heathrow or Copenhagen airport). But man was I disappointed, not that the terminal is ugly or dark – It did look nice - there were many things I would have liked to explore had I just had the time. But the way you are treated there makes it not only impossible to relax and enjoy the surroundings but also so stretched for time that if you do want to explore you miss your flight.

The terminal is over 3 floors on the ground floor you check in, on the first floor you arrive and on the third floor you have access to the departure gates. As I arrived from the other terminal I arrived on the first floor which meant first going down to check-in then going up to the 3^rd floor to go through security, already this is ridiculous – too many people to go up multiple floors and only two escalators and 6 elevators, but I made it. Now through security  - and here is the same issue as in terminal 1 you have to snail your way through a long queue, the people are not very friendly and as you reach “the other side” where you think you can go through the scanners only to be met by even more queues. These queues are “organized” by four employees – and it really begs the question “why not organize the queues from the beginning (as in Brussels airport) then you do not have to have four people standing and shouting at people?” but maybe it is a kind of scheme to keep more people in employment?

So finally I made it to the scanners. I travel a lot – so I am pretty good at knowing what to have inside the bag and what to leave on show. But in Dublin Airport it is always just that little bit more complicated. Obviously I am not the only one in this situation so most people need to put their things through twice. This of course adding to the ever expanding queues. And the people working there (probably mentally exhausted from the endless queues and comments from tired travelers) are quite unfriendly – I mean they say the right things you can just hear that they do not mean it, which do not add anything positive to the experience.

 So this morning despite me travelling with only one piece of hand-luggage and having my stuff ready it took me 50 minutes just to pass security and by then my plane was on the final call. So I could only look longingly at the restos and shops as I ran to catch my plane which was so far out the pier it made Brussels airport look compact.

I feel sorry for the retailers – they must miss out on lots of sales because security is so inefficient.



Service Level has to be delivered at all contact points.

A couple of days ago, I had the pleasure of what can only be described as a marathon shopping-expedition in IKEA with my friend Donnell who is setting up new home.

Donnell came prepared with a list of thing she needed, first stop “sofas” we found the sofa – next we went to the lady at the “help point”, as we approached she was leaving and only by almost running up to her did we manage to get her attention.  The conversation was as follows:
“Excuse me we have a huge amount of furniture to buy today, we need to have it delivered – does that mean we collect it all, pay it and hand it over?”
“Yes on each piece of furniture you can see where in our self service hall you can find it”
“thank you”.

This we did through sofas (three), entertainment system storage unit (two), Office tables, shelving unit, and kitchen tables and chairs. Then at dining room furniture we hit a snag (we had to contact another help-point for the table). This is what happens now:
“Hi there, we need a dining table with this particular name, in black”
 “what size?”
“Umm not sure but we have the item number here” handing over the list Donnell had made from home.
“Ok here we go I found it – I can see you have all the item numbers written down – I can create a full list of where to find them for you.”
 And she did – fabulous we did not have to write a thing down, the list was neat and ordered so we could start in one end of the hall and fill up numerous trolleys on the way to the check- out.  

Reaching the check-out with 5 trolleys were not easy but we managed and the girl was super helpful (not at all faced by the enormous amount of furniture we had managed to stack precariously on top of each other) even when we hit a bit of an issue with the credit card (an American card to be used in Belgium for the first time) she was all smiles and
“Do not worry, I will help the next customer. Please call your bank and let me know when you are ready to pay”
Donnell calls the bank and everything gets sorted, we pay, and now for arranging the delivery.

So we have just paid (loads of customers are still paying) and go the customer help desk, only to be told “we are closed”. 
 Needless to say we were not amused!!! Another conversation goes
“But I have five trolleys full of stuff we need delivered”
“go outside there are taxi service they can deliver for you”
“no that will not do, we need you to do it for us”
“but we are closed – ok let me see…fuck”.
One of his colleagues then decides to step in and save us by arranging the delivery next week.

