Frame-up! The exciting conclusion...

And now, the exciting conclusion to my incredible misadventures getting some frames made at Aaron Brothers. Special thanks go out to all the people who left comments (mostly on Facebook) wishing me well and especially my friend Marjorie, who wondered what I might have done to deserve bad customer service karma.

The big day

In action movies there's often a montage scene where the hero is shown training for that inevitable big moment. I imagined a montage all last week where Mr. Clean-up was busy building my frames while "Eye of the Tiger" or some equally corny rock anthem was playing in the background. At first, it was very difficult for him and he almost quit. But, through determination and hard work, he got better and better at it until finally he was ready to take on the forces of poor customer service and deliver my order.

Ring!

My phone rang on Friday afternoon. It was Mr. Clean-up. I held my breath.

"Your frames are all ready for pick-up," said Mr. Clean-up. I could hardly believe it. Are you sure? "Yes - they're ready to go. We close at 9, so you can pick them up this evening if you'd like."

Plot twist?

My wife, Sally, and I headed down to Aaron Brothers later that night to pick up our frames. In the back of my mind, I was anticipating a plot twist. The kind where you think the super villain has been vanquished, but suddenly he comes back to life for one last-ditch attempt at chaos. When we walked in, we were greeted by the Ball Dropper, that fiendish customer service villain who shirks responsibility and never seems to get things dong. Aaaaarrgh!

Bracing ourselves for the inevitable conflict, we were surprised to find the Ball Dropper contrite and eager to please. He brought out our frames (they were all great) and apologized for the hassle. A few minutes later we were walking out of the store with our frames in hand. Somehow, this really was the happy ending we had hoped for.

Frame-up! Service hero, villains, and not-so-innocent bystanders.

My favorite framing store in San Diego has evidently disappeared, so my wife (Sally) and I recently decided to give Aaron Brothers another chance. We'd received a lot of disinterested service from Aaron Brothers in the past, but they have a store near our house and we didn't feel like doing too much searching for a new place to get a couple of prints framed. Little did we know our adventure would read like a customer service comic book, complete with a cliffhanger ending!

The Villains

The Ball Dropper
The Ball Dropper shirks responsibility. Sometimes intentionally and sometimes just because, well, he's the Ball Dropper. That's his stupor-power -- not getting things done. In our case, the Ball Dropper struck twice. First, he mis-measured the matting for our frames, causing a delay since it resulted in the last piece of that matting being cut to the wrong dimensions. Zap! Pow! Backorder! The second instance was worse -- he neglected to call us and let us know there would be a delay.  Aaaargh!

Apathy Girl
We dropped by Aaron Brothers on Sunday to buy some additional frames and check on our prints. They were due on Monday, so we figured we'd see if they were ready a day early. That's when Apathy Girl materialized and informed us there had been a delay and our prints wouldn't be ready on Monday as planned because the evil Ball Dropper and bungled the order.

Apathy Girl's favorite phrases are "I don't know", "That's not my job," and "That sucks for you." The last phrase sometimes sounds like, "I'm sorry", but that's because she has a thick Apathetic accent. She's really saying, "That sucks for you."

In this case, Apathy Girl told us she didn't know when our order would be ready. We wanted to order an additional frame to match the first one, but she told us it was out of stock. She also didn't know when it would be in (maybe February?!). We asked if we could pick out a similar frame and get it all done by Friday since the original order was delayed. Apathy Girl didn't know. The new frame was also more expensive, so we asked if they would give it to us at a discount since we were inconvenienced. Apathy Girl didn't know that either. "I only work here one day a week," she said.

Apathy Girl's evil forces were so powerful that Sally and I decided to give up on Aaron Brothers for this frame job. We took our prints, got a refund, trudged out of the store, and then shook our fists at the sky. (Shaking your fist at the sky is what you do when you feel powerless because an Evil Customer Service Villain took advantage of you.)

Not-So-Innocent Bystander

The store manager witnessed all of Apathy Girl's show. She didn't say or do anything. Perhaps it was because she was assisting another customer and didn't want to cause a scene. Perhaps it was because she felt powerless to stop the awesome power of the evil super villain Apathy Girl. Or, perhaps she was secretly Apathy Woman and Apathy Girl was her prodigy. Whatever the reason, she didn't do much store managing on this day.

