Only you can Prevent Customer Service Wildfires

Exceptional customer service isn’t possible if your business spends too much time fighting customer service wildfires.

We recently facilitated a time management learnshop that focused on the importance of shifting from a reactive to a proactive mindset: whereas a reactive mindset involves relentlessly responding to crises — metaphorically known as “putting out fires” — a proactive mindset emphasizes minimizing crises through effective processes and ongoing, meticulous planning. Of course, the proactive mindset isn’t limited to time management; not surprisingly, the proactive mindset is particularly applicable to customer service, especially as it relates to customer service wildfires.

We’ve all likely experienced customer service wildfires, with some of us having been casualties of those customer service wildfires. For example, erroneously entering a customer’s order ignites a spark that matures into a flame when the business neglects to respond to the customer’s repeated telephone calls and emails. Desperate for a response, the customer contacts corporate, which promises the customer that someone will call her by the end of the day to resolve the problem. But the flame grows into a fire when no one calls, despite the business’s promise. Finally, fueled by the rage of social media, the fire gulfs into an uncontrollable customer service wildfire as the customer’s Facebook post about her negative experience with the business “goes viral.”

The tragic aspect of the foregoing scenario — which is far too common — is that the business had numerous opportunities to prevent the customer service wildfire: it could have confirmed the accuracy of the order with the customer; it could have responded to any one of the customer’s repeated telephone calls or emails; and it could have called the customer as it had promised to do. Rather, the business neglected the customer, which allowed the initial spark to mature into a fully engulfed customer service wildfire.

Take a moment to honestly assess where your business is located on the reactive-proactive spectrum: Is your business closer to the “reactive” or “proactive” end of the spectrum? Truth be known, many businesses find themselves more on the “reactive,” as opposed to the “proactive,” end.

But all is not lost. Even if your business finds itself more on the “reactive” side of the reactive-proactive spectrum, your business can pursue the following proactive practices that will greatly reduce the risk of customer service wildfires:

• First, identify and close any gaps in your customer service processes. Although the business in our scenario above had a process to enter the customer’s order, its processes did not include confirming the accuracy of the customer’s order, which represents a gap that needs to be closed. It’s important to emphasize that each gap, no matter how small, must be sealed: just as a “broken window” can trigger criminal activity, a small gap can spark a customer service wildfire.

• Second, promptly respond to all customer complaints. Tim Sanders, former chief solutions officer at Yahoo!, advocates the Two-Minute Rule, which requires a business to telephone — not email — a customer within two minutes of receiving the customer’s complaint. Indeed, the Two-Minute Rule should be expressly embedded within your business’s customer services processes.

• Third, religiously follow through with customers. When a business promises to call a customer back by a given time, the business must honor its promise and actually follow through; promises are not “optional.” In our scenario above, regardless of who was supposed to have called the customer, someone neglected to follow through. If the corporate representative arranged to have another employee call the customer, the corporate representative should have called the customer near the end of the day to — at the very least — confirm that the customer had received the telephone call as promised. Unfortunately, because of the lack of follow through, the customer service fire — which up to that point had still been manageable — exploded into an uncontrollable customer service wildfire.

This week, toss on a hard hat, grab a flashlight, and gather some employees to help inspect your customer service processes for gaps, closing each one along the way. Remember: Only you can prevent customer service wildfires!

Have a “customerific” week!

Mark