Customer service is simple. A dollop of product knowledge, a dash of niceness and a sprinkling of common sense and you have the tried and true recipe for customer service delivery. Simple right?
Actually no, it’s not. I’d even go so far to say it’s the opposite of simple.
Good customer service is complex because human beings are complex. Every time a customer phones a contact centre to ask about a product or service, the agent who answers must not only deal with the enquiry, they must contend with a real person on the end of the phone. The customer’s emotions, their concerns, whether they’ve had a good or bad day – all sorts of factors contribute to the environment in which the call was made and a skilled contact centre agent is adept at dealing with all of them.
I was reminded of this while reading an article in a US marketing magazine 1to1 about FedEx in America. The company has a real push on customer service delivery and encourages its employees to go above and beyond. Here’s an example about a FedEx agent who went the extra mile:
“Only one thing stood between a mother and some urgently needed cheques from her daughter: a gift of chocolates in the same package. When Mexico call centre representative Amanda Villanueva learned that the chocolates prohibited the package from clearing customs, she drove with her manager from Naucalpan to the customer location in Toluca and removed them. The mother received the cheques the next day.”