How Verizon Wireless Can Improve Customer Service

Note: This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” that helps you and your company thrive!

This week’s focus: customer service

I’ve had a terrific customer experience with everyone I have worked with at Verizon Wireless going back to 2004. The products, services and people have been great. I never cringe at the thought of interacting with this company. That’s not to say they can’t get better!

Here are my recommendations for improving the customer experience relative to a technical problem I’ve been chasing for a few weeks:

• Never close a trouble ticket without confirming with the customer that the problem is resolved via the proposed solution. More than one ticket was closed when I still had the same problem meaning no one was working on it!
• When you tell a customer you are going to call them back, call them back. Not hard. Yet, 3 different people promised to call me back and didn’t.
• Never transfer a customer to one of your supplier’s technical support organizations without (a) informing the customer that that is what you are going to do, and (b) getting the customer’s permission. It’s quite a shock to suddenly find out you aren’t dealing with Verizon Wireless in the middle of a long call.
• When departments that need to be working together to get to the bottom of an issue aren’t collaborating, escalate the issue within your organization to management and senior management to get them talking. It’s not okay for an organization to be unapproachable when it comes to dealing with a customer issue.

Do these things and I’ll be a happier customer. If you have a customer service organization, avoid the mistakes I’ve identified above and you and your customers will thrive.

Thought for the week:

“If your stakeholders are in the social space, they are talking about your brand — so either engage and be part of the conversation or be left behind.” - Karen Quintos, Dell CMO

__

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

___

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.

The Future of Customer Service

Note: This posting is based on my weekly “Thank God It’s Monday” which is offered to help companies thrive!

This week’s focus: customer service

I was invited to attend a Customer Service Think Tank hosted by Dell in Austin, Texas. Customer service experts and industry thought leaders gathered to ponder the challenges, opportunities and future of customer service and support. One session looked at “the future of service:”

• Customer service will be at the core of what successful companies do–it won’t be an afterthought.
• There will be a lot less customer service as the most effective service is the call the customer never has to make as products get better and better.
• There’s auto-detection of possible issues based on customer profiles and a known solution to problems. Other customers will benefit as well.
• Smart semantics and artificial intelligence will help customer service personnel and customers converge on solutions faster and with greater ease–complexity will be less obvious to customers.
• Companies will become more community-driven–the community will be where issues and opportunities surface.

Are these ideas on your company roadmap? If not, how do you expect to thrive?

[Note: You can learn more about the entire event here. Dell paid my travel expenses for this event.]

Thought for the week:

“The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity.” – Tom Peters

What do you think? I welcome your blog comments!

___

Dave Gardner, Gardner & Associates Consulting

http://www.gardnerandassoc.com

© 2012 Gardner & Associates Consulting  All Rights Reserved

Note:  To receive an email version of “Thank God It’s Monday” to start your week, please subscribe here.  I would very much appreciate your suggesting to others that they subscribe.

Privacy Statement:  Our subscriber lists are never rented, sold, or loaned to any other parties for any reason.