Customer Service: Skill or Chance?

by Bill Collier

Customer Service: Skill or Chance?

Slot machines are a game of chance.

Would any reasonable person try to make a case to the contrary?

Apparently so. When gambling companies ran a successful attempt to loosen up Missouri’s casino laws in the 1990s, some lawmakers actually tried to make the argument that slots are a game of skill.

Huh?

Some things are, by definition, left to chance. Car accidents. Bumping into old friends. And, despite arguments by elected officials to the contrary, slot machines.

But not excellent customer service.

Awhile back I read an article on “Best and Worst Customer Service,” which featured consumers’ personal customer service experiences.
Here are three examples from the article:

Worst department store

“I went to the auto center and stood at the check-in counter. The lady behind the counter was dealing with another customer ... Ten to fifteen minutes later she was still dealing with the customer. NOT ONCE did she even look at me. Needless to say I just got in my car and drove out.”

Best department store

“I was looking for a certain apron and there were none on the sales floor. A salesperson asked me to leave my phone number, and said she would personally go through the boxes and call me. Later my phone rang, and it was the salesperson telling me she had found the apron and would be happy to ring it up and send it to will-call for me.”

Worst computer manufacturer

“My monitor was dead on arrival. I called support. After 40 minutes of being on hold and talking to a supervisor, they said they’d have to send a new one – the very suggestion I’d made at the beginning of the call.”

Customer service is a game of skill, not chance. Some of the skills needed to provide an outstanding and consistent customer experience are:

• Hiring people who understand the importance of customer relationships and believe in good service

• Ongoing training to ensure a high level of service

• Systems and procedures that support the service effort and reinforce the importance of customer satisfaction

If you run your business without some attention to each of these areas, customer satisfaction will be at the mercy of your employees. What’s that old saying about a chain being only as strong as its weakest link?

You’re lucky if you’ve managed to accidentally hire an employee who “gets it,” but that’s a chancy way to build a business. Instead, hire the right kinds of folks on purpose. Then provide them with the tools and support needed to wow your customers.

There is much more skill than chance involved in running a successful business, and that’s particularly true in customer service.

Take charge of your future and proactively see to it that your customers are delighted.
Otherwise you may as well be pulling the lever on a slot machine.

Bill Collier is the St. Louis-area head coach for The Great Game of Business. He works with organizations that want to improve financial results, engage their employees and create a winning culture. Bill can be reached at 314-221-8558, GreatGame.com/stl, GGOBSTL.com or bcollier@ggob.com.