The Super Hero

Mr. Clean-up
On Monday, the date when our framed prints were originally due, I received a phone call from a Service Hero, Mr. Clean-up. He told me he was the framer at Aaron Brothers and was surprised to come into work to find our order had been cancelled. Mr. Clean-up was calling to see if he could do anything to win back our business or at least find out what went wrong. I told him our story.

"Ahhhh, the Ball Dropper and Apathy Girl strike again!" Mr. Clean-up then offered to do what he does best - clean-up a bad situation.

I asked Mr. Clean-up if he could frame our original prints plus make the additional frame we wanted at a discount, and get it all done by Friday. He explained that was a tall order because he had to get permission from the store manager (who might very well be Apathy Woman), but he would see what he could do. Could he give me a call back by Tuesday and let me know? Sure.

I can only imagine what happened next as Mr. Clean-up took on the evil forces of indifference and poor customer service that were part of the Aaron Brothers company culture.

Biff! Pow! Boom!

The rest of the story...

Mr. Clean-up left a message for me yesterday - we got the deal! All I had to do was bring the prints back in that day and everything would be ready by Friday. At a discount. I grabbed the prints and hustled out the door as soon as I got the message.

When I got to Aaron Brothers a few minutes later I was told Mr. Clean-up had already left for the night. (Has anyone actually seen Mr. Clean-up?!) However, another employee offered to help me. Unfortunately, I could tell she was another not-so-innocent bystander who was lured by the call of Apathy. "Mr. Clean-up has already left for the night." And, "We don't usually do that." And, "I couldn't guarantee it would be done by Friday." Aaaaargh!

I felt the urge to shake my fist at the sky again, but I had one last card to play. "Let's call Mr. Clean-up and see what he has to say about it," I said. She agreed and made the call. I only heard her end of the conversation:

"Uh huh. Uh huh. Well, we don't normally do.. Oh, I see.  Oh, OK. OK."

She came back to the counter, smiling. "We can do it all by Friday and give you that discount. Mr. Clean-up says it's OK."

Cliffhanger Ending...

I left Aaron Brothers last night feeling confident that I'd get my order by Friday. Or will I? Will Mr. Clean-up finish the job? Or, will the Ball Dropper intervene and drop the ball? Will Apathy Girl swoop in on her day off (she only works Sundays, remember?) and spread apathy across the store? I won't know until Friday, but I'm excited!

Avis service recovery - he DID try harder (eventually)

I had an interesting experience renting a car from Avis yesterday. Initially, it seemed like just another example of poor service.  At the end, I was pleasantly surprised to see the agent make an attempt at recovery.

This situation was a "moment of truth" because I had just signed up as an Avis "Preferred" member where I could skip the rental counter and go straight to my car.  Unfortunately, my name wasn't on the "preferred" list when I got to the rental car area, so I was a bit deflated. I noticed an "Avis Preferred" office, so I decided to go in and see if they could get my rental straightened out.

The agent who helped me definitely didn't live up to the "we try harder" motto.  He tried every trick in the book to make me go away. "You'll need to go to the rental counter." (Well, can't you at least look up my reservation?) "I'll have to stop serving you if a Preferred member comes in." (Aren't I a Preferred member?) "You're not in the program until you get your card in the mail - it takes 2 to 3 weeks." (I DID get my card in the mail, now what?)  "You'll have to call customer service." (I'll HAVE to call?! Can't you help me?)

Finally, after trying everything he could to get me to go away, the agent found my reservation in the system, verified I WAS a Preferred member, and printed out my contract. No apology was offered, but at least I had my rental car and I didn't have to go all the way back to the rental counter.

The surprise happened when I got in the car and started exiting the rental car garage.  I saw the agent leave the office and motion to me to roll down my window.  I stopped and he said with a smile, "I think I figured out why you weren't on the Preferred list!" He went on to explain that since my reservation was made before I became a Preferred member, the reservation didn't automatically upgrade to Preferred status. He assured me that I would be all set going forward with any new reservation.

