Customers want to enjoy the products and services they buy in order to achieve their goals. They do not seek relationships with service departments, as these interactions typically only occur when something goes wrong. Instead of measuring the effectiveness of customer service departments in resolving issues, the focus should be on eliminating the need for service help altogether. To achieve this, it is necessary to change the metrics. Rather than tallying service interactions, the goal should be to identify and address any issues that prevent customers from being satisfied without requiring assistance. The mantra to adopt is that the best customer service is none at all, achieved by ensuring that products function properly and meet expectations. We have been frustrated by poor service as both consumers and practitioners for years. Therefore, we propose a new approach for companies: ensuring that everything works so well that customers do not need to contact customer service. This is what we define as the Best Service. By adding a blank line after each paragraph, the text becomes more visually appealing and easier to read. The concise nature of the text is maintained while all the original information is retained.
Customer service operations typically encounter three main types of customer contacts: - Dumb contacts arising from company confusion or failure to meet promises that generate the need to call. - Repeat contacts when issues weren't resolved properly the first time and customers must call back again. - Simple questions about account status or upcoming payments. Rather than gearing up to handle more of these inbound requests, companies should focus efforts on eliminating the root causes that drive demand for service contacts in the first place. Not only does resolving underlying issues lead to happier customers, but company operations also become more streamlined and efficient. The process of challenging demand involves four key steps. First, thoroughly understand all the reasons customers currently reach out by accurately tracking call drivers, which usually fall into 20-30 buckets. Next, build closed-loop systems between customer service and departments creating the demand by: - Generating reports on the top 10 contact reasons and associated trends. - Assigning ownership to dig into root causes and suggest fixes for each top reason. - Setting targets for reducing contacts. - Meeting weekly to review progress and strategize new solutions. - Creating rewards and consequences tied to lowering call volumes. Third, determine appropriate actions to address each major driver, like creating training programs for "I was ignored" problems, simplifying self-service options for "Where's my stuff" issues, and analyzing systems to fulfill obligations faster. Fourth, ensure agents resolve problems completely the first time rather than requiring repeat contacts, enabled by tracking subsequent calls and using reports to identify why matters weren't fully addressed initially. As the saying goes, "Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results," so companies must continually improve processes to eliminate demand rather than simply handling more volume.
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