How Clear Language Can Help You Avoid Service Failures

"If you say that to a customer, you're lying."

I'll never forget that advice. It came from the manager at the clothing store where I worked as a teenager. She was explaining how to set appropriate expectations.

We'd frequently get calls from customers asking if we had a particular item or size in stock. Customers wanted to save themselves an unnecessary trip if we didn't have what they were looking for. (This was back before the days when you could go online and look it up.)

The process involved walking the sales floor to physically locate the item. If we had it, we could hold it for the customer so it was waiting for them when they came in.

It usually took us several minutes to find what the customer wanted.

Our store manager was coaching the team on how to put a customer on hold. Many of us had a habit of saying, "I'm going to put you on hold for just a minute while I see if we have that item in stock."

Of course, "just a minute" really meant a few minutes. Customers could reasonably believe we literally meant one minute and be slightly annoyed when it took longer than that. 

The lesson the store manager shared was that we can help customers avoid unpleasant surprises by being careful about the language we use.

Problem 1: Customers Are Too Optimistic

Two problems can occur if we don't use clear language to manage customer expectations. Both can easily result in a service failure.

The first problem is customers have selective hearing. They tend to be overly optimistic about the service we promise them.

Here are two examples:

If you say, "Your order will arrive in two to four days," a customer will hear, "Your order will arrive in two days."

Or, if you say, "I'm going to put you on hold for just a minute," a customer will hear, "The maximum time you will be on hold is one minute."

Problem 2: We're Too Eager to Please

The other problem occurs when we're too eager to please our customers. We inadvertently set the scene for a future service failure by trying to make our customer feel better right now.

You've probably heard the phrase, "Under promise and over deliver." This is just the opposite.

A two to four day delivery time sounds too long, so we emphasize that it often takes just two days. This makes the customer feel good in the moment, because two days is acceptable.

It also sets the stage for an unpleasant surprise if it takes longer than that.

How Clear Language Can Help

You can avoid these problems by using clear language to get your customer to agree to the worst case scenario. Most of the time, customers are perfectly fine with this.

Here's an example:

Instead of saying, "Your order will take two to four days to arrive," say, "Your order will take up to four days to arrive."

This way, your customer won't be upset if the order takes four days. And, they'll be pleasantly surprised if it takes just two or three days to get there.

Of course, if four days is too long, you can always discuss options such as express shipping to get the order there faster.

Another example:

Don't say, "I'll get back to you right away." Instead, give your customer a specific time that has a little built-in wiggle room in case it takes you longer than anticipated. You might say, "I'll need to do some research on that issue. Will it be okay if I get back to you by 4pm today?"

Learn More

You can learn more from the short video below. It’s part of my LinkedIn Learning course, Managing Customer Expectations.

Use clear language to avoid surprises from Customer Service: Managing Customer Expectations by Jeff Toister

The Unlikely Way to Check Your True Service Philosophy

Companies have two customer service philosophies.

The first one is the outstanding service fantasy. Executives preach about being great. There's an occasional initiative to rally the team. Perhaps the company advertises it's stellar service quality. 

The second philosophy is the reality.

This is how people at the company really feel about service. You can see this in executive decisions, the way managers lead their teams, and the actions of their employees.

The two philosophies don't match at most companies. The fantasy is that service is great, but the reality is quite different. Service is mediocre at best. It might even be terrible.

Only a very few companies have melded these two philosophies together; where the fantasy of customer-focus is also the reality.

Want to check your organization?

There's a simple test via an unlikely source. Go see how your accounts payable team is treating your vendors. This little test is based on the principle that who you are is how you serve.

Read on to see the answer key.

Result: Vendors Are Paid Late

Some companies are consistently late paying bills. 

These dead beats stretch payments past the agreed upon terms. An excuse is invented to cause a delay. Or, the bureaucratic trolls in the accounts payable department will sit on an invoice until the due date and then start the lengthy payment process.

It's a procedure built on the company's convenience and desire to conserve cash flow. It also reveals a rotten core.

You can't treat your vendors with disrespect and then suddenly flip a switch when it comes to your own customers. These payment delays come from the real customer service philosophy, not the fantasy one.

I've worked with a few companies like this. These organizations are typically hopeless. 

Result: Vendors Are Paid On Time

These organizations consistently pay vendors on time.

Payment terms are agreed upon and that's exactly how the company pays its bills. Occasionally, a payment gets delayed for an oddball reason like an incorrect purchase order number, but someone from the accounts payable department generally gets it sorted out.

There's nothing wrong with organizations like this, but there's nothing special either.

You can see the same philosophy in the way employees at these companies treat customers. Do what you say you are going to do and then scramble to fix things when they go wrong.

