I have often talked about the zero-sum game in my articles and blog. The belief that good service costs more and cancels out any benefit. “Customers”, they say, “should not be trusted or they will screw us out of every penny.” If your organization thinks this way it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
In fact, service organizations strike the first blow with poor and cumbersome service. A customer having to wait on hold, navigate an IVR, and gets transferred around to different agents is bad enough. If it only ended there, customers have to arm wrestle with technologically hand-cuffed agents that are scripted like robots. All this costs money but management thinks it less costly then giving customers “what matters” to them.
Trust has to be built into what we do. Starting with enabled agent that can actually help the customer. How absurd would that be? Customers that get good service not only cost less, but they bring more customers. Good service is a diamond in the rough and giving it to customers attracts more customers.
Customers already trust you by giving you their business. It just costs less to deliver it when trust us present.
Tripp Babbitt is a speaker, blogger and consultant to service industry (private and public). His organization helps executives find a better way to make the work work. Read his column at Quality Digest and his articles for CustomermanagementIQ.com. Reach him on Twitter atwww.twitter.com/TriBabbittor LinkedIn atwww.linkedin.com/in/trippbabbitt.
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