Rule #1: The Customer is Always Right!Rule #2: If the Customer is Ever Wrong, Reread Rule #1.
Since I posted about the great customer service at Jack in the Box I should be allowed to vent about lousy customer service too. I've been procrastinating a list of phone calls I need to make (insurance, Mastercard, airline reservations, etc). And it hit me, why the delay....I can't stand the run around, getting put on hold, voice recordings to press 1 for "this", press 2 for "that", and press 3 if you want to strangle someone!
Is there anything more annoying!? I'm not an incessant whiner but if I'm put on hold and told that "My Call is Very Important" it is highly unlikely that I'll believe it! I'm a VIP to you...Yeah, Right! So pick up the phone!
I'm curious who had the harebrained idea to record the dumb "your call yadda, yadda" spiel in the first place? Who started it and why did it become so popular when customers abhor it? I'll have to look into the history behind the phenomenon.
It turns out that research validates my emotional frustrations! Data shows that people are more willing to wait when they feel like there is movement. This concept makes sense to me. If I'm stuck in traffic, airport security, or even a line at Disneyland, I tolerate the wait better if I am at least moving. And, on a phone call "hold" it is hard to know whether you are making any progress. Although some companies now give "time of wait" estimates for the call (which customers like, especially when the estimate time is updated, showing movement/progress).
In today's fast-paced world there is even more reason for businesses to LISTEN to their customer base. As Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, said: "If you make customers unhappy in the physical world, they might each tell 6 friends. If you make customers unhappy on the Internet, they can each tell 6000 friends." And, conversely, "A Happy Customer is like a Walking Advertisement!" I'm not sure who said that but they probably answered their own company phone.
