Products and services that are remarkable get talked about. A famous quote from Seth Godin. And Seth, products, and services that are below par get talked about even more. Guarantees of poor customer service? They are everywhere you look. Like fireflies on a hot summer night.
Many businesses spend considerable time trying to create great customer service and customer experiences. Problem is they start their work on the complex side of the equation
Examples: Stunning Customer Service Lessons and Their Examples
And another important perspective from Seth:
People don’t believe what you tell them.
They rarely believe what you show them.
They often believe what their friends tell them.
They always believe what they tell themselves.
Seth Godin
“Your call is very important to us,” is not a true statement because it’s a promise not meant to be kept. The truth is self-evident. You’ll often say what you need to make customers go away.
“I promise I’ll tell my manager about this,” is of course not a real promise either. It might be uttered with good intent, or might be designed to get an annoying customer to go away, but still…
You can already guess the problem with little lies. They allow you to blur and then ultimately get you to cross the line, and they lead to bigger and bigger lies. The worst kind of little lies are the ones you make to yourself. Once you’re willing to lie to yourself, it’s all downhill.
So here are some great examples of poor customer service. The easy stuff, so to speak. The stuff your business needs to start with … to make sure no issues here. But while your business is working to build the great customer service … the little things are killing you.
We’ve all seen and heard these before:
Lack of empathy
Many employees are not engaged. And they don’t care.
Employees not empowered
Employees can’t act on their own to solve your problems.
Broken promises
Broken promises and no follow-up. No closure on what they tell you. Little lies that start to grow.
You answer questions
Customers get handed off and have to repeat the answers. Sometimes 3 or more times. Really annoying.
No menu option
Companies don’t have a menu option to talk with a real person. Until you have been through the wringer 3 times or more.
Long waits
Long waits on hold with a repeating recording telling you that the business will be with you momentarily.
Poor customer service by multiple handoffs
With many handoffs, you are beginning to wonder if everyone in the company is brand new. And knows little.
Customer survey requests
Too many multiple requests starting before you have ever had any service.
Very long time to get a response
No quick response either verbally via the phone or online chat.