Result: Vendors Are Paid Early

A few companies pay vendors early.

Let's say a bill is due in 30 days. These rare organizations might pay in 16. Why? First, it's easier to avoid being late if you pay early. When something occasionally goes wrong, you can fix it and still be on time.

Second, leaders in these organizations realize their vendors are important stakeholders. They pay early because they want to keep their vendors happy. It's a strategic move.

I've worked with quite a few companies like this. They have all had a strong, customer-focused culture. Leaders consistently insist that all stakeholders (customers, vendors, employees, etc.) are treated like valued customers.

Paying early is part of their organizational DNA. It's how they are.

The Hidden Flaw in Your Customer Survey Program

Here's a little trivia in honor of the upcoming July 4th weekend. Why is July 4th America's independence day?

Some people believe it's when the Continental Congress voted for independence. But, that actually happened on July 2.

Ok, so you might remember July 4th as the day the Declaration of Independence was signed. There's a famous painting by John Trumbull depicting the event that hangs in the U.S. Capital and is on the back of the $2 bill. 

Sorry. It wasn't signed on the 4th. Most delegates didn't sign it until August 2, 1776.

July 4th, 1776 was the date that the Continental Congress voted to approve the Declaration of Independence. Cue fireworks.

Don't feel bad if you didn't remember that. According to the New England Historical Society, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin all later wrote letters where they mis-remembered signing the Declaration on July 4th.

The point is our memories aren't great.

If the founding fathers who wrote (and edited) our country's most famous document can't remember when they signed it, can we really expect customers to accurately remember their last interaction with your business?

This is a big flaw in your survey program. 

Memories Are Faulty

Surveys don't really ask customers to rate your product, service, or business. What they actually do is ask your customers to rate their recollection of your product, service, or business.

This is significant because our memories are notoriously faulty.

Several studies have been conducted proving that people consistently misremember significant events, like how they learned about the attacks on 9/11 or the Challenger disaster. (A terrific article in Scientific American sums it up.)

Your customer's recent transaction is probably nowhere near as impactful as one of the major news stories of a generation. Or, the signing of the Declaration of Independence.

This means your customers may mis-remember details. A really emotional customer (very happy or very frustrated) might exaggerate some of the facts and not even realize it.

What Customers Do Remember

So, what do customers actually remember? There are three significant moments:

1. The first impression

2. The last impression

3. The peak impression

The first and last impressions seem simple enough: what happens first and what happens last. The peak is the part of the experience that's the most unusual or different than expected.

Here's an more in-depth explanation.

The trick is most customer experiences are unremarkable. Think about your last trip to the grocery store, the bank, the dry cleaners, or the gas station. What was your experience like the last time you ate out? Ordered online? Stopped at your local coffee shop?

Many of these experiences are routine. And, so long as they remain relatively routine, they don't show up as much of a blip on our radar.

It's only when something unusual happens that the memory stands out. But, that memory can quickly get distorted. A customer might say, "We ALWAYS get slow service here," when the reality is they had one experience that was painfully slow.

What You Can Do About It

Just because your survey is flawed doesn't mean it's worthless. Here are a few things you can do to make that survey useful.

#1 Survey sooner. Transactional surveys should be offered as soon after the experience as possible. Immediately is best. The longer you wait, the foggier your customer's memory will get.

#2 Survey for perception, not facts. Try to avoid using your survey to collect factual data you can get somewhere else. For example, a survey that connects directly to a specific transaction will eliminate the need to ask a customer for the date, time, and location where they did business with you. Focus your survey instead on learning your customers' perceptions, which thanks to our faulty memories, tend to endure regardless of the facts.

#3 Trust no one. Never jump to conclusions or make sweeping changes based on one survey response. Think like a detective who is trying to build a case. The survey might be one clue, but your case gets stronger the more clues or pieces of evidence you have. Find multiple sources of data. Go to the source of the problem to see what's really happening. 

You can learn more about customer service surveys from this training video on Lynda.com. You'll need a Lynda account to access the full course, but you can get a 10-day trial account that will give you access to the entire library.

Five Ways to Avoid the Customer Service Summer Slide

Teachers call it the summer slide.

It refers to the loss of learning that happens to school children during their summer break. In one early study, math test scores for 4th graders fell 26 percent after their summer vacation.

The problem is more pronounced among children from low income families. A 2007 study of Baltimore school children found that the summer break accounted for two thirds of the reading achievement gap between students from high and low income families.

The problem? Schoolwork stops during the summer vacation and kids forget what they learned. Teachers have to devote significant time to remedial work at the start of each new school year.

