I’m increasingly disturbed…OK, appalled would be a better word…by an attitude I’m seeing crop up more and more frequently. As you know from reading this blog, I’m kind of a fanatic about customer service. As a result, when I encounter what I percieve to be bad customer service, I’m vocal about it.
What concerns me is the growing number of people who react negatively when I point out bad customer service. Many of them say things that basically amount to “that’s what the stupid customers get for being so stupid and stupidly calling with their stupid complaints!”
More and more, people in general (and customer service reps in particular) are defending the right of businesses to provide bad service. The icing on the cake was an article I came across via Dan Waldschmidt’s blog about Dell charging a monthly fee for customer service. Have a look at the article here, and pay special attention to the first dozen or so comments. You’ll read things like this:
“I whole-heartedly agree that most calls to tech support should be charged a service fee. Especially if the caller is someone whom is too stupid to actually read the instruction book or has absolutely no common sense. I mean, we are here on the phone trying to help them fix a problem that is usually created by the customer in the first place. Should we really have to waste our time fixing your mistakes for minimum wage with you complaining in our ear and saying how crappy support is while we can still hear you?”
When I read that the first time, I saw red. I started shouting at my computer at the top of my voice. My wife even took note of it, saying that I sounded like I had a lot of anger about something. She was right, and part of my frustration is that more people aren’t righteously indignant over the situation.
In one way, we’re getting exactly what we deserve. For far too long, we’ve been tolerating the decline of customer service, and that’s led to a generation of people who think that all the fuss over expecting good customer service is just an “old people thing”. It’s a problem that I refuse to contribute to; I don’t, under any circumstances, tolerate bad service. I’m going to continue to raise a fuss, and I hope you’ll join me.
In that spirit, I’ve composed the following Open Letter to Crappy Customer Service Reps and the Companies Who Employ Them. Feel free to copy it and insert the names of the offending parties, then send it to the person in the company who can do something about it! As tempting as it is, there’s absolutely no sense in getting into a debate with the person providing the poor service; if they cared at all, they would be giving you good service. Talk to the boss, and talk with your dollars. It might cost a little more or be inconvenient, but are you really enjoying the less expensive/more convenient alternative? I didn’t think so.
Here’s the letter:
“Dear _______________,
I think it’s time we had a little “come to Jesus” meeting about the level of service you provide to me, your Lord and Master. Yes, you read that right: I am your King. In case you’ve forgotten our arrangement, let me remind you: I’m the customer, which makes me the Boss. As such, I expect the following from you in all future interactions:
1. Your respect. In return, I promise to treat you with respect…but you have to go first. When I approach you with a complaint, I don’t want to hear sighs of frustration. I don’t want to see your eyes rolling back. I don’t want to be addressed in a tone that clearly conveys (whether you’re aware of it or not) that you think I’m an idiot. Even if you think that I’m to blame for the problem I’m having, I want you to take ownership of the problem and FIX IT!
2. Your gratitude. Yes, that’s right: I want you to say “Thank you,” and I want you to mean it. After all, if it weren’t for me you wouldn’t have a job! Think about that the next time you take my order or deliver my product or hand me my change. Make eye contact, smile, and say a hearty “Thanks!” We’ll both feel better about the interaction, and I might even mention it to a few of my friends.
3. Your smile. Even if you’re having a bad day, fake it for me. Like it or not, your attitude is written all over your face, and part of my selection criteria for the people I choose to do business with is friendliness. You can convey that friendliness with your facial expression…or not. It’s your choice, and it’s mine to come back to your business…or not.
4. Your deference. I know it’s fallen out of fashion of late, but there used to be a very popular phrase that said “The customer is always right.” Let’s get back to that arrangement, shall we? I’d really appreciate it. And if I’m really not right, let’s just pretend that I am and figure out a way to make me happy, OK? Thanks.
5. Your professionalism. If you make a promise to have something fixed for me by a certain date, make a habit out of keeping that promise. I understand that things can sometimes come up that keep you from fulfilling your commitment to me, but that’s really not my problem. Do your best to get it done anyway.
6. Your honesty. If you quote me a price, stick by it unless I change something. And make sure that the price you quote includes providing me with great customer service after the sale. Don’t give me a low price to get me to buy your stuff, then try to charge me more when something goes wrong. If I have a problem, I want to be able to call you without getting my credit card out of my wallet. That’s part of our deal.
7. Your enthusiasm. When I come in the door of your business, please look up from what you’re doing and acknowledge my presence. I’m there to spend money on something I want or need, not to be ignored. If I want to be ignored, I’ll go to the DMV. Acknowledge me, look happy to see me, greet me like I’m the one writing your pay check…because I am!
If you’ll agree to these rules of engagement, I will continue to frequent your establishment and trade my dollars for your product or service. Should you decide to ignore this request, however, I’ll have no choice but to take my dollars elsewhere to get the products and service I need.
Oh, you didn’t know I could do that? You weren’t aware that at least ten other establishments in our neighborhood do exactly what you do? And that at least one or two of them would be happy to comply with my list of demands? That’s too bad; you really should get out more. No worries though: you’ll have plenty of time to go check them out when all your customers are gone.
