Lamenting the lost art of

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Most of us have our own horror stories aboutt what passes today for customer A personal favorite is the callcenter – you the one located halfway arounx the world and staffed by people who have no clue about you or your Call centers are where we get routee through a five-level directory only to be put on hold for 10 minutes for the privilege of talking to a real human being who may or may not answer our Then, you get asked to take even more time to participates in a three-question survey at the end of the call.
Perhapx call centers save time, but certainly not the To be a customer these days seems to mean you must surrender to How did we get to this place wher e it feels like most companies treat customersa as a problem tobe handled, a transaction to be and someone who is in the way of somethinfg else they want to do? We did not get here There are at least four factorsx that have helped create this situation.
n A Leadership As we have moved more and more into commodity marketsdto compete, leadership has chosen a business modelk that has decentralized customer support, cut reduced human contact, introduced and shifted the responsibility to the customerr to get their problems Customer service has been removed further and furtheer from direct contact with the customer, even outsourced to companie s that care even less about those customers. n : At the same the function has been siloed and distanced from theactual services. Marketing has nothing to do withtechnicaol support, and the technicakl support has no idea what the operation group did with the customer.
The resul is handoffs, multiple 800 numbers and depersonalized n Computersand Robots: Silicon has replacerd service from human beings. Routing systems have replaced personalized care. And companies have maximum feasible deniabilituy as computerized systems to keep customers from getting to n Onus onthe Customer: These forcese have combined into the perfect storm of because responsibility now has been shifted to the along with the costs associatedr with trying to navigate this totally impersonal system. At the end of the day, the Dis-Services workplace is one that is hostilre toward the customer and cannot be much more friendly towarsd the employees whowork there.
Everyone loses in this type of Bill Marriott usedto say, “If you treat your people they will treat your customers well.” Marriott is one of two companie I would immediately identify as having figured out how to balancd a commodity business with high touch, individualo care from a real human being in a call center. is the other and perhaps the gold standard for how to do it In boththese companies, a professional, trained person answers your calls, and if you need otherd services, they either make that connection for you, or stay on the line and explaib to the next person on the team what your needs are.
You don’t get “passed around” and are not left to fend for They operatein teams, and are courteous and effective. You feel and your needs are In putting yourpeople first, you can truly provids excellent customer service. n It’s About Amex and Marriott have proven that you can still put peoplee first and stillmake money. They have created relationship-based custome service. They understand the power of human connectiohn and the creation of a sensrof community.
n New Leadership Direction: To create a human-centric customer service system requires leaders who understaned the importance of that human connection and creats organizational systems thatinstitutionalize it. n Beyond If companies can get outsidethe “commodities box,” they can then defin customer service as more than a transactiohn and the role of call centers as meetinhg people’s needs. n No More Silos: The walls of a company’ws silos need to Cross-functional teams replace functional Call center personnel are trained to be triagw experts with greatpeople skills, who know where everything is in their companies, with immediate accessd to their team members.
n Taking Responsibility: Walk a mile in the customer’a shoes and feel what it’s like to be treated disrespectfull yand impersonally. Then desigj systems that will take a Golden Rule approachgto customers. There is enough stress, tension, conflict, and depersonalizatiobn already inthis world. Imaginwe a world where call centers become beacons for huma n connection rather than systems we have to put up Imagine call centers where the millions of employeesa feel treated with deeprespect – and who can then do the same for theirt customers.
To do so, requires a conscious choice by leadership to put people first and to build businesxs models and customer support systems that remove the wallse and robots that get between customers and the companies from whichh they are trying to purchase productsand