Stop promoting customer service people

One of the common entry positions
in most companies is the customer service department.  This is the silo where we take nice people who need jobs, and let them interact with our customers.  In some cases, the employee has extensive training about the company’s product or service.  In most cases, however, they are thrown into the lions pit, with only a reference manual or computer system as their defense.

It’s time to sink or swim.
It’s obvious that the sinkers are those I would define as just not cutting it.  No worries, however; these people will be just fine, because they are nice.  And with one more customer service position on their resume, and another set of interviews added to their training, you can be certain they will land on their feet soon.  One day, they may even make it to middle management (and lose that “niceness” quality).

For those who are just treading water,
they will have to start swimming sooner or later.  Otherwise, the job will get tiring, and the complacent will eventually sink or be sunk.

As all swimmers would agree:
it’s a daily grind.  Each day brings on new challenges (that the sinkers passed on), and new knowledge is acquired about the company.  These are the folks who actually care about the customer, and feel compelled to be more than nice: they have a burning desire to aid the customer. As knowledge from the other silos is consumed and loopholes in the computer system are traded, a burning desire to be doing more is the characteristic of someone who will soon leave the department.

It’s promotion time,
and The Company can no longer justify the salary for those champion swimmers.  They have picked up too many skill sets and learned too much about The Company’s products and services.  The only thing to do is “promote” them out of this silo and into a new one.  But do you see the problem here?  They just took someone who is very valuable to the customer, and promoted them away from the customer.

Shouldn’t we be promoting people into customer service and not out of it?

Please stop kicking talent out of the customer service silo.
Seriously, knock it off.
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Social Media people are social

Social Media has the word social in it.
I’m not trying to point out the obvious.  I’m enlightened by that statement.  Social Media is a terminology used for this new thing that’s going on over the internet.  It’s linked with digital marketing, SEO, and branding.  But at the root of that term is the word social.

According to wikipedia…
The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.

At the 3rd annual Social Media of Arizona conference
I took a series of refresher courses in this field by listening to some awesome speakers.  Greg Chapman, Matt O’Brien, Arnie Kuenn, and Laurie Buczek were a few of the brilliant minds that I listened to.  I am thankful for everyone’s time in putting together such engaging content.  As always, during a SM conference, I was meeting the “attendees” over twitter during each speaking session.  We were live tweeting important points, retweeting those points, and joking over things like a can rolling down the isle, or my favorite – how to spell spyfu.

Then we get to meet.
Grabbing lunch, going to the bathroom, or just standing around recharging gadgets – you get to talk to people!  The same people you just heard speak, or random strangers, or people you just “met on twitter” are all people you can talk to.  You socialize with real people and then realize that social media’s most important aspect is the word SOCIAL.  There’s no ROI that I can compute, but I can tell you that the relationships I formed at this conference are important.  These people are awesome!  (You know who you are).

Relationships are important.
So next time you’re figuring out your strategy or computing ROI for social media as a business tool, keep that in mind.  One person at a time, you need to engage with people and build a long lasting relationships, whether that’s on twitter, facebook, or linkedIn.  Sound simple?  It is.

Connect with the people – stop marketing to them.
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Create remarkable customer service experiences

Customer Service.
What is the first thing that comes to mind when you hear this word?  For most people, they will instantly think of either a good or bad experience they had with a department that holds such a name.  Usually these experiences are a result of something bad that triggered the customer service interaction.  For instance:  you don’t get the food you ordered, your product is broke, or you need to return an item for a different reason.

Good customer service interaction can lead to a dedicated customer.
Especially for those that love to tell their friends everything (“sneezers”), most people love to talk about customer service experiences.  When something goes wrong and then fixed above and beyond expectations, people will brag about how great your company is.  It’s my belief that mistakes are OK, since customers will often remember a positive customer service experience over flawless execution.

Bad customer service interaction stories can spread quickly.
It’s bad for the company when a horrible experience compels the customer to “never shop there again” and make sure they slander your name in public any time they hear you mentioned.  It can be go beyond traditional word of mouth, as I’m sure you’ve all witnessed more than a few times already.  Whether it’s that guy writing a song and putting it on YouTube, or a trending topic on twitter, social media can spread those bad experiences quickly.

But why just focus on reacting to customers?
Look, we all know that a customer service department is needed to react to bad customer experiences.  Have you ever considered a function of that department “proactive service”?  Because of being able to listen in on social media, companies have an incredible opportunity they are missing.  Stop focusing on only the “bad” that people are talking about and start including a habit of listening to the “good” chatter.

Proactively reward those individuals.
It doesn’t have to be much; sending a handwritten letter, a tweet back, or an email is enough reward.   Every once in a while, treat them the same way you’d treat someone who just needed to be made happy because of a bad experience.  Create a memorable experience for customers who are already praising you.  Don’t just focus on those who you need to fix.

Try this and see what happens.  I promise you will be delighted with the results.
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