Hi All! I’m sorry for not being on for a couple of days. Between the short week, a full inbox and an identity theft crisis I’ve been a little tied up. Today I want to talk about customer service and how it can make or break you. I’m going to start out by telling two stories that recently happened to me demonstrating poor customer service that should make you cringe.
Example 1 – But you aren’t my customer…
My wife and I purchased a really expensive mattress a couple of years ago at a well known local furniture shop. Recently the mattress has been sagging really bad and we filed a warranty claim. The process was very long and involved me having Megan taking pictures of the mattress while holding a level and a 2 X 4. Believe me it was very scientific…
The issue arose after I submitted the claim form to the furniture store. I waited two weeks for a response and finally followed up with their customer service department. After about five minutes on the phone trying to determine if I even had an account the CSR had an “a ha” moment. Here is a direct quote:
CSR: “I see the problem now. You are assigned to a CSR that is out of the office today. I’m really sorry but there is nothing that I can do.”
Scott: “Really, you can’t look at the notes?”
CSR: “There is nothing that I can do because you are not my customer.”
Scott: “You do work for XYZ furniture store right?”
CSR: “Yes.” (sarcastic tone)
Scott: “Then I would like to disagree – I am your customer!”
The CSR continued to argue with me before I finally just gave up and told her to have my assigned CSR call me back. Once I got off of the phone I was royally upset. However, the point is that I wasn’t upset with the CSR – I was mad as hell at the XYZ furniture company and I immediately walked out of my office and told everyone I work with how bad XYZ furniture was to work with.
Moral of the Story – A simple mistake by one person can ruin the reputation of an entire company.
Example 2 – I don’t care about your problem…
My wife and I had our identity stolen over Labor Day weekend. If this hasn’t happened to you – let me tell you – It sucks! Long story but our car was broken into last month and then Friday some lady from Florida
Anyway… so I called US Bank’s fraud hotline and the lady on the phone was terrible. Here is what she did wrong:
- She seemed uninterested in my problem and didn’t even tell me she was sorry it happened.
- She lied to me and told me that the branch was closed that day and that there was nothing she could do until after the holiday weekend. (Just an FYI – the branch has people in the office until noon on Saturdays)
- She told me that I wouldn’t be able to get my money back for 60 days because the customer must accept some liability with “paper fraud” and then asked why I was so upset.
- When I asked for a manager she told me that there was no one there that could help me but that she could have someone call me back within 24 hours.
Please understand that this is by no means an indictment on US Bank. I called my local branch afterwards and got a wonderful person to be my advocate and in general they have been pretty good to work with. Additionally, I admit that I probably was not the most reasonable person on the phone given the situation.
However, US Bank has problems with their fraud department. It is inexcusable to have people that completely lack compassion working with people that are going through a crisis. Having all of your money and identity stolen makes you feel really violated and to have the first contact from the company be cold and almost combative is equivalent to leaving a dire medical diagnosis on a voicemail.
Morale of the story: Prepare and counsel your people to deal compassionately with expected situations. My biggest complaint here is that I was calling the fraud department – this lady must deal with people having their money stolen all day and I can’t imagine that I’m the only person that felt this way. Why wasn’t she – the first line of defense for US Bank – prepared to talk me off of the ledge and make me feel like things were going to be like things will be fine?
So how do we bring this back to insurance and doing a better job with customer service? Customer service is an extension of the sales process. Without good customer service you will lose accounts. Below are my top four tips that are integral to great customer service:
1. Treat Your Customer’s Problem As If It Were Your Own
This one is pure empathy and compassion. Just because you deal with the same problem over and over again doesn’t’ mean that the problem isn’t unique for your customer. If the lady at US Bank had told me how much my situation sucked and that she understood how bad I felt and then continued to do the exact thing that she did I’d be talking about how great of an organization US Bank was. So when you customer has a problem all you need to do is acknowledge it, validate their concerns and assure them that you will do whatever you can to resolve the situation. Nobody expects a promise that the problem will be solved – they do expect that you will treat it with respect.
2. Be Honest with Your Customer
One of the biggest challenges of customer service is telling someone something that they don’t to hear when they are upset. Another issue is that they make up an answer when they don’t have one Many people in customer service situations avoid the conflict by lying or sugar coating the truth or give an inaccurate answer to avoid looking like they are stupid. Let me tell you that this will damage a relationship beyond repair. The lady from the fraud department told me that the person who stole our money must have had two forms of ID and insinuated that it must be my fault that someone had our identification. This made me mad enough but I was livid when I learned later that US Bank’s official policy is that you only need one state issued photo ID to access an account and one teller candidly told me that if you look like the ID “I’ll give you anything – no questions asked.” At the end of the day I was so upset for being lied to the first time but really appreciated the honesty of the teller – it made me understand what I was up against. At the end of the day if you aren’t honest you will only add to the bad news.
3. Everyone Is Your Customer
This one sounds really easy and it should be. No matter your position in the company, be it the janitor or president – treat every potential customer like a valued one. Customers will never remember that it was some part time person that upset them. Instead, one action can destroy years of built up good will. The feelings of rage I had towards the furniture company could have been avoided. Instead of telling me I wasn’t her customer – she could have just said that she didn’t have the answer, would look into it and would get back as soon as she could – but it might not be today.
4. Don’t Share Unnecessary Information
When your customer has a problem they do not care who’s fault it is or what really happened. They want two things. A solution and validation of their problem. If you were out to dinner and your food took two hours what would you rather hear:
“I’m really sorry – the kitchen is running really slow tonight – someone didn’t show up.”
Or
“I’m so sorry about this! I’m sure you are starving. I’m doing everything that I can to fix this. Your food will be out as soon as I can get it to you.”
Same story – different spin. Your customer doesn’t care if you dog died, you are getting divorced, it rained all day or if you are sick. They just want it fixed. Explaining the intricate details of your backroom only opens you up to look incompetent.
That is all that I’ve got – sorry it was too long. I guess I needed to get up on a soapbox for this one. As always please leave comments below or email me at sthompson@insurance-csg.com.
Check out some of my recent articles on the blog here:
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