I’m a busy person. I have a busy job, a young family and many outside interests. Life is a constant juggling act. And the last thing I need is having to throw yet another ball in the air by conducting unnecessary conversations – in any media – with some of the companies that supply me services. I want my eBay and PayPal accounts to work without me having to futilely search their FAQs and then email them to find out why eBay says I still need to pay for some of my recent purchases while PayPal tells me that I’ve already paid - with the result that the red Maine fleece top for my two year old has arrived but the pink Pampolina party dress for my four year old is nowhere to be seen! I want my phone to work all the time and I certainly don’t want my electricity to be switched off “for essential maintenance” without advance notice. So when I have to initiate conversations with companies about these types of issues it’s their fault and I’m cross.
There are plenty of proverbs and mantras that suggest that we should constantly stay in contact with our customers, that all dialogue handled correctly with our customers is good dialogue. Certainly all dialogue with customers is an opportunity but not all dialogue, even when handled well, is good. This is because due to faults of our own making, the customer is sometimes forced to communicate with us. Due to our own failings we inadvertently punish our customers that simply want to get on with their lives.
As a contact centre for many large organisations we often see patterns emerging that illustrate clear fault on the side of the companies we serve. For example an airline that doesn’t clearly state on its website the baggage limit per passenger or a product manufacturer that is having the same repeat issue with their latest device or a retailer that fails to inform customers about delays in delivery. We constantly work with our clients to eliminate unnecessary contacts even when it means reducing contact volumes through our centres. We do this because we know it is the right thing to do to deliver a good customer experience.
China’s most famous philosopher Confucius once said, “The real fault is to have faults and not to amend them”.
When we fail to effectively communicate we’re at fault. The subsequent interactions, no matter how well handled, could in fact be eliminated had we taken the advice of Confucius, implemented feedback loops from our contact centres and dealt with all customer contacts in the most appropriate way (from self-service to assisted service to no service).
So fix the fault and don’t make me call you – I don’t have time.