It appears something similar happens in customer service. Service quality on the whole tends to decline over the summer.

Here's how to avoid this happening in your company.

Service Summer Slide Statistics

The American Customer Satisfaction Index publishes a quarterly national benchmark. Over the past twenty years, the benchmark has declined 45 percent of the time during the third quarter (summer).

Overall, it's more likely to decline or stay neutral in the third quarter than the rest of the year.

The likely culprits are the same reasons that kids experience an educational summer slide:

• More vacations

• More leisure time

• Less focus on work

You can test this theory in your own organization. Look at historical customer satisfaction data. Do you see a decline in service quality during summer months?

How to Avoid the Slide

There are a few things you can do to avoid this drop off and keep your team sharp.

1. Kick off new initiatives. The summer is a great time to kick-off new customer service initiatives. If your business is slower during these months, people might have a little more bandwidth to focus on training, beefing up your customer service survey, or doing a customer service assessment.

2. Prepare for summer customers. Does your business see a shift in customer demographics during the summer months? Perhaps you get more tourists or traffic patterns change while schools are out. You can serve your summer crowd better if you're prepared. My local bagel shop has changed their staffing levels because fewer commuters stop in for a quick breakfast after dropping their kids off at school. Instead, they get more families who arrive a little later to get some energy before heading out for the day.

3. Prepare for vacations. Employees will inevitably take more time off during the summer. Cross train employees to cover each other's duties. Make sure there are designated back-up contacts when someone will be out. Remind employees to set out of office messages on their phone and email and to include their back-up's contact information in these messages. (It's amazing how many people don't do this!) You can even have some fun with your out of office messages - check out these great examples.

4. Provide some extra perks. Meet your team halfway and give them some extra perks to keep them fresh during the summer. Host a Friday cookout, get discounted theme park tickets, or give employees occasional half-days. Employees will appreciate the extras, but it will also entice them to be more focused during work hours.

5. Keep your leadership skills sharp. The team takes their cue from the leader. This means customer service leaders need to be sharper than ever during the summer months. Share a weekly customer service tip. Start a customer service book club (here are some suggestions). Stay on top of regular one-on-one and team communication.

Discussion Questions

Here are some questions to keep the conversation going. Please leave a response in the comment section below, or ask these questions internally with your team.

• Does your organization experience a summer slide?

• What causes the summer slide in your organization?

• What else can you do to prevent the summer slide?

Unexpected Gamification Advice from The Mario Brothers

Picture 7th grade me.

I won't show you an actual picture. That would be too embarrassing. So, just imagine an awkward, skinny kid with a bad haircut and braces. 

I'm standing at the starting line on my junior high school track. There's another kid standing next to me. We're about to run a half mile race.

All the kids from Mr. Mooney's and Mr. Farmer's PE classes are gathered by the starting line. They're cheering because it's a match race between the two classes. I'm representing Mr. Mooney's class. He didn't ask for volunteers; he just picked me. I'm not sure how Mr. Farmer picked his kid to run.

There's a lot on the line.

The winner of the race gets a hand full of Moore Moolah. That's what they called the fake dollars you got at Moore Junior High School for good behavior. You could spend it on school merchandise or snacks in the student store.

I'm pretty sure Mr. Mooney and Mr. Farmer put up their entire allotment for this race, because there's no way anyone would ever earn that much Moore Moolah otherwise.

We were also running for our respective classes. That's a lot of pressure when you are in 7th grade. I was terrified. My biggest fear was letting everyone down.

The starting pistol went off. After half a lap, it wasn't even close.

Gamification and The Mario Brothers

It's no secret that I'm not a fan of gamification for customer service representatives. My research shows that it can be a distraction from the real work at hand - serving customers.

But, if you want to really understand something, it's helpful to explore another perspective. That's why I turned to Mario and Luigi.

The Mario Brothers were popular when I was in 7th grade. I enjoyed playing Super Mario Brothers on Nintendo with my friends. So, who better to ask about gamification?

Photo Credit: Neal Topf

Neal Topf is Mario. He's the President of Calzilla, a nearshore inbound call center. Nate Brown is Luigi. He's the Director of Customer Experience for UL EHS Sustainability, a division of Underwriter Laboratories. 

They've both written several articles (like this one and this one) and presented at conferences on the topic of gamification. I consider them experts.

Question #1: Why do you use gamification in your contact center?

Neal: We have had some initial success in inspiring learning and better motivating Gamification to improve performance, quality, C Sat and other KPIs. The ability to contain all the data and manage it in the required context, in one place, that is visible, shareable, and social, is a massive plus for us.

