I HAVE QUESTIONS…
When I say I have questions, it's just me being snarky and priming my audience to be peppered with rhetorical questions. Over the past week, I have encountered a lot of bad customer service, and I attributed these interactions to poor training. The stress of the pandemic, the drain on employees who worked through it, and, quite simply, employees not caring because it’s a paycheck after all, are also possible contributors. Initially, I thought I was being overly sensitive and mean, but then I thought about it more rationally. I am more sensitive to bad customer service because recognizing and resolving it is what I do for a living. I was also not mean because I did not attack the employees in any way. I shook my head and thanked them.
It's one thing to have one or two bad customer service experiences; it’s quite another to experience them consistently in one day. What is the problem? What is the issue? How do we resolve these recurring instances? Unfortunately, one resolution is to complain to management, something I resisted for years but have come to appreciate. Complaining to management may or may not fix the issue, but it could also create more negativity in customer service. Allow me to explain: complaining or giving feedback to management may not be the best approach because the manager could be a bad manager. If so, this could create a negative work environment. Therefore, complaining or reporting bad customer experiences can be counterproductive. On the other hand, if the manager is great, this could be a very productive approach for a customer.
Unfortunately, the best approach is to report the poor customer experience to upper management. The rationale is that leadership is responsible for using that information to guide the team. Do you think the captain of a ship doesn’t want to hear about dangerous weather reports? The captain needs that information to guide the ship safely and ensure passengers have an enjoyable voyage. The same applies here: leadership needs to hear negative feedback, constructive criticism, and complaints to guide the team appropriately and to prevent future instances of poor customer service among current and future employees.
One of my experiences led me to request a refund. Although I loved the item and it fit perfectly, I could not keep it because of the poor customer service I received. I could get the item from another retailer. I did not want to spend my money with this particular retailer because of the service I received. Not only was one rep rude to me, but two others provided equally poor service. That poor service cost the company profits and future opportunities to grow its clientele. I would not recommend the store to anyone. The worst part was that, as I was leaving, I overheard another customer being very loud and verbally abusive toward the staff because of poor customer service. That was an eye-opening experience because, in real time, there was evidence that it wasn’t just one customer; there were more than one, and that was horrible enough.
Experiences like this are not the end of a company, even if they are early indicators of potential dissolution. Instead, poor customer service experiences are opportunities to turn companies around, improve the customer experience, and increase patronage. The keys to turning negatives into positives are proper training, routine assessments and evaluations, team building, and serious investment in job development. These measures should happen at every level, regardless of position.
We should not become complacent about poor customer service, whether as recipients or providers. It is never acceptable to provide anyone with poor customer service. I understand that the pandemic brought out the worst in some people, but that is no excuse for making the problem worse. It is best to take the high ground when working in customer service. Providing better service would do the customer service representative a world of good, as it has a direct impact on their well-being. Providing someone with great service can encourage feelings of pride and enjoyment, as it is immediately gratifying, and it also ignites those good-feeling endorphins. Great service can lead to career growth because people notice when you consistently provide it. I will promote the person who cares about the service they deliver. I am very hesitant to promote or reposition the person who constantly receives complaints, especially after routine training and coaching.
I walked away from these recent poor customer service experiences with these lessons: the experiences were great material for the blog; it is best to take the high road and not succumb to negativity, verbally or physically; and negative experiences can be great opportunities to create positivity.
