Thoughts on Customer Service

Three weeks into my new job and I get my first complaint by a senior person (my boss to be exact) about IT service. Without getting into too many technical details, he is out of town and can't connect into our secure sites. New laptop, VPN not working.  Follow that up with an email issue and he's one unhappy camper.

Now things happen, and everybody knows that. But what it made me think of was customer service and how we respond when a customer reports to us that something went wrong. One of the things that happens in IT service is that we tend to go to "user error" right away. You know, we even have jokes and cartoons about it. You've seen them "PEBKAC" - problem exists between keyboard and chair. And often our first response is to ask the user "did you do this?", which makes them feel like we're thinking "PEBKAC". 

A couple of years ago, my daughter got a summer job at a fast food restaurant. While I wouldn't say they gave her great customer service training, they sent her home with the corporate customer service materials and I have to say they were amazing. I was simply blown away.  I won't name the fast food restaurant (although I will say that Jon Stewart makes fun of them on the Daily Show a lot), nor will I repeat their philosophy, but let me just say that the first two words in it were "believe" and "listen".  Simple. Brilliant. Think about it.  Believe and listen. If we started every customer support conversation with just believing and then listening, we could fundamentally change the tone of the conversation and thus the experience of the user. 

When I was early in my career, I remember having a conversation with a customer where she described something that went wrong in a program I had written. I didn't believe her, I thought it must have been something she was doing wrong, and I told her so. (I said I was young!). She proceeded to run the program and show me what it was doing, and of course she was right. After that, I never said "you're wrong" out loud to a customer, but when I've worked in customer support, I'll admit that I've often begun the conversation thinking just that, it must be something the user is doing wrong. Then instead of listening to find the cause of the problem, I was listening to hear what they were doing wrong. I simply wasn't believing that there was a problem.  Over the years, I've learned to listen to understand, and in fact I'm very proud of my customer service skills. But the fast food company got it right and made it simple by telling their staff just to believe the customer. It's sort of like that old adage "the customer is always right". In fact, we all know, the customer is not always right.  But isn't it better to start thinking they're right and learning they're wrong rather than starting thinking they're wrong only to learn they were right all along, just like I did when I was young?

So give it a try - make a fundamental shift to really believing the customer from the beginning of the conversation. Couple that with really listening, and your customers will love you.

Reflections on a first week

I am just wrapping up the first week at my new position. Over that week, I've made the following observations. None of them are new, just good to refresh myself.

listening matters: It's obvious, and every article and book tells you, but listening is the critical thing at this time. And really listening is important. Make sure to use all your active listening techniques. 40 hours of listening gets pretty exhausting, so you really have to work at staying engaged. Here's a link to an article with some reminders.

make a statement: Even though listening is the most important thing, when you've been hired into a senior role, you were hired for your expertise. So at certain points, it makes sense to make a statement. You'll see it - the point in the meeting where people are looking for your opinion on a thorny topic. Seize that opportunity to make a statement.

use but don't overuse "at my previous institution": When listening to people describe some process in your new organization, it's appropriate to describe how it was done in your old organization. In the first week, you're not saying it to suggest a change, you're saying it to show that you have listened and have understood the process in your new organization enough to compare it to your own experience. Just don't overuse it, and never say it in a way that's intend to "put down" your new organization.

take charge: As early as the first week, it's important to take charge of some things that are yours, whether it's a staff meeting or a project team meeting. Jump right in.

walk around: Get out of your office! Talk to your staff, co-workers and customers at their place. Be visible. Take an interest in people. And listen.

have fun! This is a new and exciting time in your life, so enjoy it. Get to know your new physical surroundings - take some time to smell the flowers (literally if possible). Get to know your new co-workers. People are anxious to get to know the new person and will make time for you. Take advantage of that!