Why Excellence in Customer Service Matters!

Have you ever picked up the phone and dialed a company's customer service line only to be greeted by some less than enthused customer service representative? You know the kind of calls where the voice on the other end seems, distant and by distant I don't mean working out of an international call centre. I'm talking about those voices that would rather be anywhere else than talking with you. They're the kinds of interactions you wish you never had. Grumpy, miserable, sarcastic, lacking in empathy that love to respond with the familiar, "there is nothing else I can do for you" or worse yet the ones who take pride in berating you for not reading the fine print!

Sadly, exceptional customer service is becoming a lost art. Companies are facing an ever-increasing challenge to serving their growing customer demands. New business methods, models and technologies have created new barriers to customer service. If you have ever tried to press 0 when calling into a company's toll-free number only to be bounced back to the same message, you know what I mean. Customer service can be plain old miserable at times.

In all fairness, I don't always blame the customer service representatives, heck, I am one, Sometimes the public can be downright rude and abusive. Sometimes they are wrong. Yes, I said it, customers can be wrong. They make mistakes, but so do I. Sometimes customers can be demanding for all the wrong reasons and sometimes they're just plain right.

The real problem with many companies today is that through their deployment of advanced technologies such as ivrs, smartphone apps, self checkout machines and web portals is that the art of human interaction has taken a back seat. I was reminded of this on the weekend when I went to my local big box store to purchase some items. There were only two check out lanes open, the rest were self check out lanes and the express lanes which had an item limit. There were literally a hundred or so customers at the front of the store. What was I to do? So, I went to the self check out lane. It seemed to be the most logical option with the least amount of wait.

This is where things got ugly real fast. I approached the blinking machine and started to scan my items, one by one, placing them on the tiny space beside the scanner. As the pile started to build, I moved some of the piled items to my bag which I had placed on the floor. Ooops "please place items back in the bagging area" Apparently, I didn't do this fast enough and a little video started recording me saying "please wait, an attendant is on the way". I felt stupid. Here I was trying to quickly scan my items and was being scolded and recorded for not following direction. Needless to say, this process repeated itself a couple of times as I had a large number of items to check out. I finally left the store feeling miffed. Why do I shop here?

Customers that have been poisoned by a negative customer service experience simply take their wallets to their competitors. It can take years, if ever to rebuild that trust and in era where many companies are selling virtually the same thing, why bother sticking around? The answer is, they don't! The fight for wallet share will not be won by branding alone, but by customer service. Companies that invest heavily in customer service stand to gain the most. Some companies do get it right!

Take for example a recent interaction I had a fast food franchise in the United States. The company doesn't sell anything really unique. They basically sell chicken fingers and chicken burgers. Standard fast food fare that you can get any number of food outlets. But it wasn't the food that impressed me, it was the service. The conversation went like this:

Server "welcome to company xyz, how can I help you today?"

Me "I will have.."

Server "what's your name?"

Me "Chris"

Server "Let me recap that order for you Chris"

Me "that sums it"

Server "amazing! Chris, it will be my pleasure to get that for you, why don't you have a seat since you are dining in and I will get that right out to your table, have an amazing day!"

As I sat down waiting for my order, I couldn't help but smile! What service! She used my name three times and I didn't have to stand there waiting for my food! I thought to myself, could this be real. After my family and I had finished eating, I went back into line to get another snack for the road. Thinking that I just got lucky with the first customer service representative, I approached the next representative with the usual hurried approach a customer has when standing in the fast food line, but I was met with the same cheery demeanor, same use of my name, only difference was this representative said "one delicious chocolate shake coming up!" Wow! This company gets it!

That faithful encounter at a chicken joint got me thinking. How can I implement such great customer service into my own claims role? what can I do to create a memorable experience for clients who, needless to say, never call me happy. For me it all started with changing my philosophy on customer service. It starts by saying, it will be my pleasure to help you. By being empathetic and acknowledging a clients concerns. It requires active listening and a willingness to encourage client participation by showing them, we can fix this together.

Recently at the end of each new interaction, I began saying the following to my clients: "It's my commitment to provide you with exceptional service and should I fall short of this, I want you to let me know"! Clients love this. They know that I am holding myself accountable and that is what they expect me to do! With that being said, I close by saying that great customer service comes through accountability, great service and just being nice.

What do you do that creates for an excellent customer service experience?