Daniel EmmanuelImagine you own a product that requires some service , so you have to go to the service center, which is about an hour away. When you arrive, you get to stand in a line. No one acknowledges you. You watch the person or people behind the service desk do some paperwork or deal with other customers. You start to get a little tense, and you can feel your blood pressure rising, as you try to figure out how long it will be before someone helps you or even acknowledges you.
Finally you hear those magic words, "NEXT . . . OVER HERE!" and are motioned over to a representative. You very carefully describe the symptoms you have been mentally rehearsing on the way over so you would not forget anything. As you look into the blank eyes of the service rep with the lifeless smile, you realize this person is the only link you have to the technician who will repair your product. You start to worry.
In the middle of your description the phone rings, the service rep stops talking with you to answer it. The phone call lasts a few minutes. You begin having flashes of that game you played as a kid, where you whisper something to the person next to you and then they to the person next to them, etc., to see what the final phrase can be and all have a good laugh. Unfortunately, it does not seem so funny right now. In fact, it is a little scary because you know you have to be dependent on this person to carefully pass your message to the technician. What kind of message is going to be passed?
Now, think about this . . . what kind of people do you like to be dependent on? If you are a normal, living, breathing human . . . NO ONE! However, we do create trust with some people, but only people we have known for a long time and who have a history with us. But until that trust is earned, there is a tension in having to depend on another, like now.
Finally you finish your story with the rep and are told that you will be called when the tech has completed the diagnosis. You wait for a moment, hoping there is more information. A moment of silence passes as you stare into those blank, smiling eyes. You break the silence asking when you should expect the diagnosis call.
"Oh, in a few days to a week", the rep replies, sounding as vague as possible.
As you leave, your anxiety level starts rising because you are wondering how long it will actually be before your hear from them and if your service needs will be met. You start expecting the worst due to how you were treated. So you mentally practice how you will act if they do not fix it to your satisfaction. You will be demanding, angry and not take any crap off the person you are dealing with. If necessary, you will go directly to the management and demand your needs are taken care of immediately. So there - HA!
As we look at this scenario, we should see that the service customer is not the problem. The problem is that we have taught them to have to act this way to get their service needs met. Why do I chose the word "taught", because when they go nuts they usually get what they want. So the lesson is learned and kept in mind for another day. Being an upset customer is a learned and practiced response.
Look at all the opportunities the customer had to feel that they were receiving poor service. What is odd is that no actual service has been provided yet . . . or has it.
Did anyone remember to service the customer, not just the product? A product does not care if it is fixed right the first time, however the owner of the product is a different matter.
For the customer, the actual servicing of the product started when the product broke and the customer had to find a repair center. At that point the customer’s anxiety starts, first with the inconvenience of the product breaking and next with having to find a service center that can be trusted to provide a fast, accurate repair.
I think that service is our ability to service the both the customer and the product. It is the service reps job to fix the customer’s attitude and the tech’s job is to repair the product right the first time.
I do not think it takes a rocket scientist to figure what service centers need to do, but the way many companies handle their service centers you would think so.
A very wise business prophet, Tom Peters, stated it very clearly when he said (paraphrased), "I don’t care if your business is peddlin’ hamburgers or buildin’ jet engines, you could have the lion’s share of any market you want if you would just treat your customers with good, old-fashioned courtesy What is the highest form of courtesy - Listening!"
The customer will tell us exactly what they want and what they expect if we will just listen. Once we have a clear picture of their service expectations, then we can best describe how we can help them in relation to those expectations. Hopefully creating a peace of mind that they are in good hands. (Sounds like an insurance commercial, doesn’t it. Well don’t laugh, it is those commercials that taught the customer to expect and demand such good service!)
I do not believe the customer is always right, but I do believe their perceptions are always right and we need to do a better job of listening to those perceptions, it is their reality. The customer is our best trainer. Each customer is training for the next customer . . . is training for the next customer . . . . and the cycle never ends
Our main job is to just become better listeners.
© 1996, J. Daniel Emmanuel
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