directedfocus

When an ostrich feels threatened it buries its head in the sand - well that's how the story goes.

It is said that the ostrich believes, that if it can’t see you, then you don’t exist. Danger averted.

This is one of the primary reasons businesses don’t hire "ostriches" for customer service jobs.

Simply ignoring a customer will not alleviate the problem the customer faces, nor will it make them go away.

Take the bigger view

What's your business culture in relation to customer service?

Around 11 months ago our company completed all the necessary documentation to transfer a staff member's phone into our company account with our telco.

That transition is still being complete, 65 phone calls, letters, visits to their offices, promises made and broken.

Their approach ... ignore me and I'll go away.

I didn't go away.

We have escalated the issue through the TIO and have just pushed it to level two in their system.

Level 2 is arranging a time to discuss the outstanding issue and work through the points of contention. This failed because my case manager refuses to respond to messages or is too busy to answer the phone.

Who employs your staff?

As the owner or manager of your business you may pay your staff ... but the customer employs them

More often than not employees do not relate the person they are communicating with as "paying" their wages or salary

A critical issue that businesses commonly forget is that people are human.
And humans are a sensitive sort.
A delicate mix of hormones, caffeine, sleep-deprivation, fear, social awkwardness, stubbornness and a healthy dose of "I'm the customer".

In reality most of us don't want immediate attention, we want recognition and someone to hear our issues and address them. More importantly we just want someone to resolve the issue as expediantly as possible.

Acknowledgement of the problem and a plan of what is to be done to rectify the situation is the first step.

Oh I know all about customers ripping you off, and how some are just time wasters and have inflated expectations and egos bigger than the best.

What if the concept was given a "flip"

Let's remove the title "customer service" representative and replace it with "people service" representative, just to remind everyone that customers are people too.

Would that effect the way your business interacts with the people you do business with?