All told, it wasn't a great experience, but I did appreciate the agent trying to turn things after our initial encounter. To me, that's the true lesson.  We'll all have moments when we say the wrong thing or drop the ball in some way.  What matters most is what we do after that moment has passed.

Old but good service concept: the Circle of Influence

One of my favorite customer service concepts is the "Circle of Influence". It reminds us that there are things we cannot control, such as our customers, so we should focus on things we can control (like our reaction to our customers).

A story...

My phone rang and I answered it, "Hello, this is Jeff." The person on the other end was a colleague that I had met a few times, but didn't know well. "Hi Jeff, do you have a minute?" she asked.

"Sure," I said.

Silence. Then... "Are you sure you have a minute? You sounded really hesitant. I can call back if this isn't a good time."

Huh?! It took a second to collect my thoughts. "I don't know why you think I sounded hesitant. I said sure. How can I help you?"

Again, awkward silence. Then... "Hey, I didn't mean to cause any conflict or upset you in any way. I'm just calling to ask you for a phone number, but if this isn't a good time or you don't want to give me the number that's OK, just say so.  I'm really not trying to cause any problems."

I gave her the phone number, but I couldn't get off the phone fast enough. That lady was nuts!!

It took me a few minutes afterwards to get over it, but then I reminded myself about the circle of influence. I really felt she was pushing my buttons, but I also realized I had allowed my buttons to be pushed. There was a good chance I'd run into this person again, so I wanted to be sure I was better prepared the next time. Looking at my "circle of influence" I realized what the crucial piece of dialogue should have been. 

Crazy Lady: "Hi Jeff, do you have a minute?"

Me: "Sure."

Crazy Lady: "Are you sure you have a minute? You sounded really hesitant. I can call back if this isn't a good time."

Me: "I'd be happy to speak with you now. How may I help you?"

Epilogue

This little exercise really paid off. I saw Crazy Lady a couple weeks later.  This time there were other people present, so there would be witnesses if I didn't handle it well. Sure enough, she stayed in character and said something crazy and provoking, a classic "button pushing" move. Fortunately, I remembered my little circle of influence self-pep talk and I was ready. I just smiled, shrugged it off, and redirected the conversation to keep it positive. Awkward conflict avoided! 

Gallup finds more reasons to micromanage

A new study from the Gallup Management Journal has discovered that igorning your employees may be even more harmful than focusing on their weaknesses. Not unexpectedly, focusing on employee strengths yields the best results of all.  You may know that I'm an unabashed fan of micromanaging, and this data provides more fuel for my micromanagement fire!

Micromanagement yields the best results.
I define micromanagement as actively managing employees' performance, helping them become successful, and gradually providing them with more and more autonomy as they demonstrate competency and earn trust. This definition is very consistent with a "strengths-based" management philosophy.

In Gallup's study, managers that focus on employee strengths have the most engaged employees (61%) and the fewest actively disengaged employees (1%).

Micro-meddling yields worse results.
Often confused with micromanagement, micro-meddling is a management approach that focuses on employee weaknesses. Micro-meddlers don't set clear expectations and spend their time correcting performance rather than encouraging growth. Unlike micromanagers who loosen the reins over time, micro-meddlers make it impossible for employees to earn trust and autonomy.

In Gallup's study, managers that focus on employee weaknesses engage (on average) 45% of their employees while an average of 22% of their employees are actively disengaged.

Not managing is worst of all.
The hands-off approach is even worse than micro-meddling. Gallup found that only 2% of employees who felt ignored by their managers were engaged compared to 40% who were actively disengaged. Managers who fail to provide clear and consistent direction or any feedback often choose this style because they want to avoid conflict, want to achieve a positive reputation with their employees, or are simply overwhelmed with other responsibilities.  Whatever the cause, this is clearly the worst way to go.

Check out an article on Gallup's study here.

Read my post, "Long Live the Micromanager" for more info.

Back from the "ID10T" brink - wrap-up of the Adobe story

Last Friday, I was finally able to get my technical support problem resolved with Adobe's Connect Pro web-conferencing service.  My goal was to continue using the service, so I'm glad I didn't have to cancel. At the same time, Adobe's customer service was exceptionally poor. This epilogue highlights the costly effects of an "ID10T" customer service philosophy: I'm frustrated, Adobe looks bad, and we've both wasted time and resources.

