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As part of the Business Builder Seminars, one of the areas I stress is that the Internet provides an unparalleled tool for communication between businesses and their customers. I talk about the importance of:

• Providing several options for your customer to reach out to you
• Being timely in your responses to any and all communication
• Answering the question asked in an empathetic tone

Image via Wikipedia

Why? Because the bad news is that in today’s digital age anyone can wield an enormously large stick if unhappy with your product or service.

Why? Because the good news is that in today’s day-and-age of CRMs, customer service alone can be an untouchable value statement for a business.

I cite Jeff Jarvis (as many do) as a disappointed customer who used the internet to call attention to a billion-dollar brand’s disregard for his concerns and needs.

“A company can no longer get away with consistently offering shoddy products or service or ignoring customers’ concerns and needs.

For now the customers can talk back where they can be heard. Those customers can gang up and share what they know and give their complaints volume.”

- Jeff Jarvis, July 1, 2005

In an effort to illuminate the means by which customers can now loudly voice their opinion (blogs, forums, twitter, etc.), I tell my own narrative of a customer service failure. Through this tale I relay the levels of frustrations I had with:

• Being in phone limbo as you wait for a rep to pick up or placed on hold
• Constantly repeating yourself as you’re escalated up the support chain
• Not being treated with the respect you deserve as a paying client

Recently an attendee approached me after a seminar and told me that he both learned much for and enjoyed the presentation.  He was excited to get back to the office to implement much of the search engine optimization and site navigation tips.  He then told me that if I called him and got as upset as I did with his customer support, I could go “’f’ myself.”

I asked him if my frustration with a product that I purchase and expected to work was too high. No.

I asked if my attempt to go through the customer support channels their website recommended was the wrong path. No.

I asked if my patience while repeatedly explaining my story to rep after rep after rep for hours on end was where I went wrong. No.

I asked if my search of the company’s frequently asked questions while on hold in an effort to find a solution independent of the support rep was arrogant. No.

I asked if it was my open criticism online after spending hours on the phone with a company whose product stopped working, who told me that there was nothing they could do, and who flat out refused to replace the product or refund my money was his sticky point. Yes.

He proceeded to ask me “Who the hell do you think you are?”

I’m your customer.

Aside:

Here’s the wordle of today’s post on customer service.

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This entry was posted on Friday, August 29th, 2008 at 6:33 pm and is filed under Blogging, Marketing, Social Networking, Web / Tech. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.