Germany is known as a service desert – I always notice that when I’m abroad. Good customer service does not have to cost more, it only requires one rethink - then would Companys far less customers upset.

customer service

Divas in support

On many a support hotline you have to do with real divas. That happened to me recently, as mine eMail-Server suddenly stopped working and I tried that Problem can be solved from the road with the help of a hotline.

For someone whose main means of communication eMails are a serious thing, but actually the problem was quite banal, it was about changing a setting, actually a matter of five minutes.

Companies burn a lot of money

However, I was on the move and “on edge”, ie with very lame Internet fitted. And so I tried my luck with the hotline between other appointments. But one or the other Employees my tone didn't fit or he couldn't hear me because of the dead spots - and the game had to start over every time.

Companies burn a lot this way Money: You've already won the customers on the service hotline, you just have to keep them now. Instead, they annoy them with bad service and have to acquire new ones at great expense.

How good customer service goes: checklist for companies

I do not want to lament the problem here. Through the incident, I have gained some insights, which could run better in the support case. Here is an overview:

  1. Solution-oriented action: Many companies only see their own point of view - that's probably human. In my case, the support has repeated the technical problem in a prayer-mill-like way - but without offering a solution in the specific case. Because the problem was not the technology, but that I had no way to access the system, but my service provider was not authorized. And I explained that again and again.
  2. Change the angle of view: I had appointments that day, but I tried to communicate with the hotline again and again. Only in the evening did I get a co-worker, who, after I had reassured him calmly (a diva!), Came with a solution-oriented proposal: I should authorize her with a photographed handwritten note to the changes. Here, after seven hours of discussion, the willingness was finally given to take the customer's angle of view.
  3. Helping people help themselves: You can also have that as a provider much easier - namely by giving the customer the opportunity to help themselves. But the technical requirements must be given and the customer must understand this. This in turn requires, especially in the field of technology, that one takes the perspective of the customer.
  4. First Mover: Many websites are still not optimized for mobile use. Have you ever tried to sell a book on Amazon with Amazon? Just. In times when the mobile use is more and more on the advance, this is a poor test. I had to listen to the excuse of an employee that such services are basically not mobile. This is the opportunity for companies: the competition does not make it? Be first mover and stand out so positively from competitors.
  5. Make it as easy as possible for the customer: Also a problem of operational blindness; For example, the customer is directed on the phone through a lengthy language selection process. He should bring the customer to the right employee, but for mobile situations in which one also has little time, such menus with several selection processes are more than unsuitable - also because one has the phone, for example on the ear. In addition, some support divas throw a funk holes also right back from the line. Such processes should be simplified.
  6. Please do not divas in the support! The customer is excited, has other dates and is in stress. Understandable, however, the support staff also reactively react to any non-friendly smiling complaint. Does it have to be that way? Here it would be necessary to train employees for appropriate situations.
  7. Give correct information: Unfortunately, I also experience this more often. For example, employees who have no idea. Employees who contradict each other. Employees who have lost track of the processes in the company. Or employees who simply forget important information. Such misinformation leads to wrong decisions by the customer, which could be avoided by correct information - and both sides would save a lot of time and thus money.