Sincerely,
Your (Former?) Customer”
Let’s declare the rest of April “Customer Appreciation Month” and, rather than think of this as a battle against bad customer service, let’s make it a movement for good customer service. Use the letter above (or something similar) to state your intention to receive excellent customer service at the establishments you frequent from this point forward, forever. Put the businesses you buy from on notice that you aren’t going to tolerate bad customer service any longer. Vote with your dollars. Be willing to sacrifice a little convenience to make your point. Because if we don’t do it now, we’ll continue to get exactly what we’re asking for.
Are you with me? Prove it by leaving a comment below and forwarding this post to your friends, family and coworkers. On my own, I can make a ripple; together, we can start a revolution!
An Open Letter to Crappy Customer Service Reps and the Companies Who Employ Them…
Bad customer service should never, under an circumstances, be tolerated. You have a right to expect excellent customer service, and it’s time to demand that right….
Hi Jerry,
I agree whole heartedly! In fact I wrote an article about the importance of customer service just last month after a run in with a crappy customer service rep at a business I USED TO do business with. Here is the URL in case you would like to read it http://budurl.com/cz7v
Now that Social Media allows everyone to broadcast how they feel about any company immediatly, I can’t imagine a business that ignores this very important part of running a successful business.
Great points in your article, Lauren. I appreciate you being an advocate for great customer service, and I thank you for sharing this post with your friends. I can’t wait to see what happens!
Jerry, I could not agree more. I just left a job at a large, public corporation. They were very clear about “the customer is not always right”. They are in a B to B service industry and they have made their services a commodity instead of the service that the customers really want. In exchange for cheap prices, they do not feel the need to be customer-centric in any way. Yes they do talk about it, but they never demonstrate it. This company has one of the worst reputations for customer service, they are aware of it, yet they do little to improve.
Nice to have you on our side, Marc! I agree completely: in their rush to deliver cheap products and services, companies often overlook the need to build in the cost of servicing the customer after the sale. Then they end up resenting the customers when they call looking for assistance in using the product. It’s a vicious cycle, but with the help of good people like you we can break it! Be sure to tell your friends about our little revolution, and thanks for taking the time to express yourself.
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by billrice: An Open Letter to Crappy Customer Service Reps and the Companies Who Employ Them http://bit.ly/9J7s4e /via @jerrykennedy…
I gladly pay more for superior service. I don’t tolerate this kind of nonsense, and it’s not only because I’m so old, though that’s part of it.
Here’s an idea I’d like to resurrect: the Orange Card Movement—encouraging and rewarding good customer service. http://orangecardmovement.org/ocm/
I’m totally down for helping the Orange Card Movement get off the ground…I think it’d be a great way to give recognition to all the people who get it right!
Thanks for the post Jerry. Customer service is even more important now with the advent of social media. I would hate to have a customer flame me on facebook,twitter,yelp etc. I have had a bad customer complaint following me in cyberspace for over 3 years. I think businesses’ downsizing their staffs in order to cut costs has taken its toll on customer service. Some companies may put out a product of lesser quality in order to get the price points low in order to get the sale. I often say to myself, “If I am getting angry with a customer, it means that I am not charging enough.”
Robby, you nailed it when you said “If I am getting angry with a customer, it means that I am not charging enough.” Great insight, and way to take ownership of your commitment to customer service! It’s no wonder your customers all love you so much.
Jerry, I’m behind you on poor customer service. BUT- I don’t believe the customer is always right. I don’t believe we need to just fall to our knees to the customer is KING, my lord and master.
There are customers I don’t want. Customers are not all the same. They don’t all have the same value. They are not all worth the same.
Every customer deserves to be treated with respect. NO QUESTION about that. But, we don’t owe customers anything more than respect.
Smart companies will use customer service as a differentiator, but they need to be smart about it.
It reminds me of a post I read a little while back, I think it was Doyle Slayton who wrote it
He talked about the restaurant who used to give away free waffles, with every meal. People came from all around for the breakfast. The restaurant couldn’t afford to keep the deal going and stopped. People started to complain then stopped showing up. Biz dropped like a ton of bricks. To get folks back, that reintroduced waffles.
Well after a few months, they went under.
Customers are not as loyal as you suggest.
My point, there is ABSOLUTELY a diminishing return to customer service.
As you’ve described here, appears to be well into the diminished returns.
But, I love the passion Jerry.
Nice post!
Dude…I started to post a reply, but it turned into a whole new post. Look for it tomorrow morning and let me know what you think. Thanks for challenging the paradigm!
Jerry,
Thank you for such a great post. I agree with you and want to point out that there are several things happening here. First, we have a generally malaise workforce due to companies still stuck in the industrial age. They treat employees like they are owned and manage by fear. Thus, employees have zero passion fir their customer service jobs….and you see the result. Second, it should be woven into the fabric of company culture that it’s about customer experience, not just service. Service is rather the low end. And even if a customer isn’t “right” that is no reason to not provide an experience.