Nate: Gamification to me is all about motivating people to accomplish high-value actions. The contact center can at times be a soul-sucking place to work. This is one of many levers that can be effectively employed in your overall employee engagement strategy and give your workforce an exciting story to tell.

Question #2: What are some of the ways you use gamification?

Nate: It all started with a prize wheel, and from there we’ve done some great stuff such as mini disc golf tournaments, a murder mystery dinner, office-wide Easter egg hunts, and much more. The theme though is uniting the team and creating a context of strong relationships. 

One we are attempting to kick off called “Lego Feedback”. As you meet your QA objectives you earn different funky lego pieces. As you accumulate them you get to build your own crazy Lego tower. It is a creative expression of your own success.  Agents often like to display their tenure with the organization, so a larger Lego tower implies longevity.

Neal: We use it to incentivize learning and performance. We’ve used our Gamification platform (PlayVox) to systematize and automate the compilation of all this data into one place, so that it is visible to all, is social (can be seen and commented on by all), and bridges various platforms and softwares that we have.

For example, we have a skin care client. The KPIs for that skin care client are: Retention Rate, QA score, and Average Order Value. We maintain a digital leaderboard for each metric. The leaderboard is visible to everyone in that program. Prizes, monetary and non-monetary, are given based on individual and group performance. We have agents grouped in teams, so there’s some competition among teams.

Question #3: What are some the challenges to gamification?

Neal: Its so tempting to want to Gamify EVERYTHING. We tried it. Dumb idea, especially at the beginning. Gamification has to be kept simple so that everyone can understand it, so it can be measurable, and so that the enterprise can set itself up to be successful and show true improvement. 

If not managed correctly, can be a distraction and take away attention from the core tasks at hand which are to serve customers. Participants can be focused on the Game itself and learning how to win the game rather than helping and serving customer.

Nate: It requires a huge amount of intentionally on behalf of the Gamification leadership. If you are on the fence about this I would urge you to wait. It requires a team of creative individuals committed to making the program special for it to work long-term.

Note:

Both Nate and Neal mentioned two specific challenges.

First, not everyone feels comfortable with various elements of gamification. Some people don't enjoy games. Others don't like the idea of having their performance displayed publicly. This definitely has to be a consideration if you implement something in your contact center.

Second, both said it's important to keep things fresh. Agents get tired of doing the same thing over and over again.

My Take

I was surprised to learn I actually agree with a lot of what Neal and Nate are saying. 

At Calzilla, Neal's using gamification to make performance data readily available. I'm all for that. Metrics, if used wisely, can help everyone know the score and improve agent motivation. A challenge he noted, that gamification can become a distraction, is my chief concern. 

I also think contact centers can get the same results (or better) without the incentives and prizes. There's plenty of evidence that suggests customer service reps are primarily motivated by helping customers.

Nate and I actually had an interesting discussion about the definition of gamification. I told him I thought he wasn't actually using gamification at all, but rather a rewards and recognition program that used games to build morale outside the context of his agents' daily work.

To me, gamification is the use of game mechanics in non-game situations to motivate people to complete certain objectives.

Nate disagreed. His feeling is that gamification is the use of game mechanics to solve a problem, and the problem he was solving was an employee morale issue. He didn't think games needed to be embedded in the agents' actual work for it to count as gamification.

Once I understood how Nate and I defined gamification differently, I think we're more in agreement on how gamification might play at role at work.

To bring it full circle, let's go back to my 7th grade PE half mile match race.

I won. It was an amazing feeling for a shy, awkward kid to feel appreciated for doing something important for the team. To me, this is what gamification should be all about. 

I never even spent the Moore Moolah.

Three Surprising Stats About Serving Customers Via Social Media

Let's start with a bonus stat.

The 2015 Customer Experience Management Benchmark report from Execs in the Know found that only 64 percent of companies train their social media agents.

That's startling. Contact centers regularly spend six weeks or more training agents who take phone calls, but social media agents get zip?! 

The big question is why. Perhaps these companies don't know what training to provide. Or, they don't have access to a quality training program.

Fear not, companies. Lynda.com has just released my latest training video, How to Serve Customers Via Social Media.

This means companies no longer have an excuse for not training their social media agents. In honor of this momentous occasion, I've compiled three surprising stats about social media customer service.

And, if you stick around to the end of the post (or scroll, cheater), I'll show you how to access the course for free.

Stat #1: Retailers respond to only 18.2% of customer tweets.

Companies routinely ignore their customers.

It's the equivalent of not answering a phone call or responding to an email. Or, imagine walking into a retail store and asking for assistance and then having that person just ignore you! (Ok, all of those things do happen.)

