Customer service: How is your company doing?

By Thomas R. Schori, Ph.D., and Michael L. Garee, Principals,  Millennium Marketing Research, 808 E. Ironwood, Normal, IL 61761-5239. Tel. 309-532-8466 -

It’s the business buzz phrase of the 1990s, "customer service." Virtually every company today, small, medium and large, steadfastly insists that it is committed to providing superior customer service, but there is mounting evidence all around us that, at many companies, customer service, superior or otherwise, is still very much in a state of becoming. Indeed, while some companies honestly believe they are taking steps to get "closer to the customer," in fact, they are only putting more and more distance between themselves and their customers or would-be customers.

Suppose, for example, that you have business to conduct with XYZ Company, so you place a call to the company. Isn’t this is how that contact typically would unfold?

RING. RING. RING. (Normally, your initial call will not be answered by a real, live person, but rather, by the ubiquitous, grossly frustrating "phone mail," which usually offers the caller a confusing, dizzying, mind-boggling array of options.)

"Thank you for calling XYZ Company. If you’re calling from a touch-tone phone and you know your party’s extension, enter that number now, followed by the pound key.

"If you’re calling to place an order, press ‘1,’ followed by the pound key.

"If you’re calling to check on the status of an order, press ‘2,’ followed by the pound key.

"If you have a question about your statement, press ‘3,’ followed by the pound key. . . ."

Now, if one is really, really persistent, one may eventually get to speak to a real, live person¾many times after having waded through the entire phone mail menu, that is. Typically, here’s how that encounter unfolds:

"Thank you for calling XYZ Company. This is Mary. How may I help you?"

"Yes, I was trying to reach Tom Smith in Sales. Will you please connect me with his extension?"

"One moment, please."

RING. RING. RING. RING. RING.

"I’m sorry, Mr. Smith isn’t answering. Would you like for me to connect you with his phone mail?"

"Is Mr. Smith in the office today?"

"I’m sorry, I don’t know."

"Well, then, is his secretary or assistant available?"

"One moment, please."

RING. RING. RING. RING. RING.

"There is no answer at that number, either. Would you like for me to connect you to his phone mail?"

And, so it goes. Contact after contact. Company after company. The same frustrating experience, the same sorry, sad state of "customer service."

Now, admittedly, at the smaller companies one is far more likely to actually get to speak with a real, live person during the initial contact. Still, that contact normally isn’t any more satisfying than a contact with a much larger company.

RING. RING. RING.

"Acme Manufacturing." (No "good morning," "Good afternoon," "May I help you," etc.)

"Good morning. This is Sally Jones. May I please speak to Ed Berringer?"

"He’s not in."

"Well, when do you expect him back in the office?"

"I have no idea."

"O.K., is there anyone else who can help me? I need to get some information about some of your products?"

"No, Ed’s the guy you need to talk to about that."

"Would you leave a message for Ed, then, and have him call me back?"

"What was your name again?"

"Sally Jones."

"Sally James?"

"No, Jones. ‘J – o – n – e – s.’"

"What’s your number?"

"Area code 212, 371-9051."

"Hold on a minute. I got to get a pencil. Now, give me that number again."

Obviously, such an encounter hardly smacks of superior customer service! Rather, it is both demeaning and frustrating to the customer. Just as obviously, unless he or she is extremely "thick-skinned," the customer comes away from the encounter with a very, very negative impression of the company, and certainly doesn’t look forward to future transactions or contact with it.

How has business come to this sad state of affairs? We believe there are several explanations.

First, the unprecedented economic expansion that American business has been enjoying for roughly the past decade has lulled many a business into a false sense of security, a false expectation of endless prosperity. Indeed, many have become "fat and lazy," making them, if not contemptuous of their customers, at least lackadaisical toward them.

Second, at most companies, those charged with handling "customer service" tend to be the newest, least compensated and least trained employees, with the least amount of authority, on the payroll. Yet it is these employees who are literally on the "frontline" of the companies they represent. It is they who each and every business day interact with customers and would be customers. It is they, more than anyone in the company, who shape the company image and forge its destiny.

And, finally, while attempting to embrace and implement the newest technology, e.g., "phone mail," many, if not most, companies today have opted to use such technological advances not to supplement employees, but rather, to replace those employees. Predictably, the end result has proven disastrous, at least from the standpoint of customer service.

What’s the answer to the current "customer service" dilemma? Actually, we believe it’s really quite simple. If a company is genuinely serious about providing superior customer service, it should, at a minimum, follow this course of action:

• Make sure that only the most-positive, best-informed, most-pleasant employees are placed in "customer service" positions. Let’s face it, while "Suzy" or "James" may be quite good at the jobs for which they were originally hired by your company, that doesn’t necessarily mean that they will do an equally good job as a customer service representative. Experience has shown that it does indeed take a special type of person, with very special interpersonal skills, to excel in a customer service role.

• Make sure that your company’s customer service representatives are properly and thoroughly trained by professional customer service trainers before they are allowed to take to the phones! The amount of time and money that your company will invest in this endeavor will prove to be a mere pittance when compared to the potential business return. At a minimum, this training should consist of instilling in them the imperative of practicing basic, common courtesy (a seemingly lost art in much of today’s society), e.g., saying, "Good morning," Good afternoon," etc., of referring to customers as "Sir," or "Ma’am." Better yet, after once learning the caller’s name, the customer service representative should make it a point to refer to the caller by his or her name, e.g., "Mr. Jones," "Ms. Smith," etc. (Remember, the most pleasant sounding word to most people is their own name!)

• If your company feels it must use "phone mail," then use it only as a communication supplement, not as the main (or only) means of communicating with your company. That is, if at all possible, have a real, live person serve as the initial contact with your company. And, instruct all company employees¾and make sure to enforce that instruction!¾not to "hide behind" phone mail or use it to "screen" callers. If an employee is at his or her work station, then he or she should personally answer incoming calls, and normally within the first two or three rings.

• Amply reward employees who occupy customer service positions. Remember, it is these employees who are not only the initial contact with your company, but sometimes the sole contact with your company! Any money your company thinks it "saves" by poorly compensating these employees can easily (and quickly) be lost many, many times over by squandered sales and future business opportunities.

Maybe your company already practices these basic customer service principles. Maybe your company isn’t guilty of the customer service "sins" we’ve briefly outlined here. If so, that’s great, and your company is to be congratulated for being exceptional! Your company probably can expect to continue to flourish. But, just to be sure, why don’t you anonymously call up your own company and see for yourself how well it fares in the area of customer service? You might be surprised at the result¾ perhaps favorably, or, perhaps unfavorably. In either case, wouldn’t you really like to know? Remember, as is the case with people in general, your company only has one chance to make a good first impression.