In the end Donnell got it as she wanted in less than an hour had she collected, paid and arranged delivery. But while I was thoroughly impressed with the list-lady and the check-out girl Donnell was very upset about the last guy’s attitude. So it just go to show that it is so important that the service levels you want your company to portray, needs to be known and followed by every single employee. I who look for good service and notice it remember the list lady and check-out girl. Donnell who does not work in the customer care industry she only remember the guy who said “fuck” to her.

Actively asking for feedback is NEVER bad

If the shopper feels like it was poor service, then it was poor service. We are in the customer perception business.
Mark Perrault, Rally Stores

I love this quote – it says it all even if we think we give excellent service and provide the customers with all they could possible need and want. It is only so if the customer agree with us.

So how do we know if the customers think we give good service?  Often when I ask this question the answers are something like “well we do everything…” or “they come back….”.

So you think you do everything a customer could possible want – how can you be sure unless you ask them? And for the “they keep buying” what if they don’t? Is it not much better to figure it out before the customers go somewhere else?

I am always surprised how reluctant people are to ask for feedback from their customers. In the past I asked my team to call the customer up and ask for feedback on how we are doing. In the beginning they did not like it very much –but I believe as long as you realize and communicate that all feedback can be used to improve the service you provide it is one of the most valuable things you can do.

It goes without saying that if an agent has behaved  in an inappropriate manner the feedback could be used as part of disaplinary action – but to be honest if you are a good leader you should never be in a situation where something like this happens (this could be an entire new blog post). Mostly it is about finding out what are the customer missing and what do they like us to do more of. Then it is easy to narrow down, improve and really make a difference. Instead of just guessing……and aiming wide.  

So whatever you do – do not be shy about actively acquiring feedback.

When Customer Care Works!

In my last blog I was writing about customer care when it goes wrong – so I decided this time to concentrate a bit on when it goes right. I am writing this in Frankfurt airport where as I show my boarding card to the security guard he scans it and wishes me a nice trip back to Brussels, at the security-check there is no shouting at people  for not being quick enough  to empty laptops, shoes, handbags, coats and pockets. All over it is “good evening”, “thank you”, “please” and “have a nice flight”.  Realizing that my flight is delayed I decide to have my dinner here, and again I am amazed on how nice and polite everybody is. Normally in an European airport they know you are a captured audience so they can (and will) treat you badly and charge you a fortune without really worrying if you go somewhere else. But here it was different (OK it is still airport prices – but it does not feel so bad if you, at least, get treated nice).

Does this change my travel habits – probably not (I still have to go to Frankfurt airport six times a year whether they are nice or not) but it does make me much more willing to part with some cash if I am not stressed over the lousy treatment I got in the security-check, and I know I can get some decent service with my dinner. And it does make me a much nicer passenger as well. I am more likely to smile and take extra care not to bump into somebody else (I am not even that upset over the 30 min delay) and if I am like this, I believe I am not the only one – so with a bit of courtesy and smile from all the staff, the entire atmosphere in the airport has changed – that is a result for anybody!.

This brings me to when bad service is turned around. In my organization we ask our customers to let us know how the call went. And if the survey is not good we really want to speak to that customer again so we can try to make up for whatever went wrong. These are the customers we have a chance to save, the one who just decide to go elsewhere without telling us why – that is a real waste.
Back to travel, two months ago I stayed with my family in the Maldron hotel in Dublin, it is a place we have been before and like, but since we had been there last it has changed ownership. The hotel is still nice with the amenities we like (swimming-pool, walking distance to town and a proper bed for our young son instead of the usual pull-out).  The staff is most polite and helpful but there were a few hic-cups in the “system” of the hotel: when we told our 11 year old that he could buy a movie the only choice was porn (We are pretty relaxed but sexolympics is not on when you are 11), and the really clever system they have where the vending machine charge your keycard did not work.  On our return I dropped a mail to the hotel pointing out the shortcomings and within hours the manager called me back for more details and to apologies. It was a very nice conversation where I for sure felt he listened and understood my concerns and that some actions would be taken (Ex switch off porn if children are staying in the room), and offered us a free night as a appreciation of the feedback. I was delighted – not so much because of the free night but because he listened and understood. Of course when we are going back next month we will stay a further two nights and we will keep coming back – so by picking up the phone and listening  to me, he now have very loyal customers in our family.  