Sprout Social compiles a quarterly social media index report. Their 2016 Q1 report shared the abysmal response rate from retailers. The worst part? Retailers were the leading industry in terms of responsiveness.

Here's an example of doing it right. 

Social media guru Marsha Collier mentioned AJ Bombers in a recent #custserv tweet chat (every Tuesday, 6pm Pacific). I decided to see if they really were on the ball. They were:

@toister sometimes. :)

— AJ Bombers (@AJBombers) June 8, 2016

Guess where I'm going for a burger the next time I'm in Milwaukee?

Stat #2: 67% of customers are influenced by online reviews

This stat comes from Moz. Check out their recent article for a more in-depth run-down.

Companies large and small are missing the boat on this oft-ignored corner of the social media world. The biggest opportunity here is your business could be using positive reviews to directly increase sales. Here's how.

Let's say a customer wants to find a good bistro restaurant in San Diego. So, they naturally google "bistro san diego."

Here's what popped up on my screen:

Notice that Google shares three options of restaurants that match my search criteria and are also highly rated. Right away, this should lead you to the obvious conclusion that good ratings equal better search results.

Now, let's look at what happens when I click on Terra, a bistro with a stellar 4.9 star rating:

I can see reviews, check out their menu, and visualize where they're located. Google is practically leading me there! I'm one click away from booking my reservation on Open Table.

So, my big question, is why oh why do so many businesses large and small ignore these reviews?!

Here's a chance to engage your current customers AND entice future ones. Do yourself a favor and spend a few minutes reading up on Google My Business to see how it can help you improve customer service and win more customers!

You can also check out this blog post on using Yelp reviews to improve your business. The basic concepts work the same on Google, Facebook, or any other review platform.

Stat #3: 61% of Fortune 500 CEOs have no social media presence

Domo does an annual survey to track down this stat.

There's a good chance that not being on social also means "doesn't understand social." I think this is one of the main reasons why so many companies struggle with social media customer service.

Let me tell you a story to illustrate why this is important. 

In 1998 I was working for a catalog company called Chadwicks of Boston. When people wanted to order merchandise, they'd either call a 1-800 number or mail their order. (A few people faxed. There's always someone who's different.) The internet was exploding during this time, but Chadwicks wasn't on it.

Dan, the company's President, resisted the idea of exploring e-commerce. He thought the internet might just be a fad. Kind of like how blacksmiths doubled down on horseshoes when the car first came out.

Needless to say, sales slowly eroded as competitors went online. And Dan, he was eventually fired.

Don't be like Dan.

Get the Training Video

Ok, you've read through the entire post or you scrolled like a boss. Either way, here's how you can take my new course for free.

First, check to see if you have a Lynda.com account. If you do, you already get the course for free. Enjoy!

If you don't, drop my name and get a 10-day trial account. (Special bonus - you'll get access to Lynda's entire library during this time.)

Next, click here to access the course.

One Year in to Comcast's Massive Customer Service Overhaul

In May 2015, Comcast announced plans to overhaul their miserable customer service. 

The company was adding 5,500 new jobs. Technology would improve. Management set a goal to always be on time for appointments.

The plan was much-needed. Comcast had just finished dead last on the Temkin Customer Service Ratings, had a terrible 56 score on the American Customer Satisfaction Index, and had just been called the most miserable brand on Twitter.

Like many people, I was skeptical. I wrote that Comcast had misdiagnosed their problem.

So, what happened? Here's an update.

ACSI Scores

The latest American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) results show Comcast has improved. Here are the 2015 and 2016 scores for the three Comcast business lines that the ACSI tracks.

That's a whopping 14.8 percent improvement in cable satisfaction. A 5.4 percent gain in internet. Ok, so no change in fixed line phone service but nobody has a home phone these days anyway.

Time to break out the champagne, right?

Well... The scores are still low. And, Comcast's gains might be due to their initiatives or it might be attributed to the Hawthorne Effect, where the mere act of looking at something more closely makes it improve.

ACSI's Managing Director, David VanAmburg put it this way. "It's not hard for cable companies to improve when their starting point is the cellar."

Lingering Problems

Comcast still has some problems.

At a corporate level, they're being subjected to several investigations. The U.S. Senate is probing their customer service practices (among other cable providers) and is set to release their findings later this month. New Jersey is looking into whether Comcast is illegally overcharging customers.

On a customer level, part of Comcast's problem continues to be prioritizing short-term revenue over customer satisfaction. This outstanding article on Slate's Future Tense revealed that in same cases, sales pressure has actually increased: 

"According to internal documents, the sales requirements for the company’s business technical support division initially more than doubled. In the first quarter of 2014, reps were asked to make sales on 2.52 percent of customer service calls; by the fourth quarter of 2015, after the overhaul, that number had grown to 5.32 percent."

