Cox vs. Brinks: The cost of incompetence

Companies that don't invest in hiring, training, and supervising capable employees often pay a big price on the back end. Consider this update on the battle royal between Cox and Brinks. (Read previous post here.)

What happened?

A third technician (first one was from Cox, second one was from Brinks) came to the house to restore my home phone service. Nate was a Cox sub-contractor, so in a sense he represented a third company. He took a quick look at my system and told me the biggest problem was the system wasn't set up correctly. Nate was very professional and wouldn't accuse the other two technicians of not knowing how to do their jobs. All he said was, "I'm here now and I can fix this."  Everything was up and running after about 30 minutes.  Thanks, Nate!

The Cost of Incompetence

Let's look at the cost Cox Communications paid for not sending a competent employee to the house the first time:

1. Initial installation.  ~ 2 hours
2. Return trip to fix problems with house alarm caused during installation.  ~2 hours
3. Repair trip six months later, caused in part due to poor installation.  ~ 1.5 hours
4. Call center rep time to schedule repeat visits. ~ 30 minutes.
5. 2nd repair trip. ~ 30 minutes.
6. Total time: 6.5 hours

According to Nate's diagnosis, the problem would not have happened had the system been installed correctly the first time. This problem effectively cost Cox 4.5 hours of wasted time. Multiply this by the many customers who have certainly faced similar problems and Cox has a huge opportunity to improve customer satisfaction and simultaneously reduce service costs.

T-Mobile's Ad Cost Them Money and Saved a Customer

Like many of you, I've been through my fair share of cell phone carriers.  T-Mobile has managed to keep my business for the past several years due in large part to their outstanding customer service. They don't have the latest technology, coolest phones, or even the fastest network, but everything they do seems geared towards making it easy for me to be a customer.

Their latest television commercial is a gutsy move that prompts viewers to go to an independent website which recommends the least expensive cell phone plan that fits your needs. I checked it out and immediately found a way to save $10 by switching to another T-Mobile plan. Yes, other carriers were represented, but the first three recommendations were T-Mobile plans.  Nice!

What can we learn?

Helping the customer succeed sells. And, a customer who succeeds because of your company is much more likely to remain loyal.

Some math geniuses might point out that T-Mobile just lost $120 in revenue per year by prompting me to reconsider my cell phone plan. Ah, but this is where a finance-only approach can be short-sighted. Just last week, I was on the Verizon website scouting out the latest BlackBerrys and imagining how much more productive I could be on a faster network. T-Mobile's ad didn't lose them $120 per year. It saved them nearly $1,200 per year by ensuring I stayed on-board as a customer.

Check out the commercial here:

Cox vs. Brinks: I lose, nobody wins

There was a power outage at my home on Tuesday that knocked out my internet and cable-based phone service. I was able to restore my internet connection, but the phones remained dead. This little incident has led to a knock-down, drag-out, no-holds-barred war between Cox Communications and Brinks Home Security to avoid responsibility. So far, nobody's won.

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Who is talking about customer service?

I try to stay current by reading a number of leading business publications such as Inc., BusinessWeek, and FastCompany. Many of the magazines and newspapers I read maintain websites that are full of helpful information, often organized by topic such as "sales", "finance", "leadership", and so on. It seems a bit odd that "customer service" is typically absent from these lists.

So, who is talking about customer service? And, why don't these leading publications have a customer service column?

I have many theories (and I would love to hear yours!), but here is my best guess. Customer service is simply taken for granted all too often. Customer service seems so, well, common sense. Is it?

Booking meeting space: site visits

Last week, I conducted site visits as part of my search for meeting space for my Getting Started as a Supervisor public workshop. Here's a quick re-cap if you haven't read my previous posts on the subject. I contacted 12 hotels in Los Angeles and Orange County to get a quote on meeting space. Two major hotel chains (previously referred to as Hotel A and Hotel B) were involved.

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