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How to Fail your Call Centers

SAP

(Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Last week I had words with an automotive customer service rep named Anne. The “run flat” tires on my car had proven to be a spectacular failure. Instead of enabling Mrs. Leaper to get home safely after a run-of-the-mill puncture, they fell apart—and I mean that literally—after only six of the fifty miles they were supposed to last. A tow truck took Mrs. Leaper and the car to the dealer’s lot. I was able to get Mrs. Leaper home from the dealership, but the car itself remains in the dealer’s lot—where, it seems, it will continue to remain for the next two months.

I’ll note that this is a top of the line sedan from one of the most iconic automobile brands in the world. I should not be having problems at all, let alone problems that would warrant the company taking my car off the road for two months.

Anne explained that there’s a worldwide shortage of the run flat tires that this particular car uses. I’d have to wait for the tires before I could get my car back on the road. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could do to facilitate a more satisfying resolution.

Now, I want to draw your attention to three important words in that last sentence. There was nothing she could do to facilitate a better resolution. Anne was, for the record, everything one could hope for in a call center rep: She was passionate about doing the right thing for a disgruntled customer (me), poised and professional about how she handled my complaint, and profusely apologetic that she could not do anything to facilitate a more satisfying resolution to my problem.

Anne did not fail me. The company and the call center systems behind her failed me.

Moreover, they failed her.

What do I mean by that? The call center software provided Anne with only so many options and scenarios—and none of the scenarios seemed to encompass a situation where, because of a worldwide shortage of tires, a costly and luxurious car might be rendered inoperable for several months. Anne explored all the options that the systems presented her, but none of the options enabled her to do what she wanted very much to do, which was to make me happy.

The fact is, I can think of any number of solutions to the problem of my tires. Frankly, I simply want the car back on the road, and I’m not married to the manufacturer of the run flat tires that had been on the car. The car manufacturer could have swapped out the one good tire for a pair of alternative run flats (which seem to be available). The dealer could have charging me a fee similar to the cost of replacing the punctured tire.

Why would they want to do that? The first reason is cost. Right now, the weekly cost that the manufacturer is paying for the loaner car they’ve provide me is more than the cost of the tires—and they’re going to be paying for this loaner (which is vastly inferior to my own car) for weeks. The second reason, which is even more important in the long run, is to make me happy and to want to remain buying and loyal to their brand!

However, that wasn’t an option Anne could offer. That wasn’t even an option that Anne could elevate within the customer care system for consideration.

And that’s how a company can fail its call center. As I said: Anne is everything a company could want in a call center representative: passionate about customer care, skilled at dealing with snarky callers such as myself, and skilled at seeking solutions. She’s also clever and capable of thinking outside the proverbial box. Yet, she and her call center compatriots are fettered by a system that neither enables nor encourages them to think outside the box. All Anne could offer me were the suggestions already in the box—and even she knew that these solutions were not going to make me happy.

The other week I wrote that delivering inspired customer interactions takes more than CRM. The point there was that CRM solutions need to be infused with information from a wide range of sources. What the experience with Anne demonstrates is that customer relationship and customer care systems also need to be flexible enough to foster and support the creation of new ideas and information from within the organization. That’s critical for both the long-term relationship with the customer, but it’s also critical for the morale and satisfaction of people like Anne, who very much want to help but who can end up as unhappy as the customer if the systems that are supposed to support them are too inflexible to do just that.

More on this topic in my next blog! Those of you in the Airline Industry may want to pay particular attention, as my next salvo will  look at how airport authorities and airlines are arrogantly failing their staff and customers.

In the meantime, the dealer in my neighborhood representing a certain resurgent British luxury car should keep an eye out for me. My decade of loyalty to your competitor has run its course. Assuming you are more clever about providing stellar customer service—and empowering your employees to make that happen—I see an opportunity unfolding for a mutually rewarding relationship.

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Coming to SAPPHIRE NOW in Orlando this week? Join me on Wednesday afternoon at 4 pm in Run Better room 7096 for the panel discussion entitled “360-Degree Customer Experience: Redefining Traditional CRM.”

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