The Problem with Customer Service

I have worked for years in customer service. I have never intentionally went out for a job in customer service, but as a technical support representative, I have always found myself working in a customer service capacity. Organizations feel that technical support representatives should be able to do anything and everything that a customer service representative should do. People feel that technical support representatives should be able to do anything and everything that a customer service representative should do.

The problem in this, is that a technical support representative can empathize with, and show compassion for, technical issues, but they could care less about billing issues, increasing sales, or dealing with the customers themselves, as opposed to helping customers with the issues at hand. Organizations do not want a technical support representative to transfer a call to an actual customer support representative; but when things go wrong, customers ask for someone in customer support. The extent of that customer service often means speaking to that technical support representatives supervisor.

Customer service representatives, technical support representatives, and salespeople are always being asked to do something that they are not naturally inclined to do over the phone. This is how your organization justifies paying you $15 an hour; chances are you are working more than one job, and putting on more than one hat. What do you decide you are going to take on, is it going to fit into the amount of time you have been allocated for this call, is it going to increase your sales revenue, is it going to increase your scores for that call?

When you go to work for an organization, in many cases, not all, but in more than enough, or more than what should be the case, you are given training that is similar to that kids in our educational system, and young adults in college, have been given. You need to find out what needs to be done to pass that final exam; you may not learn anything, but you need to figure out what needs to be done to acquire the scores that allow you to "pass" that call. So representatives in customer service and technical support focus on giving what appears to be a good customer experience on paper, and that may or may not be that good impression that you are left with?

How many times did your representative try to sell you another product that you did not want, how many times did they forward you to another representative, how many times did they tell you to call the manufacturer, how many times did they apologize to you, needlessly, incessantly, like a robot? Chances are they started off the call apologizing, and they ended apologizing. Are you annoyed with your representative; don't get annoyed with them, get annoyed with the policies of that organization, because none of us would conduct ourselves in this way in any other situation.

Companies have built, or employed, call centers overseas, in order to cut costs. Take that same lousy experience you have with Americans, and then watch it compound, with interest, when you have someone of a different culture, that can speak English, but does not know the nuances of American or English culture, the idiosyncrasies of communicating in our language. The final customer experience has nothing to do with what you pay your representatives; the same representative that is mediocre at $8 an hour is lousy at $20 an hour. Take more time with your customers, take more time training your employees, be clear, and honest, with the policies of your organization. It can pay off, and at the end of the day, you may end up spending less time with your customers on the phone, than you would when you try to rush them off of the phone.