In my recent posts the Journey to the Center of the Telephone Self-service Earth and Self-service Mythic Adventure, we had a conversation about two very different examples of customer service. I know I am a bit anal about good customer service. Years on the front lines both serving customers and managing customer-service personnel have made me particularly sensitive to the do’s and don'ts. For instance, back when I ran a mobile auto-repair business out of the trunk of my ten-year-old Chevy convertible I learned; don’t take a guy’s carburetor apart unless you now you can get the replacement parts.
One thing that my experiences have taught me is that customer service is personal. Each action accumulates, but as is said, one “awe shucks” can wipe away a hundred "atta-boys": a missing carburetor gasket taught me that early on.
As a customer, I have found exceptional customer service experiences rare. One recent service interaction was an experience that redefined the company that I was doing business with in my eyes. They went from being a generic source of inexpensive consumer electronics to a company that has gained my loyalty.
For me to become loyal to a company is a big step. Other than Levi’s 505’s and Avaya phones (nudge, nudge, wink, wink) there are few companies that keep my business on a consistent basis. Those companies that understand what I am looking for are those that see there needs to be more in the relationship than just the transaction. Yes, I am looking for high-quality goods at a worth-what’s-paid-for price. I’m also looking for a sense that the supplier understands the impact that doing business with their company can have on my busy modern life. These days those types of relationships are becoming fewer and harder to find.
It’s about the Hassle Quotient. The Hassle Quotient is roughly equivalent to how much of the all-too-precious time we have on this planet that has to be devoted to obtaining the usefulness intended from a product or service. For electronics, the Hassle Quotient can be a significant detractor of value. This is especially true when you are the one-man IT department for an active family.
So here’s what happened: My wife’s laptop had gone defective. For some time the power cord was loose where it plugged into the base of the computer. It eventually stopped charging the battery. It’s amazing how home life has come to revolve around easy access to the Internet and other PC based applications. From my kid’s homework to our personal banking, over time the laptop has insinuated itself into so many aspect of the way home life functions.
Suddenly, I wouldn’t say there was a crisis, but all kinds of things we didn’t have to worry about became distractions. This time of year, with everybody in school and work ramping up, the last thing we needed was more overhead.
We had a couple of choices: Head down to the local electronics store and pick up a new laptop, or see about getting this one fixed. Now if I had been dutiful in backing up our information in the way I should, bringing a new machine home wouldn’t sound like such a bad idea. Prices aren’t too bad right now and there are always some new bells and whistles coming out. Of course there’s the Hassle Quotient of reconfiguring everything and getting all the software back to consider.
The short-staffed family IT department decided to see what would be involved in getting the old machine fixed. My first stop was the company’s website. I put my cursor over the icon for “Services and Support” and three entries dropped down: Consumer, Business, and Industrial. Clicking through to Consumer, I was able to obtain the real-time warranty status of my product. Pretty neat I thought, until I found out that the warranty on our machine had expired just one month earlier.
With regret I thought back to how many times during the summer, as the power cord progressively became looser and I had the opportunity to look into getting the laptop repaired, I had consistently found other things to occupy my time.
The more I thought about it, the more that the idea of a computer less than a year old having such a problem got under my skin. It seemed to me a design flaw that the power connection should be in such a place that it is easily broken. “Perhaps other people have had a similar complaint?” I thought.
I committed myself to seeing what would be involved in a repair. The next instruction from the website was to make a telephone call. With my recent Center of the Telephone Self-service Earth misadventure in mind, I cautiously dialed.
To my great pleasure I was greeted by a set of highly intuitive prompts. Four clear choices. I followed the path for repairs. The questions from the automated voice mirrored the same information I had just collected for the website and the speech recognition application was superb. I was immediately delivered to an extremely helpful and real person.
Of the entire positive experience, the only customer service misstep happened next. Even though I had spoken my serial number to the Interactive Voice Response before being delivered to the call-receipt agent, and the application correctly verified the information, the agent asked me to repeat the information again.
Maybe it is because I am an “industry insider,” but I am never sure why the information in one place isn’t passed along. With readily available technologies that make information highly transferable, it’s beyond me why the onus remains on the customer to repeat such basic data as an account number.
Anyway, getting past this personal pet peeve, the rest of this experience was unbelievable. As I talked with the call-receipt agent he explained what I already knew about the warranty expiration. I could feel my fight or flight physical reaction begin to grow as I prepared to extol my reasons why the design of the laptop caused this to happen. I patiently explained what the problem was and was almost stunned as, with only some slight hesitation to make sure he clearly understood the circumstances, he said, “I’m pretty sure I can help you with this.”
Maybe it was the adrenaline I had mustered for an impassioned defense of why the company should fix my problem, but I felt almost in a trance as I was politely asked to hold while the agent verified his ability to help.
Within two days UPS arrived with a box. Even the packaging was ingenious. I followed the clear step by step instructions and easily slipped the defective unit into the protective sleeve, sealed the box and affixed the pre-populated return label. Five days later an almost totally refurbished PC was back at the center of family life.
Superior customer service changed my view of this company. Because of this, they will have the inside track on my next electronics purchase.
What Hassle Quotient do your products or services create for your customers? Is customer service a significant part of your customer’s buying decisions? Do you look at superior customer service as a competitive weapon?
If you want my business, you will. – GWC 11-12-09
Related discussion:
Journey to the Center of the Telephone Self-service Earth 29 September 2009
Self-service Mythic Adventure 18 August 2009
What are experiences? Join the conversation below.
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