The hidden costs of customer service | Business Insurance

Customer service is vitally important. As both a businessperson and a consumer I have a unique perspective of the power it can have. It is a symbiotic relationship that at it's best, pays dividends for consumers and businesses alike. But at it's worst, it's a self depreciating pit of despair where everyone loses. And at this day and age, with the way the internet has changed the speed at which information is shared, both its success and its failure can be greatly magnified.
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But we've all heard this tirade before?many times. If you need to be told or reminded that customer service is important, you probably should reconsider why you're doing business in the first place. So that isn't what I want to convey with this article. Instead, my goal is to bring attention to what having good customer service really means. And to do that, I'm going to outline some areas that don't usually fall under the traditional definition of ?customer service?.

Audit your entire business process

The ultimate goal of any businesses attention to customer service should be to need less of it. This doesn't mean slashing your customer service budget. It means putting a focus on limiting customer complaints, questions, confusion, returns, and everything else that falls under the responsibility of the customer service department. It means constantly optimizing and simplifying your offering. Make the entire process of doing business with your company easier, simpler, faster, and problem free for your customers.
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This means taking a full start-to-finish audit of the entire business process. It requires a good amount of communication and effort to sort out and find solutions for common issues and inefficiencies. But by going through the process, you will ideally find ways to improve your offering which will make your customers happier, your company more competitive, and (in many cases) reduce overall business costs.

Business infrastructure optimization

I really feel bad for customer service representatives who work for companies who lack the infrastructure to meet their customers' needs. They probably spend a lot of their day being yelled at by angry customers for things they can do absolutely nothing about. These companies could have the best customer service department in the world and still lose. Competing companies who get it right, will always steal their business.
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Here's an example:
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A few years ago, I bought tickets to a football game for my brothers and sisters. All total 7 of us were going to the game, but none of us had a car big enough. So we decided to split the cost of renting a van or SUV that could comfortably fit us all in one vehicle. It was my job to find the car.
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Looking online, it was clear that our timing was awful. It seemed none of the local rental places had anything that would work. Everything was booked, so to the phones I went. The first company I called outsourced their customer service as the person I was talking to clearly did not speak English as a first language. That only really bothers me if I we can't understand each other, and even though he wasn't very friendly, all I cared about was the car. In a voice as cold as reading it on the internet, he told me what I already knew: that the local place was all booked up and the closest vehicle was at a location too far away to work. He wished me a nice day, and I hung up disappointed. Next two companies, same story?almost like I was talking to the exact same representative.
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Finally, I called Enterprise. This time, a woman with a strong southern accent picked up the line seemingly eager to help. After telling her what I was looking for, she informed me what I what I was only now calling to confirm: that the closest car was in another location that was too far away. However, instead of leaving it at that, she said they could have one of the SUV's sent over for us that day! What a marvelous thing!

I don't know if Enterprise is the only company that does this, or if the others were simply unable or unwilling. I'm also not sure which is worse? What I do know, is that Enterprise won my business that day, and now they're the first I call every day after. Not because the other companies decided to cheap out and outsource their customer service to India or elsewhere. But because Enterprise was set up to be both able and willing to meet my needs. Going above and beyond isn't just up to your customer service department, it's up to the entire business to cater to your customers needs, especially when those needs are challenging.

Outsourcing

Outsourcing customer service is a buyer beware situation. It usually costs less, but the service is also usually second rate. But once again, most of us already knew that. Outsourcing other aspects of your businesses, however, also leaves you vulnerable to customer service issues that you don't have control over. Any time you hire another company to have contact with your customers (even sometime when they don't), you need to be able to trust their ability and sensitivity to customer service. If not, you're going to be held responsible for the carelessness of another company. Never a good situation.
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Here's another story:
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After multiple service problems and fee increases, I became fed up with my local cable company and decided to switch to Direct TV Satellite as our television provider. Getting set up was a snap, though I had to wait over a month before they could install the dish. (It didn't seem odd at the time) Everyone I spoke with was quick, friendly, and knowledgeable. I had all the confidence in the world about their customer service. Well worth the switch.
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This past summer, I finished renovations on my basement/man cave. Having become addicted to the NFL package, I absolutely needed to add a new line in order to watch the games downstairs. So I called to make an appointment to have it installed sometime in early July. The very friendly lady told me the earliest it could be done was August 23^rd, nearly 6 weeks from that day. Not happy about it, I set the appointment.
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When the day came, I took work off so I could be home ?between 12 and 5?. At about 4:45, I received a phone call telling me that they weren't going to be able to make it. The technicians were too far behind and we'd have to reschedule. Even though I was a bit upset that I took the day off, I understood how these things can happen.
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?Unfortunately, it will be another 6 weeks before the next available appointment?, she then told me.
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?WRONG.? I said. ?I didn't cancel on you, so please don't punish me by putting me back to the end of the line.?
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?I'm sorry sir, there's nothing I can do.?, she offered.
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?Yes there is. Cancel someone for tomorrow and make room for me.? I demanded, clearly annoyed at this point. ?I made my appointment before any of them did, so don't you think I should be next??
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?Hold on, let me see what I can figure out.? she put me on hold. A few minutes later, ?Sir? I can fit you in for September 6^th. I do apologize that's the very best I can do.?
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?Well, you could waive the installation fee. That will be two days of work I have to miss for this.?, I suggested.
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?I'm sorry sir, we are a subcontractor for Direct TV, they outsource their installations to us, you will have to take that up with them.?I booked the appointment for 2 days before NFL kickoff and urged her to make note that I had already been bumped once.
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When I hung up, I immediately called Direct TV's customer service department to share my issue with them. After explaining my plight, the representative was extremely sympathetic and even offered to waive one month of the basic package (more than the installation fee, but less than I lost missing work for a day).
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When the installer came to my house, he was friendly and quick. But when I asked him to put the cable above my new drop-ceiling, he informed me that it would cost another $50 "for putting the cord inside of walls or fixtures". I showed him how little was involved, but he seemed to care even less. So rather than pay $50, I spent the 2 minutes doing it myself. Easiest $50 I've ever saved.

Now even though Direct TV went out of their way to make me happy, I still have a bad taste in my mouth from the whole experience. I'm still a Direct TV customer, but now I worry about the next time I have to deal with one of their ?sub contractors?. If my dish gets damaged or otherwise goes offline, equipment fails, or even adding another new line can become another such nightmare. And if another network offers me an alternative (especially if they include an equivalent NFL package), after this experience, I'm now much more willing to consider it.

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Source: http://www.businessinsurance.org/the-hidden-costs-of-customer-service/

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