I recently heard a story about someone attempting to spend a moderate sum on invitations to a bridal shower. It was appalling to hear the type of customer service she received and the way the company communicated with her.
Although I’m all too familiar with a lack of customer service, this story is worth expounding on because it contains some valuable lessons. We have all sorts of ways of communicating with customers, but we need to be accommodating to them and not just do what is convenient for us. In a lot of ways, email is the death of customer service.
For Whom is Email Sufficient?
One massive, sometimes fatal, mistake I see many businesses make is their inability to put themselves in the customers’ shoes. Calling us when we are at work, or emailing us when we would prefer a call. Or faxing us… ever.
For example, someone I know needed some wedding invitations made. There was a very close deadline that was rapidly approaching due to a lack of competence shown by the company making the invites (not the customer). There were some changes made that needed approval the same day. The company knew the deadline was that day, and they just emailed the customer proofs without a follow-up call.
Now something that is not urgent doesn’t require a call, and if they called all of their customers instead of emailing them, that may increase their workload significantly.
But, when that customer has a same-day deadline they need to treat that customer with extra care to ensure the deadline is met. Especially after the company has dropped the ball and created this urgency. In this case, extra care would be a follow-up phone call to make sure the customer knows their proofs have been emailed to them.
It’s a Generational Thing
We, especially those of us that have grown up with email & instant messaging, think it’s OK to only communicate via written word. I have friends that I solely communicate with via text. If they call me I think they’re on their death bed or they are going through a quarter-life crisis.
That sort of communication is OK with me, but not for generations before us. They build trust and confidence through hearing people’s voices and seeing their faces, that is how business has been done most of their lives.
It’s actually quite ironic that we (as a generation) spend so much time on our phones, yet very little of it is actually spent talking with people.
I do fear that many of us (technically Gen Y, although I feel like Gen X) have become too dependent on electronic communication and we lack a lot of the people skills that the generations before us had to develop. Although this is an entirely different subject, where we grew up and our previous experiences play into how we communicate.
Email is Easy
Sometimes an email is needed (as with documents that have specifics and/or photos) but a phone call can set you apart from your competitors when it comes to customer service. This is not a justification that everything we send is that important. There are still plenty of times when we need to use the phone.
One major assumption many of us make is that everyone checks their email all day long, like I don’t. Have you ever had someone call you and say, “Did you get my email? I sent it 30 minutes ago and I haven’t heard from you, just wanted to make sure everything was OK.”
I check my emails once or twice per day unless I am waiting on something urgent or I am expecting something big (this practice alone has saved me hours of productivity).
Some people check their email all day long, which is wasteful and extremely time consuming, but even worse is that they assume everyone else does the same. Still worst of all, they get upset if you don’t check yours constantly, as if you have nothing better to do.
Scared of the Phone
I was very fortunate in that my first two jobs during & out of college forced me to be on the phone and out in front of people. Even if I had been the type to want to type all day (see what I did there?) I would not have been able to do so or I would have failed miserably.
A lot of Gen Y (particularly the youngest of us) is scared of the phone and think that only pissed off people lie on the other side of it. That’s not true!
There are tons of happy people on the phone, but we don’t know that because the only time we use it is when we are forced to. By that time, the person on the other side is definitely pissed. Which could have been avoided if we would have just called them in the first place.
Over-Communicate
The moral of the story is to find the right communication mediums for your customers and use it. If it’s an urgent matter, do not leave your communication up to email. Phone calls show urgency and show an extra level of care for your customers.
One of the things I always do for businesses when making their websites is suggest and email or phone call option to hear back from the business. If people don’t want emails, don’t email them. If they prefer to stay off the phone, oblige them.
It’s not about you, it’s about your customers. When we can all learn that, our customer service approval will go through the roof!
—-
Besides Comcast, have you ever had communication issues with a company?
What was the issue?
Leave me a comment below or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear from you.
Have a great day!