Shane:
You nailed it! It starts at the top: if the leadership doesn’t get it, there is no way the troops will. It’s very hard to get great customer service from people who hate their jobs. Love the point about giving attention to the customer experience, as well. Thanks for sharing your excellent insights!
[...] started out as a reply to a comment left by my buddy Jim Kennan on yesterday’s post about rising up against bad customer service, but somehow it turned into another post. I want to thank Jim for chiming in and for bringing the [...]
Gerry
I worked for a customer centric organization for many years. I was responsible for customer satisfaction and worked closely with the support / service organization for my product areas. Fortunately the organization cared about customers and treated them well. (I am retired now). And I championed the cases where service was running into roadblocks with management or other parts of the organization to resolve difficult customer problems.
I do not believe that front line personnel are inherently lazy, or don’t care. I think they are put in a position where they are unable to respond to customers the way they would like to, due to policies set by upper management. After trying to get policies changed, and failing, they fall into a rut and just do the best they can. Hence their attitude of indifference or not caring. It is painful for them not to be able to respond in a way that would please the customer.
Customers who are unhappy generically have expectations of the company who sold them something. The expectations may be created by the company by its advertising, product promotion, web sites or they may created by what is considered to be industry standards for that product. (ie ever car comes with wheels). The angry customer has expectations that are not being met.
Every customer service department needs to listen carefully to what the expectation the customer has and whether or not it is valid (ie was created by the organization) or was an expectation that the customer shouldn’t have had in the first place.
I agree showing respect for the customer when an unrealistic expectation was created in the customer’s mind, will help mitigate their anger when it is explained.
But for those expectations that are realistic, and were created by the company overtly or implied, then the organization has the responsibility to deal with the customer and try to resolve their issues. The Service department needs to escalate to management those items it cannot fix appropriately with current policies.
Failure to resolve realistic customers issues given today’s Web technology is fool hardy. Over and over again customers have shown their ability to embarrass large organizations with on line complaints.. on complaint sites, blogs, Yelp, Sidewiki, Twitter, etc. United Breaks Guitars is an example (see http://budurl.com/z7z6)
I have written extensively on my blog about examples of how customers can use these web techniques and how executives in organizations need to respond. A wonderful example is the Domino Franchise owner who used video to apologize to an unhappy customer. See the post at http://www.viddler.com/explore/dpzramon/videos/19/8.662
When Management gets religion, the service to customer improves. When dealing with a service organization that is not giving you satisfaction, go high.
Thanks
Adele
Adele:
I totally agree: lack of training and confusing policies are the main culprits when a business delivers poor customer service. I also agree that most customer service reps really would like to make the customers they deal with happy and are frustrated by bad policies. Of course, I would encourage those frustrated folks to seek employment with a company that is better aligned with their values rather than let the situation suck the soul out of them; no sense going down with the ship if you don’t have to.
The customer has a responsibility in this to. Customers need to be better about clearly communicating their expectations to the companies they do business with. When those expectations are consistently missed, they should leave, making it clear to the business why they are leaving.
If everyone would take ownership of the problem and do what they can to effect change, the situation would get better. I know that’s asking a lot, but for those not willing to do their part I say don’t complain about the bad customer service you’re getting.
Thanks for your very clear, well-thought out comment and for sharing your experiences with us!
Jerry
Great article Jerry. This is the great thing about a “free market” – we can pick and choose who to business with. Businesses that are highly successful have consistently great service and are rewarded with lots of customers. We don’t reward businesses who don’t treat us well and eventually they won’t make it.
So true, Andrea. That’s what makes capitalism great!
Perfect timing for me to read this article. I’ve been battling back and forth with a few “customer service” reps for an internet provider, and it is frustrating. Especially when you have to go through several automated systems to speak to someone, followed by a few phone transfers, and for my email, a few “nice” automated responses that obviously had nothing to do with my specific request. Top it off with service reps who must follow policy, and you can see why some companies lose customers. Great article!
Agreed: companies who make it difficult and/or unpleasant to do business with them are in for a shock when all their customers go somewhere else. Of course, maybe it’s all part of their evil plan!
Thanks for the feedback.
I just wonder if any of you had toe deal with the customers from the merchant stand point of view?
Do you know how many chargebacks honest merchant gets from “good” customers? Do you know how many good customers blackmail the merchants? Do you know how many good customers coming in to the chars or the phone and curse CSRs?
It is very easy to live in glass house and make all the customer service root of all evil until you do not see your self experience what most of the small business owners do online.
The customer always right was invented prior to the internet days and has no merits in online world today unfortunately. There are great number (and growing) of those professional online shoppers who have been given the power to terrorize all the online businesses financially and verbally. For any online blogger iit is very important to recognize this trend since there are too many consumer reviews and not enough client review sites that destroy honest businesses
I totally agree! I once met the rudest customer service rep ever. Honestly, everything that you listed there–he did it wrong. He had absolutely no respect and no professionalism. What a pathetic guy. It’s like he’s paid to yell at customers, to imply they’re “stupid”, and to make scathing jokes to make them feel even worse. I’d say, that guy should be fired and maybe put into a mental facility to learn some proper behavior.