The article also revealed that technical support reps in Comcast's Business division must average 11 minutes per call (8 minutes for billing calls). This length of call standard, known as handle time, often causes agents to feel stuck between handling a customer's issue and speeding through the call. This puts employees in a very difficult position.

ACSI's 2016 Telecommunications Report highlighted customer satisfaction in various areas. Customers were least satisfied with the call center. This held true for cable, internet, and phone service providers. 

It's not hard to see why. Agents are still given anti-customer priorities such as up-selling on support calls and rushing through calls quickly. 

Misdiagnosis

Solving problems of this scale and magnitude can be extremely difficult. I've spent the past year doing research on this for my upcoming book, The Service Culture Handbook, to find out what works and what doesn't.

Comcast's initial approach was to fix broken processes, hire a lot more people, and rely on technology to smooth things over. The broken process part is great, but hiring more people doesn't necessary solve the problem and I don't think many of their issues are related to technology.

Last year, I outlined a strategy I thought Comcast should be following instead. Here's how that's going. 

Step 1: Develop a customer-focused vision. They have a statement, but it's not great:

As we shape the future of media and technology, our 153,000 employees strive to earn the respect and trust of our customers, our shareholders and members of the communities we serve.

Notice the focus is on media and technology, not customers. They also have a set of values that need help. One of those values is Integrity, which Comcast basically defines as not committing crimes:

Comcast believes that complying with the law and promoting the highest ethical standards are responsibilities shared by everyone in the company.

Step 2: Act on customer feedback. They appear to be listening. Executives have prioritized getting technicians to show up on time for appointments and trying to prevent problems from happening in the first place. I haven't found any comprehensive data that shows whether this has been successful.

Step 3: Re-focus employee roles. This doesn't appear to be happening given that sales pressure has actually increased in at least one part of the customer support operation.

Step 4: Change policies. It's tough to tell. I'm still looking for concrete data here.

Step 5: Fix broken process. Limited data.

Either way, it's a fascinating case. Part of me really hopes Comcast can figure out how to get it right. It would be a great story. Let's check in again next year and see how this is going.

Your Phone Agents' Unexpected Self-Service Problem

Scott hadn't logged into the phones all day.

He was behind on too many open support tickets. They were all nasty, too. None of those easy password reset questions that he used to get.

James, Scott's co-worker, was feeling the pressure on the phone. Customers were angry about long hold times and he was doing his best to keep up. Every call seemed to be a long one.

Trudy, another co-worker, was frustrated too. She just took a call that lasted five minutes, but she knew most of her co-workers would need 30 minutes for the same issue.

She would have loved to share her knowledge with her colleagues, but there hadn't been any time lately. Everyone was neck-deep in tricky tickets.

This is a common challenge. Phone contacts are getting more complicated and that's taking more time. Agents and contact centers aren't always prepared. 

I reached out to some of the top analysts covering the contact center industry to find out what's going on. They all point to an unexpected culprit: self-service.

Here's why, and what you can do about it.

Phone Calls Are Changing

Years ago, customer service phone calls varied widely. 

Many calls would be simple transactions. A billing inquiry, a password reset, or a status check on an online order. Today, customers can handle all of those transactions themselves online or via an app.

According to Roy Atkinson, a principal with Clifton Butterfield, LLC, the situation drives customers' decision to call: "The more complex the issue—from the customer’s perspective—the more likely the customer will be to want to talk to a human."

Atkinson points to this data from the American Express Global Customer Service Barometer:

Source: American Express Global Customer Service Barometer

John Goodman, Vice Chairman of Customer Care Measurement and Consulting, agrees: 

"Telephone service is not going away and in some aspects is becoming more critical. This is because when an issue becomes serious, customers pick up the phone. Our 2015 National Rage Study found that for their most serious problems, customers go to the phone 72% of the time, more than six times as often as going to email or social media (11%)."

The Customer Impact

A 2015 study by Mattersight revealed that only 28 percent of customers use the phone as their first attempt to solve a problem.

A separate 2015 study, this one by Microsoft and Parature, found that 57 percent of customers first go online to try to resolve a problem on their own. They only call when that fails. This makes the phone agent's job even tougher.

Ian Jacobs, a Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, put it this way:

"Because the customers have already tried to self-serve and failed, they are already somewhat frustrated when they reach an agent. The agent starts two steps back at the word hello."

