Customer Service Metrics – Tracking What Your Customers Are Saying

When a customer service representative can be the only personal face for an entire company, it is important to make sure that the person reflects well on the values of the employer. Most large businesses may seem like a nebulous, faceless entity, but one interaction with a customer service person can make or break a client’s relationship with the business entity. This article details six skills that a customer representative should have in order to make a great impression on clients.

Patience. The virtue of patience cannot be stressed enough for a customer service rep. If you think about it, it is usually confused or upset customers that contact customer service to fix their problems. Thus, these employees must have a great deal of patience dealing with frustrated or clueless customers. Losing your patience can mean losing a valued customer.

Flexibility. A person who specializes in interacting with people outside of a business must be flexible. Clients may call in with a variety of questions or requests, and a rep should be able to go with the flow and handle everything that they possibly can for the client. This also reflects well on the business in that they are shown as efficient and adept.

Control. Like patience, keeping your own emotions in check can help you successfully deal with a disgruntled customer. If a person contacts a customer service representative, yelling and screaming and complaining, a representative may feel like this is a direct attack on himself. However, it is usually just an outpouring of frustration. Yelling back at the unhappy client will get you nowhere.

Persuasion. Even if a person in this position is not directly involved in sales, having the power of persuasion can still come in handy. When a frustrated client contacts a rep, threatening to terminate his business with the company, a rep should be able to persuade the person otherwise.

Problem Solving. Everyone knows how it goes: you call in to a company, and after waiting on hold for hours, you get transferred from person to person as each claims that they can’t help you. For customer service jobs, being able to problem solve on your own can help you keep your clients happy. Try to either directly connect a client to who they need only if you cannot solve the problem yourself.

Communication. This skill is basically the key component of a customer service representative job. Communication involves both listening to the person’s problems as well as effectively advising them about solving the issue. Now, customer servicemen and women should be familiar with a variety of methods of contact, like written letters, emails, phone calls, in-person meetings, and even instant messaging.

Yes, instant messaging, also called live chat, is making its way into customer service as more and more businesses are turning to this beneficial way to help potential clients. For more information on live chat services, check out Ngage Live
today.

Joseph Devine

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As individuals, one of the earmarks of maturing is that we’re allowed increasing latitude and discretion in how we handle ourselves and our personal relationships.

When we’re small children, for instance, we don’t really choose our playmates. Our parents do it for us, in conjunction with other parents.

But as we develop, we not only choose our pals, but we resent intrusions into that process by our elders as violating our personal rights as increasingly independent individuals.

The same can generally be seen as we grow in our careers.

Generally, when we’re in an entry level capacity, it’s likely that we’ll be told exactly what to do, when to do it and how to do it; and our work will be supervised and scrutinized much more closely and carefully than when we’re Vice President of Operations.

Certainly, as we climb the organizational ladder, there are pressures to perform, but the pressures to conform are more relaxed.

Apart from our need to coordinate with others at specific intervals, as senior managers we become the captains of our calendars, seeing whom we wish, when we wish, based on our perception of what will make us most productive.

Our evolution progresses from being clerks, or receivers, preservers and dispensers of information, to knowledge workers; where we interpret, create, and prioritize information.

At first, we follow policy, and later, when we have earned our stripes, we help to set it.

Instead of complying with very specific work “rules” that have been defined for us, we learn to apply “standards,” over which we come to have significant influence.

What’s the difference between rules and standards?

Think of driving. The maximum permissible speed may be 70 miles per hour. That’s a rule we need to obey, and it is quite clear and, as those of us who have been pulled over can attest, it’s subject to being monitored, measured, managed, and enforced.

Drivers can watch their speedometers to make sure they comply, and law enforcers can clock vehicles as they pass by. Except in unusual circumstances, a rule will ALWAYS be in operation.

But let’s say the road conditions are perilous, ice and wind driven snow are creating nearly “whiteout” conditions. Drivers can barely see in front of their vehicles.

What, then? Is the posted speed limit the maximum permissible?

No, a STANDARD takes priority over the rule. We’re allowed to proceed at a speed that “is safe.”

By shifting from a rule to a standard, it means we have gone from an objective to a subjective criterion.

There is only one interpretation of the 70 mile per hour speed limit under normal driving conditions, but when unusual weather is present, there are, potentially, as many interpretations of the safe driving “standard” as there are drivers or vehicles.

We may not like the speed limit, feeling it is too conservative or liberal, but it has been set based on getting as many people as possible to their destinations efficiently and safely.

In a word, the speed limit gets positive RESULTS.

We can adjust the rule, if we doubt its efficacy, by asking key questions.

For example, how many lives are spared and collisions avoided at 65 miles per hour?

What is the impact of lowering the speed limit on average commuting times?

What are the costs to individuals, to businesses, and the effects on fuel economy?

Now, imagine eliminating all speed limits, everywhere. What would some of the results be? Would you want to drive under those conditions, where it’s literally, “Every person for him or herself?”

I think you’ll agree that it is desirable to have rules, especially when we can connect their absence to a significantly deteriorated or chaotic outcome.

In the same sense, there is a huge role for rules, and their enforcement, in the handling of customers and the conduct of customer service. The most evolved customer service providers deliberately make a transition from using vague standards to embracing more manageable rules.

In business, the ideal situation is one in which all customers are handled efficiently and satisfactorily, just as it would be ideal for all vehicles to follow the speed limit.

It is ideal in customer service to have rules that are clear and that can be followed with a modicum of effort.

For example, we benefit from having a rule that says, “Whenever you ask a customer for information or to do something, say ‘please,’ and when they have complied, or done something for you, say ‘thank you.’”

That’s simple, isn’t it? It is also subject to being monitored, measured, and managed by the reps, themselves, and by supervisors.

