| Compared to the travel industry where 45% of the | | | | problem but offered standard answers". |
| complaints logged were regarding the quality of | | | | This type of feedback is not new. In these cases, |
| accommodation, 50% of consumers complaining about | | | | service representatives are impacted by a lack of |
| the Telecom industry say that customer service is the | | | | knowledge. As yourself the question; how would you |
| root cause of their dissatisfaction. Is getting rid of poor | | | | react when constantly being asked questions to which |
| attitude and behaviour as straight forward as fixing | | | | you did not know the answer? Would you offer |
| broken plumbing or cleaning a stained carpet? | | | | standard and non-relevant answers as a means to |
| The reference data | | | | get off the call? Would you become uncomfortable, |
| As passion 4 customers is in infant stage when it | | | | embarrassed and therefore unfriendly? |
| comes to complaint management, the number of | | | | Finding the right fix |
| complaint still only range in hundreds. The complaints | | | | I often see companies investing a lot of time and |
| growth rate however is running at 300% per month. | | | | money into monitoring calls and coaching. When calling |
| The number of Telecom complaints is lower than for | | | | customer service you typically hear that calls may be |
| the travel industry but Telecom is the second industry | | | | recorded for quality purposes. Does it help? I do not |
| generating dissatisfaction amongst consumers. | | | | believe so for the simple reason that call volumes |
| Customers in the age group 31-40 logged the vast | | | | outweigh the amount of staff available to review all |
| majority of complaints whereas for the travel industry | | | | interactions. In fact, it is ironic that companies who |
| the age group was between 51-70. The complaints | | | | focus on these types of exercises will confirm that |
| spread across the UK, France, Belgium, Germany and | | | | their internal rating on 2 to 10 calls per month per agent |
| the Netherlands. | | | | is very high yet customers think otherwise. |
| Dissatisfaction drivers | | | | If call monitoring and coaching is intended to spot any |
| By order of importance, consumers are articulating that | | | | training gaps and as a consequence to address them I |
| customer service, handset exchange and invoice | | | | fail to understand why companies are not investing this |
| charges are their source of grief. Being familiar with | | | | time and money on re-evaluating its training curricular. |
| the Telecom industry since 2004, I find it interesting to | | | | Why aren't the training departments held accountable |
| note that consumer views haven't changed over the | | | | for customer satisfaction performance? |
| past 5 years in fact these are the same issues in the | | | | Training is a good example to highlight a vicious circle. |
| exact same order as back then. This probably isn't a | | | | As part of a recent call centre assessment, I asked a |
| surprise and accepted as a fact of customer services | | | | company to share with me their 2-week program. the |
| life by now. | | | | schedule looked complete at first until I asked about |
| But reflect on this; in the early 90's the number one | | | | the 'what-if'. What if a customer doesn't agree with |
| driver for dissatisfaction at HP's European contact | | | | your policies? What if a customer doesn't like your |
| centre was due to call centre accessibility. Customers | | | | product? What if the question is not standard? I was |
| were repetitively arguing the fact that they did not | | | | told that the telephone skills part of the training taught |
| want to wait to be served; the time it took to reach a | | | | agents how to handle delicate situations. |
| technician was unacceptable. The logical response to | | | | But that is precisely the misconception, just like a |
| this problem is to increase and maintain a constant high | | | | presentation skills training will not provide you with the |
| level of staffing throughout the day. This solution did | | | | content of the message but the way to deliver it, the |
| not prove effective on customer survey ratings | | | | telephone skills training teaches you how to manage |
| despite answering 95% of calls within 90 seconds. It | | | | the dialogue but not what to say! What is missing is |
| took HP sustained focus and broad thinking to | | | | the 'what' to say not 'how' to say it in most cases. |
| determine the real issue at hand: the number of | | | | No customer service training I have experienced |
| hand-off's a customer experienced before reaching | | | | provides the tools necessary to negotiate your way |
| the right person and the overly complicated and | | | | tactfully through uncommon questions. Here is a |
| unfamiliar Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system | | | | customer story, which shows how a small detail can |
| were defined as "accessibility issues" by customers | | | | make all the difference. |
| yet labelled differently. Today these are known facts | | | | "I rang my Telecom provider to change my account |
| and most organisations cover these basics but in the | | | | details. The agent noticed that my contract was up for |
| early days of call centres this was a remarkable | | | | renewal and asked me whether I wanted to extend |
| discovery. | | | | my contract for another 24 months and upgrade my |
| Making sense of customer feedback | | | | Iphone to the 3G model. I say yes provided I could use |
| Coming back to the Telecom customer service topic | | | | my current Iphone with another provider as it was still |
| and taking the same approach as HP did reveals that | | | | perfectly functioning. The agent answered I would |
| poor customer service is interpreted in many various | | | | have to wait a few months before being able to |
| ways and not purely related to the person you spoke | | | | unlock my Iphone. When I asked why, the agent did |
| with. | | | | not offer an explanation. When I asked about the |
| The first important element to note is that it is not a | | | | exact amount of months, I did not get an answer. |
| single Telecom provider's problem, it is an industry | | | | When I asked her to seek an answer with a superior, |
| problem. Just like accessibility wasn't an HP problem | | | | she could not do that. In fact this was so vague I felt it |
| but I strongly believe HP was incremental in paving the | | | | was a tactic to get me to sign up for another 24 |
| way for change in ridding call centres of this stigma. | | | | months. I didn't trust her and declined." |
| The next essential part is to understand how | | | | If this agent knew the answer, she probably would |
| consumers define customer service. At first glance | | | | have persuaded the customer to extend his contract |
| you notice rude, arrogant, unfriendly and unhelpful as | | | | and purchase a new handset. the customer on his side |
| being what customers are criticising. Since I do not for | | | | rated customer service as unhelpful and unfriendly. |
| one second believe that customer service | | | | Training is merely one illustration of a process which |
| representatives go out of their way to use slang, be | | | | consumers often complain about by labelling it 'poor |
| hostile call in and call out as well as object to helping, a | | | | customer service'. In order to truly fix customer |
| closer look into customer feedback gives a few clues. | | | | dissatisfaction, an organisation has to be prepared to |
| "He became unfriendly and I realised he didn't | | | | lift up every corner stone to find the true cause and |
| understand what I was talking about", "the service | | | | effect. |
| representative did not listen to me nor solve my | | | | |