I'm Frustrated
On Friday, I received a phone call from Rahul, a Technical Support Consultant at Adobe. He asked me a few questions, put me on hold for just a moment, then asked me to try logging in. Shazam! The problem was fixed.  Total time = <5 minutes.  Why am I frustrated? Because it took so much of my time to finally get connected with the person who had the solution.

Adobe Looks Bad
Taking an "ID10T" approach with customers is never a good policy. If you didn't catch my earlier posts on the subject, "ID10T" is technical support slang for user-error (or, the customer is an idiot). Dealing with obstinate service reps who insist on walking through a protocol that takes 30 minutes to complete, but brings us no closer to resolving the issue, is infuriating.  And, furious customers like to share.

Everything else was waste...
Adobe and I both wasted a lot of time on what turned out to be a 5 minute solution once it got to the right person. 

• Six different Adobe employees communicated with me via phone and/or email at some point in time.
• Total phone time = more than 60 minutes (with 4 Adobe employees).
• Total email messages = 7
• Total angry blog and message board posts from me = 7

What can we learn?

This situation highlights a few key lessons for any customer service operation. First, never assume your customer is an idiot. (Although some are -- it's not up to us to point that out.) Second, your customer service operation should rapidly funnel customers to the person who can help, rather than setting up obstacles and roadblocks erected in the name of "efficiency" and "cost containment". Third, make sure the left hand and the right hand get together once in awhile so each knows what the other is doing. While I was on the phone with Rahul getting my problem fixed on Friday, I received an email from Matt that simply said "Are you still experiencing this issue?" Thanks, Matt.  That email was super-helpful... (Insert sarcasm here.)

I found the 4th level of "ID10T" hell

I heard back from my new "friend" at Adobe via email today. His message revealed the 4th level of "ID10T" hell.  To re-cap, here are the first three:

1. Brush off my inquiry with a non-answer so I have to inquire again.
2. Try to prove the problem is a user-error, essentially an "ID10T" problem.
3. Promise to respond, but don't, so the customer has to send a second inquiry.

The fourth level of "ID10T" hell:

Respond to the customer's second message and ask for the customer's login and password. What?! That's right, my "buddy" Deepak at Adobe has informed me that he needs my account login and password to resolve my problem.

I'm surprised nobody threw me a party yesterday to celebrate my birthday. After all, according to Deepak, I was born yesterday!! Is this an ID10T Squared issue?

Seriously, does anyone know anyone at Adobe not named Deepak that can help me with Connect Pro?

Not every technical support issue is an "ID10T"

Technical support people have a term for user-errors: ID 10 T. Mushed together, it spells out ID10T, or idiot. Sometimes, they're even right. A great many computer problems are resolved by simply rebooting, checking to ensure the monitor is actually attached to the computer, or making sure the thing is even plugged in. I get that. What I don't get is the assumption that every problem is the result of a user-ID10T.

I'm spiraling through the depths of Technical Support hell with Adobe at the moment. This isn't a rant on Adobe per se (I generally really like their products), but it's a great example of how so many companies get it wrong.

First level of technical support hell: brush off the inquiry. I emailed their technical support folks to ask about a problem I had experienced with their web-conferencing program, Connect Pro. The gist of my email was I had followed their directions to the letter to set up a web-conferencing template, but it wasn't working. What should I do now?  The brush off came via a long form email that essentially said, "We're so sorry you are experiencing a problem.  Here is a link to our directions on this topic."  Uh, I'm emailing because the directions DON'T WORK!

Second level of technical support hell: try to prove the ID10T theory. I sent a follow-up email today to ask for additional assistance since their first message missed the mark.  I was pleasantly surprised to get a phone call in response to my follow-up email, but soon grew frustrated. The person on the other end of the phone used unfamiliar idioms that made him very hard to understand. Worse, we spent 30 minutes going through a checklist of trouble-shooting ideas that I had already been through. How many times do I have to tell this guy I've already done that?! Finally, we got to the end of his list and he told me he'd have to do some additional research and get back to me. By now, I'm wishing it really was an ID10T issue so I could get on with it already.

