Customer service tip: Use your brain

It seems like I've had several conversations this last week about customers service:

Example 1: Women is one of the first people to get an iPhone when they originally launched, standing in line for hours. Recently, micro-phone breaks, takes it to the Apple Store and one of the "Apple Genius" takes the phone, tells her it's broken, that she should have bought the warranty, and that she can buy a new one for $400. Apple Genius does a lot of whispering, typing on the computer, shows no compassion.

Example 2: Waiting for a team uniform order a man realizes he made a mistake on one of the jerseys. Person who help him makes a large exhaling sound, exclaims that they cannot just make that type of change at the drop of a hat (despite the fact they were numbering shirts in the back) and that it would take up to three weeks because "your change will have to go back in the queue". This despite the fact that the team purchased well over $500 worth of items and the club probably spent tens of thousands in uniform orders that year alone. Customer service person fails to be understanding .

Example 3: As part of evaluating a software program, man downloads the demo, trys to load it several times on his computer but still gets "51-database error" each time. Sales person says, "that happens when server blah blah tech blah" and ask me to spend 30 minutes talking to tech support. Sales person does not respect time.

I'm sure that we all could write blogs and blogs about nightmare customer service examples. The problem in all of these cases is that the people in charge of the customer relationship failed to put themselves in the customer shoes. The were thinking about their own needs and emotions. There are stupid policies that companies use that customer service can't control. What they can control is how the react to the people they're servicing.

In the last example, it's important to point out that the website began the poor customer service experience. The website is more and more often going to be the first impression customers have. Don't fall into the trap of "it's an IT thing", or "nobody really goes to our website" or worst yet "we don't have the budget". That type of thinking is just as dis-respectful as the examples above.

- Paul Herring

Comments

[Paul Herring (yes, really. Not this one though.)]

You appear to ignore the fact, in each instance, the customer can inform the company that they're rubbish, and they can, in fact, go elsewhere.

[Paul Herring]

You're right. In the case of the jerseys, I ended up going to another store just north, saved money and had a much better experience.

In the case of the software, you can bet they won't make the shortlist and that I'm not all that interested in seeing it.

iPhone wasn't me but you can bet that she didn't get another iPhone AND is pretty upset with Apple in general.

But one thing you're ignoring, most people won't say a word to the company, they'll just turn around and never come back. The company has lost not only that sale but probably every sale in the future. It's just about a mortal wound to the brand.

[Cam Beck]

I agree with Paul Herring.

[Andrew B. Clark]

Make a customer happy and you have a customer for life. And they'll refer your company to everyone that specifically asks about (the service, the product, whatever...)

Conversely, bad service seems more personal. If you make a customer mad, you've lost them and everyone they'll ever talk to - for life.

So, from a branding standpoint, how does Apple, the sport apparel store and the software company "make amends?" Or how do they assure that their brand isn't dinged for another loss???

Great thinking post, Paul!

Keep Cooking!
Andrew