And most important, saying these words is a “difference that makes a difference” in the overall tenor of the conversation and it directly impacts customer comfort and satisfaction.

We know this by observing what happens when we eliminate “please” and “thank you.”

Their absence makes conversations sound harsh, rude, callous, and alienating. Leaving them out contributes to defensiveness and it makes customers feel not only that they’re not appreciated, but that they’re being abused.

Knowing this, why wouldn’t we make it a RULE to say these words ALL THE TIME?

Is there any equally valid argument for taking this potential rule and permitting it to be a mere STANDARD?

Should reps have the right to decide when and where and how often they can say please and thank you?

Should they say these words when they “feel like it,” and leave them out when they aren’t in the mood?

As I type these words, at this very moment in the history of customer service, a field that has been garnering astonishing attention and investment during the past few years, reps are still allowed to do just that: to make it up as they go along, to improvise, to “drive” conversations as chaotically and as recklessly as they wish.

Few “speed limits” have been posted by management for them to obey, so when their communications are unproductive, these road runners cannot easily be cited for their misconduct or be easily or convincingly corrected.

Rules are relevant when we know their observance predictably and reliably improves outcomes, and at this stage of research and development, some of us have developed techniques and technologies that optimize customer transactions, providing they’re followed jot for jot.

We have mapped the “rules of correspondence,” the connections between what we say, when we say it, and how we say it, with producing consistent customer satisfaction and customer retention.

Like a recipe, we can tell reps with utter confidence, if you follow these rules, for instance the Three T’s: governing the best uses of text, tone, and timing; you’ll consistently get certain wonderful customer results.

Your conversations will be more achieving, they’ll be more pleasant, and they’ll even be materially shorter, less taxing emotionally, and above all, they’ll be more rewarding for you, too.

But, having said all of that, many reps will want to rebel against the rules.

They’ll resent having gone from a situation where THEY ALONE determined what are good, better, and best practices, without meaningful review or correction.

Reps who resist conforming feel it is a slight to their individuality to be told exactly what they can and cannot say, believing that as grown-ups they have earned the right to communicate exactly as they wish.

Off the job, before hours, and after hours, they’re quite right.

But in business, we have rules to obey, profits to make, competitive pressures to resist, and customers to satisfy, and these things come first.

Maturing, in a business context doesn’t mean being able to say or do as we please, it means consistently and conscientiously doing what has been proven to get objective, meaningful and measurable results, time and again.

Sometimes, if you manage a business or customer service, this puts you into the role of being a traffic cop.

No rep likes being pulled over and ticketed, but you have to do it; and though it makes you unpopular, it’s your job.

But you can take comfort iin the fact that without your continuing diligence, we wouldn’t be nearly as successful as we know how to be.

Observing the rules of effective customer service, the type that result in consistent customer satisfaction and retention, should not be a matter of personal choice when it can mean the difference between merely getting by, and thriving.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 850 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered “The Gold Standard”–the foremost expert in sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
.

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Your business is booming! You are making money hand over fist and your bank is sending you love letters. Your investors are crawling over each other to tell give you more money. Everything is going great then, seemingly out of the blue, you are blindsided. A faulty product, a bad employee, an overeager salesman; any one of these is enough to suddenly turn feast into famine. However, chances are you have an Early Warning System in place that could have helped you avert catastrophe: your Customer Service department.

Too often, Customer Service is treated as a necessary business evil. They are a department that costs money and resources but doesn’t actually generate revenue for your business. Most Customer Service departments exist solely to deal with customer complaints, returns or questions. However, with some simple tools you can turn your Customer Service department into your corporate Early Warning system that will keep you abreast of potential problems looming on the horizon.

Remember, the employees that answer the phone and speak directly with your customers are the ones with their fingers on the pulse of your products. Most any member of that department can tell you which product or service you offer generates the most complaints. A simple database custom designed for your Customer Service department can help them track every single phone call or email. A good database will track the type of call, the product or service they are calling about, the specific complaint and the solution recommended by the Customer Support representative. You many need to include other metrics that are specific to your business, but just with that simple base you can begin to generate useful feedback from your clients.

Once the database is in place and operating, within a few days (depending on your Customer Service department’s volume) you should be able to get a snapshot of negative opinion regarding your products or services. Which products are customers unhappy with? What services are not meeting customer expectations? All of this information can be gleaned directly from this database, with enough time for you to correct the problems before they become impossible to handle. With sufficient information ahead of time, you can take the needed steps to implement the changes that will stop the problem in its tracks.

You must dedicate your company to outrageous customer service. Your workers must go above and beyond the call of duty to make sure every customer that calls hangs up satisfied. At one of my client companies, if you are not satisfied after your second call to customer service, the company president calls you and tries to solve the problem. This is the kind of outrageous customer service that keeps customers coming back for more. When the president cares about the customers then the employees will care too.

Every call should be logged into a simple database and tracked until the issue is resolved. Your database should track the caller’s name and contact information, the dates they called, the relevant product or service, the names of all the customer support representatives that they have spoken to and call notes for every call. These are all important parts of the equation. Once you have collected enough data, it is amazing what you will find. Suddenly you can start making connections that you otherwise were unable to make. For example, another client company was able to identify quality problems at one specific factory. The product in question was manufactured in six different factories around the world, but the serial numbers for that one factory were causing 87% of all failures! Because they had a customer service database they were able to find the real cause of the problem and correct it. Their customers are happier because the products don’t fail and the company is saving money because they aren’t paying for substandard products.

Customer Service does not need to be a business loss. In fact, they can serve the vital business purpose of gathering intelligence directly from your most vocal customers. This information can then be used to add value to your business by helping you fine tune products or services to make them more attractive to your customer base. No business is too small to implement this very simple, yet incredibly powerful tool.

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