‘Total Customer Value Management: Transforming business thinking’ ( >www.sagepublications.com ). Call centres are impersonal, and the concept of a personal account manager does not exist, though companies such as Verizon have tried this, he notes. “Call centre people are faceless and never come in true contact with customers.
They hear customers’ problems but are often not authorised to or responsible to solve problems.”
Observing that call centres are viewed from an interaction matrix perspective, rather than that of relationship building, and as cost centres rather than strategic advantage centres, the author advises that call centres associates should have requisite information as also the authority and empathy to solve customer problems.
‘Horror’ statistics
Mahajan cautions that one of the most irritating aspects of dealing with a company is often the call centre. Among the ‘horror’ statistics mentioned in the book are that nearly two-thirds of complainants have to make a fuss to get problems resolved, and that nearly all find it irksome to deal with a recording instead of a human being.
He cites >GetHuman.com , which shows waiting times on calls for many companies. Such as that AT&T has a waiting time of 17.7 minutes and Comcast, 13.3 minutes. “According to a recent Customer Rage Study, 68 per cent were very upset by their problems. Fifty-seven per cent of all those who had serious complaints decided not to deal with the company again.”
An example of how the transformation to ‘action’ can happen is of a company that made its call centre employees to participate in the customer circles. Six weeks later, they reported that the referrals had increased by 30 per cent, the author narrates. To those who wonder ‘how,’ the answer is captured thus: “They had used what they had learnt and postulated in the customer circles on what the frontline people should do. This includes the customers’ DNA (do not annoy), delight factors, being more patient, listening better, and proactiveness. The results were startling and were high motivators for the success of customer focus.”
Close the loop
Another insightful example is of a customer calling in to say that her air-conditioner’s swing motor was to be replaced and it was ten days since the promised date. “The call officer asks the customer if he could put her on hold, and goes to the supervisor who calls the dealer, who says the part is not in stock. The supervisor insists on a conference call with the company’s parts centre. After figuring out the part number of the motor, it turns out it is in stock and can be sent to the dealer the same day. The dealer promises to install it the next day.”
Alas, when the call centre executive is back, he finds the customer has hung up! As the story proceeds, one learns that no one called the customer back and there was no feedback on whether the part was delivered to her and installed. A few days later, if an executive were to call her and ask about the satisfaction of the transaction, he may be shocked to find that the motor was not installed, the author rues.
While the supervisor’s actions in the second example are the start of an action centre, what the company needs is to close the loop, and have ‘a call back and results-oriented feedback (not satisfaction),’ instructs Mahajan. He assures that the conversion of call centres to action centres will improve customer value and a sense of achievement.
Educative read for the value-conscious.