This is true for all types of customers, so if a customer offers you feedback (of any kind)  please do not turn a blind eye – that communication can change an unsatisfied customer into a loyal advocate.

We do have a choice – we just need to make it!

I just read a very interesting blogpost on lowcost airlines – especially Ryanair, which made me think about the powers we have as consumer.

When I travel privately I must admit we look for value for money – if we spend less on getting there, we can spend more whilst we are there. But it has come to a point where the actual saving has to be really significant before I choose Ryanair over other airlines.

Somehow over the last decade travelling by air has turned into an experience where you have absolute no right to dignity. And whilst I can understand – and live with that in the name of safety (although I still struggle with the airports who want my toiletries in a plastic bag), the way Ryanair ground staff treats their customers is so rude it should be illegal. Just recently we (husband, son and I) where in Italy on holiday- and we travelled Ryanair. First in the Belgian airport (I refuse to call it “Brussels south” as it is 70km outside Brussels), the security staff will when checking your passport and boarding card, they will also check that your hand luggage is not too big. Excuse me, but are those people not there for our national security and safety? What does that have to do with the size of my carry-on. On the other side in Italy there was a ground staffer with a bathroom scale to make sure that we did not carry too much onboard – I mean give me a break…..

But the truth is that even though I hate the way I am being treated, by buying the ticket I allow them to do so.  In almost every other aspect (where I have a choice) if I do not get the service I think I am entitle too (and this is not much) I leave and will not come back. Yet when it comes to buying the flight tickets we look at each other and think if we can save 200 EUR (260$) we can live with the inconvenience. Maybe it is the amount of money that is the decider – or maybe it is because you do not realize just how bad it is going to be when you order the tickets.

But as consumers we need to realize that we do have a choice – and together we have power to turn things around, we can choose not to buy that Ryanair ticket and if enough of us choose not to they will have to change the way they treat us.

But I also know what a lovely meal you can have in Verona for much less than the 200 EUR I saved.

Btw the blogpost inspiring: http://www.bnet.com/blog/travel-detective/listen-up-pat-down-protesters-these-furious-fliers-know-how-to-fight-back/130?tag=drawer-container;load-section-river

Positive attitude.

Is it my job as a leader to ensure that my team is happy? No, it is my job to ensure we provide them with the tools they need, a nice work environment and of course – not least a fair salary. But beside that I cannot guarantee the happiness of my team.

Goes without saying that I like it much better when they are happy, but it cannot be my duty to make them happy. What I see and hear people complaining about their job is the salary (granted we would all like to earn more money), but if you are rewarded fairly then extra dosh in the  bank is not going to make you happier or more motivated – except maybe for a short period of time. Or the work hours – but in most businesses there are some standard work hours where we need to be available.

What most of us forget is that unless you life is really in the sh@t you can choose to be happy, you have a choice, Is your glass half empty or half full? That goes for work as well. If you arrive to the office everyday dreading the day ahead of you, you are in the wrong job. If you dread it because you hate the work you do it is time to move on. If the tools are inadequate and your salary not fair for the job you do – it is time to move on (as a company you need to care about your employees enough to ensure this is OK – if not you are not worth working for).

A lot can be done by each individual employee. I am sure we all know those people who “spread gold dust” in the office the smiling happy ones! Yet so many of us seem to focus on the negative. If I tell you my flight was delayed, I am sure you have a story where not only was your flight delayed – you luggage was delayed even longer! I will come back with the time my luggage was lost and I never saw it again.  If I tell you about a colleague who did me wrong – you probably have a story of how he/she did you wrong – just worse! What we would probably not talk about is all the times that person has done right by us (or all the flights that was on time and we got our luggage).

In  the past I have heard a lot of complaint about the atmosphere in the office – what always gets me is that collectively we make up the atmosphere we work in so if so many of us are unhappy – we have it in our power to turn it around.

 In our team we started a project “Positive thinking”. We took a lot of inspiration from “Happy hour is 9 -5” by Alexander Kjerulf on www.positivesharing.com. We made some small adjustments and rules.

