Customer Satisfaction vs. When Customer Processes Fail

Moments of Truth
Most businesspeople would agree there is a moment of truth at customer contact. At that moment the customer decides how she feels about your company, whether you care about her needs and whether you are treating her as she deserves to be treated. Those moments of truth can create new selling opportunities or a disappointed customer. But problems in business processes that fail to deliver customer satisfaction can be solved.

Telephone Answering
Left on hold, frustrated by multiple transfers and fed up with too many options on an automated-message menu, customers can see a simple telephone call as an uphill battle. Once customers reach a real person, they may encounter someone who doesn't have - or can't find - an answer. Hopes for customer satisfaction have gone downhill. What to do?

Solutions
Reduce delays by using statistical models that show how many people are needed to answer incoming customer calls by hour of the day. Automated voice response systems need regular reviews from the customer's perspective to sharpen the message and shorten menu options. Better training and communication with employees will cut down on multiple transfers. Many people just don't know how to handle customer questions and quickly find the answer. New processes and better training are the key.

Face-to-face Customer Contact
Sometimes when the customer comes face-to-face with employees, she feels like an interruption. Employees who think customers bring problems don't great customers, don't make eye contact, don't smile and aren't helpful. To avoid feeling like an interruption, your customer takes her business elsewhere. What to do?

Solutions
Customer contact is people business. Find sociable people who like being on the front lines - the first to come in contact with your customers. Train the customer contact employee to say the right things at each step in the customer contact, from greeting to goodbye. Audit customer satisfaction and use it as an essential measurement tool. Listen to your employees as they talk with customers. Measure the results and show the employees. And don't forget to give proper feedback, rewarding positive responses and correcting a poor customer treatment. New processes and better training are key.