And, this issue of customer service is not limited only to the U.S. Similar to their American counterparts, a majority of the
consumers in all other countries surveyed felt customer service is the most crucial area for companies in the current
economy. But they were equally concerned about the lack of focus on this key area.
Every company today has one or more ways of providing customer service. So if you are a senior customer service
executive and wondering why all that investment is not yielding results – think again! In my opinion, the reasons for failure
of customer service could be:
Not ‘listening’ to the customer: It’s very important for the agent handling the call to understand what the customer
needs and not just hearing them. This will depend on the quality of the call flow diagrams and on the regular training
provided to the agent. Feedback from internal quality monitoring and customer satisfaction surveys needs to get to the
agents in a timely manner, so that the feedback loop and improvement cycle can work properly.
Too much emphasis on AHT: Every agent has a target Average Handle Time (AHT) at the contact center, which is
guided by the call flow diagram. If these are not reviewed periodically to ensure that customers are getting enough time
to express their concerns and the data is being captured accurately, then customers will most likely leave dissatisfied.
It is important to put AHT in the proper perspective, as just one of the many measurements in a process. and not a
measure of the true outcome you are trying to achieve when your customers call.
Lack of innovative approaches in delivering customer service: Most contact centers do not invest in innovative
approaches for keeping customers happy. We believe the contrary. For instance, while managing lost baggage for a
leading airline client of ours, we realized how traumatized customers who were attending some important event would
be, to learn that their baggage was lost. So we began sorting information from the overall lost baggage list to identify
customers who needed to be informed at regular intervals about the status of their baggage, and started sending
proactive alerts to them. The fact that the airline was contacting them before they could, raised the customer
satisfaction levels to newer heights.
Even if you have got all the above right, unless you are able to resolve the pain point of the customer, your customer
service levels will always remain low! An article titled ‘Stop Trying to Delight Your Customers’ by Harvard Business
Review, sums it up well by stating that you can create loyal customers primarily by reducing customer effort, i.e, by helping
them solve their problems quickly and easily, and not by delighting them in service interactions with a robotic greeting or
thank-you!
WNS Global Services is a leading global business process outsourcing company. Deep industry and business process knowledge, a partnership approach, comprehensive service offerings and a proven track record enables us to deliver business value to companies.
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Professional speaker and author, Shep Hyken, tells his famous story about the cab driver. This story is an amazing example of great customer service. WHO IS SHEP HYKEN? Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is the Chief Amazement Officer of Shepard Presentations. As a speaker and author, Shep works with companies and organizations who want to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. His articles have been read in hundreds of publications, and he is the author of Moments of Magic®, The Loyal Customer and the Wall Street Journal and USA Today best seller The Cult of the Customer (www.CultOfTheCustomer.com). He is also the creator of The Customer Focus™ (http program, which helps clients develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset. In 1983 Shep founded Shepard Presentations and since then has worked with hundreds of clients ranging from Fortune 100 size organizations to companies with less than 50 employees. Some of his clients include American Airlines, AAA, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T, AETNA, Abbott Laboratories, American Express – and thats just a few of the As! Shep Hyken’s most requested programs focus on customer service, customer loyalty, internal service, customer relations and the customer experience. He is known for his high-energy presentations, which combine important information with entertainment (humor and magic) to create exciting programs for his audiences. (CPAE, or the Council of Peers Award for Excellence, is the National Speakers Associations …
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