·         Make sure you build relationships with your colleagues who you do not see very often, call them instead of emailing all the time (so many things can be misunderstood via email). If you have the chance drink a cup of coffee or a beer with them (again it is much easier to be positive towards somebody you have had an informal talk with).

·         When you hear somebody complain about a colleague, customer ect. Listen and acknowledge (we all need to vent once in a while) but also remind them of all the good things this colleague, customer ect . has done. So give them a break.

·         If you feel like writing an angry email, write it – keep it for 24 hours read it again and see if there is still the need to send it.

·         Lead by example!!!   

And although I cannot see a big difference in our employee satisfaction surveys everybody agrees that the office is a much nicer place to be working in and also to visit. I see people much happier to help out and many more smiles as I walk through (but maybe they are just laughing at me).

Setting Expectations

I live in Belgium. A country with many positives - very international, great food, fabulous chocolate, so small that you can get elsewhere in a matter of very few hours (Paris 1 hour, 2 hours to London or Amsterdam). But also home of absolutely the worst customer service I have ever experienced.

More than once have I stood in line at the till, and whilst "serving" me and the people in front and behind me the sales person is on her mobile phone..... Or there is a queue of 5-7 people who wants to pay - only one person at the till whilst another 5 staff are hoovering or chatting on the floor.
Just recently my son got his first mobile phone, he had a certain budget and after having researched a couple of weeks he had his eye set on a specific phone sold by Belgacom - the local telecompany. We visited 8 stores where the phone was on display - but when we wanted to buy it we were told "Ooh we do not have this anymore". Asking if it was possible to order it for we were told "No" no alternative was offered only "try another Belgacom shop". Of course I got slightly annoyed and asked why "do you have the phone on display with a price and everything when you cannot sell it ? Instead of taking it down?" the answer here was "Complain to Belgacom" - which incidentally I thought I was doing. (But obviously there is not much of feeling part of the company if you work on the shop floor).
Visiting store number 9 the clerk says (as the rest of them) "Sorry we do not have that model in store" but wait for it..."If you do not mind waiting a week to ten days I can order it home for you". We almost kissed the guy! He did not only order it home for us - but also called me two hours later to say that he had found the phone in their stockroom - so whenever it suited us we could come and pick it up.
My son was thrilled and he got his phone and on the way home in the car he talked about what a great service this clerk had just given. I whole hearted agreed.

But wait ....hang on a minute.
Everywhere else this kind of service would have been offered in every one of the eight stores we visited (except we would then only have had to visit one), and that would have been the norm. So here we were thrilled about an "outstanding" service which would have been the bare minimum in most other places.

I guess it proves if you set expectations very low - it will be very easy to exceed the expectations and the customer would be happy and come back for more, right? Wrong.
In the case of Belgium I guess we have to get used to it and we are... we wait longer in the cafe to order a cup of coffee, we expect to have a lot of hassle if we want to exchange - or God forbid, our money back for a sweater. But we also go everywhere else to do the shopping when we have the chance (I personally prefer the UK- so go there frequently with a couple of friends for a Saturday shopping - and make a day out of it).

So this will only work if your customers do not have an alternative....

You need to set the expectations at a perfect level. So the customer wants to buy from you, because you meet his needs. But also so it is relatively easy for you to honor these expectations - you cannot "run after", "go all out"  for every single customer - most should be routine and "bread and butter".
Then you have the possibility to “pull all stops” for that particular case which is very tricky and I bet you and your team would love to do that. Because this is really what we live for – these exceptional cases where we call in favors from  everybody… but to do that for every single customer that would just be too exhausting.

The ideal Customer Care Agent Profile

Have you also heard that the ideal Customer Care candidates profile should read something like this:
"Not too young, woman is preferred as we all think women are better at caring, children are good (as long as they are in school) - basically somebody who is happy to have a 9-5 job (or whatever the hours), who is happy to have a job they can combine with Family life (meaning: forget when they go home) and have no major aspirations to grow in the company".

I lead a multinational Customer Care organisation in Europe where we price ourselves on having native speakers of all the 13 languages we supports. We have people from all over Europe in our team (which makes it a fabulous team to work in).