Indeed, Mattersight reported that 66 percent of customers are frustrated before they even speak to a phone agent. Part of it is the problem itself. Justin Robbins, Group Community Director for HDI & ICMI, points to another issue causing frustration:

"The typical customer journey is taking them across multiple channels, and all too frequently captures information in multiple disparate systems. When these customers finally make their way to a phone rep, it’s often a fragmented, complicated mess."

This customer frustration ends up making calls take even longer. Last year, I discovered research that showed angry customers are more judgmental and less open to ideas. That makes those customers even harder for your phone reps to serve.

How to Help Your Phone Reps

There are a few things you can do to help your phone reps.

The first is to make it easier for customers to get the help they need. Robbins suggests that organizations need to do a better job of anticipating customer needs:

"Organizations are in control of their processes and have the ability to map and affect the customer journey. If leaders are truly concerned about an increase in the complexity of service, they’ll take the necessary steps to create better and more simple service models."

Goodman had this specific suggestion:

"If your website homepage anticipated and answered the top six issues customers call about, you would see at least a 30% drop in calls on those subjects. Most home pages are 90% devoted to marketing when at least 80% of visitors are existing customers trying to get assistance. The allocation of real estate is exactly backwards."

You can also give your agents phone-specific customer service training, such as this course on Lynda.com. (You can drop my name to get a 10-day trial account.)

Finally, make sure you equip your agents with tools like knowledge bases to help them quickly find the answers to tough issues. If one agent can solve an issue in 5 minutes, there's no reason why it should take other agents 30 minutes to get through the same call.

9 Ways to Promote Your Customer Service Vision to the Team

There's a common criticism about customer service visions.

The perception is you put a lot of work into writing one. Maybe you hire some expensive consultants to run a bunch of focus groups or spend a day on it at an executive retreat. And then... 

Nothing. 

Employees forget it. Service quality remains unchanged. The vision gathers dust somewhere in an abandoned file. All that time, money, and effort wasted.

The promise of a customer service vision is still real. It's a shared definition of outstanding service. In theory, this is essential to getting everyone on the same page.

The challenge is you need a way to promote the vision to your team. Get them engaged and excited. And, keep it alive for years to come after that initial roll-out.

Here are nine ways you can do it.

9 Ways to Promote the Customer Service Vision

#1 Set SMART Goals

Many customer service teams use metrics to manage their performance. You can incorporate your vision into your daily work by setting a SMART goal for at least one of your metrics. 

SMART is an acronym:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Attainable

• Relevant <----- Here's where you connect your goal to your vision.

• Time Bound

You can use this SMART goal worksheet as a guide.

#2 Hire With Your Vision in Mind

It will be much easier to get your team on-board if you hire people who can naturally identify with your customer service vision.

Here's how:

1. Create an ideal candidate profile that incorporates your vision

2. Develop tests to see if job candidates fit the profile

This short video from Shopify is a terrific example of an ideal candidate profile.

#3 Train the Vision

Training is the perfect time to introduce or reinforce the customer service vision. It's not just customer service training. Any training is a good opportunity.

Here are some examples:

• New hire training

• Customer service training (of course)

• New system training

• Policy or procedure training

• Product training

I once had a client who insisted on incorporating their customer service vision into anti-harassment compliance training. Their thinking was that the way co-workers treated each other was a form of customer service, and that treatment would naturally extend to the way they treated customers.

This short video explains how you can incorporate culture into your new hire training.

#4 Empower Employees Through The Vision

Your customer service vision is meaningless if employees aren't empowered to fulfill it. 

Last year, I made a list of five reasons why managers don't empower their employees. One reason was employees don't realize what they're empowered to do to help their customers.

One way to overcome this barrier is to ask employees to contribute ideas on how they can fulfill the customer service vision with their customers.

You can use this guide to learn how to empower your employees.

#5 Have Leaders Talk About It

Employees tend to understand something's importance by how often leaders talk about it. 

That means if you want your employees to remember the customer service vision, you need to talk about it a lot. As in, every chance you get.

Fortunately, there are many opportunities:

• Team meetings

• Daily huddles (stand-ups, pre-shifts, tailgates, etc.)

• One-on-one meetings

• Casual conversations

• After action discussions

• Annual performance reviews

#6 Have Executives Talk About It

Customer service leaders aren't the only people who should promote the customer service vision. Executive leadership should promote the vision too.

At one company I know, the CEO kicks off quarterly all-employee meetings with a review of their customer service vision. He shares specific examples of results and behaviors that match the vision.

This helps employees understand that support for the vision goes all the way to the top.

#7 Create a Culture Page

Many companies create a culture page on their website to describe what it's like to work for them. It's a recruiting tool, but it's also a prime opportunity to promote your customer service vision.

