Does your response to customer-service failure make a difference?

Have you ever found yourself face-to-face with customer-service failure? Just imagine the discomfort of approaching a public-facing representative who has an inability to interact appropriately and responsibly.

I know the feeling. We've all been there. In fact, I encountered a classic failure just a few days ago.

Was it somebody ill-trained in public-facing etiquette? I doubt it. Were there any extenuating factors in play? Not that I know of. And besides, shouldn't a professional remain professional? Was I deserving of the appalling reaction I received? Hardly!

While travelling through Germany I was unable to find an airline lounge at the airport. After failing in my pursuit of an airport map, I appear to have made a huge error of judgement. After much searching in the area I expected it to be, I let my conviction in the human willingness to be helpful misinform my decision.

Bang! It hit me like a ton of bricks.

So, what am I talking about? Do you see I'm going with this?

I foolishly believed staff in the lounge of a competitor airline could assist me. How wrong I was.

Let me explain. I respectfully glided into the lounge reception area and politely awaited service. The onslaught in response to my courteous request for assistance was swift, inelegant and hostile. It was overkill. "NO! Go back to the Check-In desk and ask there."

In other words, I have no right to be there. It is disrespectful of me to even ask where a competitor's lounge is. The host is wholly unwilling to help. And I need to leave immediately because I am seemingly lowlife that should crawl back under whatever stone I appeared from.

Make no mistake about it, I did leave at once.

Needless to say, I was far from upset or offended. I am hardened to this type of behaviour. But one thing's for sure, it was mentally noted as yet another example of a corporate giant losing touch with the needs of its workforce. Or losing touch with its customers or potential customers.

But you're probably wondering why this incident is important enough to share. Look at it this way, do you think it an appropriate response? It could easily have been you. Or a loved-one of yours. Or somebody less thick-skinned than me. Somebody who may have taken it personally and been understandably shaken and upset.

Think about it another way. Without mentioning these incidents, they simply get swept under the carpet and will reoccur. And reoccur. And reoccur. And that is not what I am about, professionally or personally. This is a clear-cut failure. An opportunity to improve. It needs to be highlighted.

So, stick with me here. Let’s assume the host is not a liar. In spite of his demeanour and response, which suggest otherwise. We'll also assume the German airline is not engaged in a personal vendetta against the passengers of its competitors.

What this means is, it is most-likely a dysfunction on the part of the airline. A dysfunction in failing to enable the capability of its employees to interact with the public. Or a dysfunction in demotivating its employees. Leading to inappropriate interaction with the public.

A demotivated workforce is often due to employers failing to provide its employees with autonomy, mastery or purpose.

Let's not forget that my tale is unlikely to be any different from a million others. Hundreds and thousands of occurrences of poor services and low quality are happening at this precise moment. My brief tale is no different to any of them.

In the majority of cases the lack of disinterest or capability is an employer failure. But the silver lining is that things are changing, slowly.  It's a no-brainer. By now, the majority of employers recognise that motivated employees are a consequence of focusing on employee autonomy, mastery and purpose.

All we have to do, as customers, consumers and the general public, is continue highlighting what we see as dysfunction. We should always point out customer-service failures, for example.

In essence, we are responsible for driving the change that eradicates customer-service failures. So, let's make it happen.

And isn't that what we all want? Zero customer-service failures?

Peter Mulville has over 23-years’ professional experience and a focus on adding value and enabling quality through Critical Thinking, Innovation, Creativity, Disruption and a determination to facilitate Desired Outcomes or resolve organisational challenges — Continuous Improvement, Change Enablement, customer-service orientation, strategic planning, process deficiency, miscommunication and the reversal of dysfunction, for example. Driven by Emotional Intelligence and Adaptive Leadership, Peter is globally-focused, experienced in People Management and is a passionate advocate of People-First: coaching, mentoring, engagement and inclusion, nurturing a culture of trust, respect, communication and cohesion. Aside from playing the Devil’s Advocate with an emphasis on Antifragility and Emergent Behaviour, Peter is also a Project and Portfolio Manager, and is well-versed and experienced in Governance, Risk, Compliance, Information Security and Business Intelligence.

Keywords: #MatsudaMulville #MatsudaMulvilleThinking #CustomerFocus #Dysfunction #EmotionalIntelligence #JudgementandDecisionMaking #ServiceOrientation #AddedValue #Antifragility #BusinessCapability #Responsibility