COVID is the new obscenity

I don't know about you, but I am getting sick (metaphorically speaking) of COVID-19 being the excuse for every sort of bad customer service these days.

I rented a car this weekend and had a problem with the key. I waited on hold with Hertz emergency roadside assistance for several hours with no resolution. AAA wasn't much help either. They were supposed to dispatch a locksmith who never showed up. I ended up having the car towed back to the airport. I finally did hear from a AAA manager the next day; he was apologetic about the mishap and blamed it on their skeleton crew due to COVID (but offered no consideration for our troubles).

My family likes Outback Steakhouse, and we've always admired their consistent quality. But since the pandemic (and believe me, we are the least complaining restaurant patrons ever), we've twice had to send back steaks that were the wrong temperature--one time, it took three tries. The manager confided in us, "It's hard to find good cooks. It's sort of hit or miss."

A steakhouse that can't cook a steak?

I get it. The economy took a hit, and things have changed. But in recent weeks, we've seen the stock market hit new record highs and unemployment numbers drop closer to pre-pandemic levels. I think it's probably time for these companies to take stock of where they are and make plans to get back to pre-COVID quality assurance.

In the infosec business, we could never afford to take a break during the pandemic. If anything, we've had to step up our game, because: 1) increased telework has expanded the traditional network boundaries and created additional threats to be addressed, and 2) more idle and unemployed people has meant more scammers looking to take advantage of the situation.

And another thing: because people's budgets have been cut, they're looking for deals. Abacode could try to compete by being value-priced; but we also need to differentiate ourselves by offering superior customer service. The bigger players will no doubt outsource things overseas, often resulting in a lower level of engagement. We have to be at our absolute best to win work away from the SecureWorks and AlertLogics of the world, and that means not only performing at top levels daily but also being willing to tailor our offerings around customer needs (i.e., no "one size fits all").

Finally, I would like to offer up some of my favorite customer service related management books for some of these under-performing companies:

(1) In Search of Excellence (1982) by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman. This is one of the classic management books that has stood the test of time. It advocates having an agile, customer-centric organization with a core commitment to values. This is highlighted by case studies of what some of the most admired companies have done right.

(2) The Effortless Experience: Conquering the New Battleground for Customer Loyalty (2013) by Matthew Dixon, Nick Toman, and Rick DeLisi. Here, we learn that loyalty is driven by how well a company delivers on its basic promises and solves day-to-day problems, not on how spectacular its service experience might be.

(3) Hug Your Haters: How to Embrace Complaints and Keep Your Customers (2016) by Jay Bear. While The Effortless Experience discusses doing the right things to avoid the haters, Hug tells you how to handle it if you've messed up. There are "offstage haters" who just want help for their problem, and don’t care if any-one knows. But there are also "onstage haters" who feel wronged and want the world to know about their righteous indignation via social media (perhaps like this article!). So, companies had better have a good plan for handling both.