Third level of technical support hell: promise to respond, but don't. I'm sure there is some study that shows if you don't call the customer back, he will just give up.  I was promised a follow-up response within about 30 minutes. That was about three hours ago and I'm still waiting.  I'm not giving up though!

Stop the madness!

Admittedly, these technical issues are sometimes difficult to resolve, but there's got to be a better way to handle them. For starters, the strategy of assuming the customer is an idiot has got to go. Secondly, the strategy of having an inexperienced (and presumably low-wage) person wade through an endless checklist before passing the issue along to someone who is actually competent has also got to go. The whole system smacks of their time is more valuable than mine. Meanwhile, I'm frustrated, I'm blogging about it, and my problem isn't resolved.

I'll keep you posted. In the meantime, please let me know if you know a good tech support person at Adobe!

The rules of social media: engaging customers in public forums

Today's post is a quick weigh-in a topic that has drawn a variety of opinions: should you engage customers directly in social media forums? Some people suggest this is a good way to get out in front of issues, and there are numerous success stories where a company has engaged people through Twitter, Get Satisfaction, Yelp, and other forums. Other people have decried this practice as an intrusion, as though the company being discussed should simply sit out the conversation and let the masses decide for themselves.

Here's my opinion: it all depends.

Ultimately, its your customers (not you) that decide whether you picked the right approach. This leaves you with three basic choices:

1. Do whatever you can to understand your customers so you can appropriately respond to their needs. Online, the means knowing whether or not your customers want you to engage them through public forums.
2. Educate your customers to convince them you are working in their best interests. This approach can be highly effective, but it can also backfire if your educational efforts miss the mark.
3. Segment your customer base by those that like to be served the way you like to serve and those that don't. Spend your time, money, and marketing efforts pursuing the customers who like what you have to offer. Spend as little time, money, and effort dealing with customers who want what you don't have.  This approach works great if there are a lot of customers who like you just the way you are. It doesn't work so well if it whittles down your potential customer base to your Mother and your dog, the two "people" who love you unconditionally.

A quick example...

Recently, I posted a recommendation on Yelp for one of my favorite Italian restaurants, Antica Trattoria. I was pleasantly surprised to get a message from the owner thanking me for the review. His outreach made me even more loyal and I can't wait to go back. Here's what he wrote:

"Hi Jeff T.,

I wanted to personally thank you for sharing your positive experience at Antica Trattoria on Yelp.  Our staff works hard to ensure that you enjoy your time here, so it's most rewarding to hear that our restaurant helped to make your dining experience a positive one.

Please feel free to ask for me and when you are next coming in- it would be my pleasure to meet and thank you again in person.  In the meantime, please let me know if you have any suggestions for us, as we are continuously trying to improve.

Best wishes,

Francesco Basile

Chef/Owner Antica Trattoria"

Where do you come out?

The cost of inattentiveness: a brand new "Pepsi Challenge"

Lynne Marek from the National Law Journal reported yesterday that Pepsi had lost a $1.26 billion default judgment to two Wisconsin men. The two plaintiffs alleged that Pepsi used ideas and information stolen from the men to develop their Aquafina brand of bottled water. That's a pretty big verdict, but what's even scarier is it was a default judgement.  That's right - Pepsi lost because they didn't bother showing up to court.

Pepsi's excuse for not coming to court? The secretary who received notification of the lawsuit simply put the letter aside because she was busy preparing for an upcoming Board meeting. I sure hope that Board meeting was full of important, profit-generating agenda items like a presentation on "Fool-proof ways to make $1.26 billion."

Sure, the case is likely to go back to court and the $1.26 billion judgement is unlikely to stick, at least in total. But it does raise the question of inattentiveness and poor prioritization. What important things are we not paying attention to that could cost us money? What are we doing to ensure that a single employee doesn't trivialize something extremely important, whether it is a lawsuit, a customer complaint, or an opportunity to get a-hold of Pepsi's presentation on "Fool-proof ways to make $1.26 billion" from their recent board meeting?

This story motivated me to clean out my inbox today. Hopefully, it creates some good for all of us. Except for Pepsi.  I'm a Coke fan.