JetBlue has led the airline industry on the American Customer Satisfaction Index for five straight years. Their customer service vision (also their mission) is to inspire humanity.

This is a screen shot from its culture page:

They've also created this short video that describes how they are different. Notice how their mission (a.k.a. customer service vision) plays a starring role.

#8 Involve Your Employees

A fun way to promote your customer service vision is to get your employees involved.

Here's an example from the Center for Sustainable Energy's Clean Vehicle Rebate Project. Their customer service vision is this:

Make it easy to join the clean vehicle movement.

One thing this team did to promote the vision was to ask employees to think of words that described how their co-workers supported the vision. The words were then arranged in a word cloud shaped like a car to showcase their many positive attributes:

#9 Use it to Guide Decisions

There's nothing that can promote your customer service vision faster than using it to guide your decisions.

REI's amazing Opt Outside campaign is an outstanding example. In 2015, the outdoor gear retailer decided to close their stores on Black Friday. This included their online store!

The decision was a clear reflection of their customer service vision:

We inspire, educate and outfit for a lifetime of outdoor adventure and stewardship.

REI's President and CEO, Jerry Stritzke said, "Black Friday is the perfect time to remind ourselves of the essential truth that life is richer, more connected and complete when you choose to spend it outside. We’re closing our doors, paying our employees to get out there, and inviting America to OptOutside with us because we love great gear, but we are even more passionate about the experiences it unlocks."

Bonus Vision Resource

You can learn more about creating and sharing a customer service vision from The Service Culture Handbook.

How to Develop the Perfect Phone Greeting

One chance.

That's how many opportunities you get to make a first impression. When you serve customers over the phone, that one chance is your phone greeting.

How does your greeting sound? 

A warm and friendly greeting can start the call off right. It can give your caller the confidence that you will help them. They may not even realize that your enthusiasm makes them feel better.

The wrong greeting can do the opposite. The caller will suspect they're in for yet another service failure from a lackluster service representative. (You don't want to be that person, do you?)

People discount the importance of practicing your greeting. I disagree. Developing a good greeting is essential to outstanding customer service.

Here’s how to do it.

Step 1: Decide What to Say

A perfect phone greeting consists of three simple elements:

• Salutation: “Good morning,” Thank you for calling,” “Hello,” etc.

• Your Name

• Offer of assistance: “How may I help you?” etc.

Don’t be afraid to try different salutations or offer assistance in different ways. This can help keep your greeting fresh and sincere, whether it’s the first call of the day or your 50th.

The specific words you use don’t matter as much as how you deliver them.

A greeting should convey warmth, friendliness, and confidence. It should let the other person know you’re there for them and happy to help.

Some companies saddle their employees with clunky, scripted greetings. I’m not a fan! But if you must greet your customers a certain way, you can still use the next two steps.

Step 2: Mind Your Body Language

Our body language has a big impact on how we deliver a phone greeting. Your tone of voice will exude more warmth when you smile, sit up straight, and focus your attention.

Try to imagine the caller is sitting right in front of you rather than talking to you on the phone. This makes it easier to remember to use positive body language.

For example, of the two photos below, who would you want to talk to?

Some people place a small mirror at their desk so they can see themselves talk on the phone. The mirror helps them remember to smile. If you aren’t sure if this technique will work for you, why not try it out and see?

Step 3: Tune Out Distractions

Distractions can make it much more difficult to deliver our best greeting. Take a breath and focus your attention on the incoming call before answering.

Here are a few common distractions that get in the way of a perfect greeting:

• Trying to finish up an email as you answer the phone.

• Loud conversations from coworkers sitting near you.

• Pop-up windows and other notifications on your computer screen.

Fatigue is one of the biggest distractions. Research shows that customer satisfaction is at its lowest in the afternoon, when many people are nearing the end of their shift.

A Perfect Phone Greeting Example

This short video will show you examples of all these principles in action.

Develop the perfect phone greeting from Phone-Based Customer Service by Jeff Toister

This video is part of the Phone-Based Customer Service course on LinkedIn Learning. There are three ways to access the entire course:

• Via your LinkedIn Learning subscription

• Purchase the course from LinkedIn Learning

• Get a free 30-day free trial

Phone Skills Workout: Practice Your Greeting

Now that you’ve worked out what to say, how to say it, and how to stay focused, it’s time to do a little practice. Use the recording feature on your smart phone to record yourself delivering your best greeting. Evaluate yourself with three questions:

• Did your greeting include the three elements (salutation, name, offer of assistance)?

• Did your tone sound warm and friendly?

• Did your greeting inspire confidence?

Try practicing a few times until you feel really good about what you hear. Then implement your perfect greeting with your next customer.