Naturally most of the people we employ are not native to the country we are in. So getting native speakers can be tricky. It is not at all political correct - but the men and women who leave their native country to pursue happiness and fulfilment (privately and professionally) are not your "ideal" CC profile, these people are generally looking for love either new (thanks to Internet dating we see many people here) or more mature (trailing spouses). They would probably never have applied for a CC job in their native country, and they do not fit the profile at all but we hire them anyway.
And what we have discovered is that although these people generally are overqualified for the job, they thrive here. The teams benefit from the International feel and atmosphere and the ideas for improving our service and procedures are never ending.

The only exception to this is the team supporting the country we are based in. Here we have a team that matches the profile for at least 80% of the people. This provides us with a team with many conflicts (I am a woman so I feel OK saying this - "maybe too many women on one team is not cool"). Needless to say the conflicts are rarely work related and incredible personal (sometimes it is almost like living a soap).

OK, for the over qualified men and women on my team we need to keep them happy with more interesting projects, special responsibilities and such, and once in a while (but rarely) do we loose one of them because they find a job in their own field of specialty. So we have to find those projects and special responsibilities... but I think it is a small - and very interesting price to pay, for conflict free teams full of positive energy.

So I have stopped caring for the Ideal Customer Care Agent Profile.

Crazy measurements

If you work in a call center you are most like to have lots of KPIs. Answer rate, max wait time, average call time , average hold time , ring on no answer, I could go on and on… that combined with scripts makes an agents job really limited and frankly not so interesting if you have some brain (which let’s face it most of the customer care agents have).

Whilst a script might be good to lean on if you are new it is very limited in really interacting with your customers. And why is average call time even a measurement anybody sane want to use, is it better to jab through a call in 1.5 minutes and leave a customer unsatisfied and chances are he will call back again or spend that extra 1 min to ensure that customer is happy and understand the next steps? I know what get my vote.

I my ideal world the agents will get enough training for them to feel comfortable to actually talk to the customers and give them good and proper advice/help…..hey let go crazy here and provide some real service!

Let the call take as long as it should….. not a whole lot of things which are worse than if you as a customer feel rushed. I bet you will not only see an improvement in the customer satisfaction but also in the number of issues handled in the first call, and most importantly you will also see a improvement in your employee satisfaction.

I work in Europe; everybody on my team speaks at least two languages fluently but most speaks four or five. Around 85% are not native to the country we work in – but the country we work for. And let’s face it, it is probably the more openminded and indepent ones who move abroad to start a new life long away from friends and family. Most of the team is actually overqualified for the job… and the ones which have the “ideal” profile are the ones who really cause issues, so in my eyes there are no more an ideal profile…… If I ask these super clever people to only tell the customers what is on the script and that they can only spend 1.5 min on the phone, instead of letting them talk to the customer who needs for 5 min and give a service the agent as well as the company can be proud of and the customer can be satisfied with.

Moving the Company vision from cost to profit

Why is it so difficult for companies to get the treatment of the customer right? Maybe you need to get the company vision right.


First of all most companies are seeing their Customer Service department as a cost center not profit center. I am sure I am not alone when I have been in the situation that the company launches an new customer focused initiative where “we are really going to differentiate ourselves with the great service we provide” - as long as there are no added costs. Albeit not necessarily impossible for a company to improve their customer service without added costs – if you run a somewhat mature department the low-hanging fruit are all gone and you probably need to spend some, to make it happen.

Secondly, Customer service agent is regarded an entry level job (and I am sure if you work in Customer Service, you have seen how quickly the high performers are snatched up by other departments and you have to hire and train again). Of course it is great that Customer service agents can grow and develop in the company, but would it not be wonderful if the rest of the company did see CS as a valued and important link to the customers, gave them the credit and by that actually also improved the job satisfaction of the CS agent.

That is a big part of the issue. The CS agents are not proud and happy with what they do, after being told time and time again how low their job is – I see fine people doing a great job. And they are not proud of their job!!! I believe this is one of the first things that needs to be tackled – Make sure your agents are proud of what they are doing!!!