And So It Goes
Chapter 15
Something dawns on me today, around 12:00pm.
All that I believe about my fellow co-workers has come crashing down.
I have been under the now misguided illusion that all customer service representatives acted and performed about half as well as I did. I have the #2 customer satisfaction results and the #1 positive customer feedback in my call center. Editor's note: There are approximately 115 people that work with me in the call center. The positive feedback comes from the letters that customers that I have personally assisted write and send in to my direct supervisor. This is directly weighed against the amount of complaints that customers have placed against me. Current ratio (to my knowledge) is 50:1. 50 positive to 1 negative.
I found out that I was wrong.
It seems that I have been wrong a lot lately.
I was listening to so of my co-workers and realized that they all have a lot to learn. Note #2: People I am dating do not fall into this category. The reason that I am listening is because I am trying to become a trainer for the company that I work for and need to get the experience.
I don't say anything about the time it takes to get a customer off of the phone, even though the big shots would like that to be under 10 minutes for tech support. I don't even smash their abilities to use and navigate the billing system. My issue comes in with their ability to handle the customer. When all you have is your voice, no body language, no facial expressions, no "handshake," the only way for a person to identify with you is through your voice.
Now, I must note, without using many italicized inner thoughts, I am originally from the Northeastern part of the United States. In this very special part of the country, although I'm sure it's not the only one, people expect 3 things, even from the fast food industry. They want their product yesterday, they want excellent customer service, and they want you to do the above with a smile on your face. Failure to do the above combination usually results in some sort of a showdown between you and the customer, or, more preferably, between the customer and upper management.
While I was listening in on some of these calls today, the one thing that I think about is "How would I feel if I had this representative on the phone?"
My answers were almost always, "Ready for a showdown with upper management."
I was dismayed to find out that my co-workers don't know how to help a customer feel welcome. While I am on a call, I may not do everything that my company looks for, but the customer is ALWAYS grateful that I was the one who got the call. I make them feel welcomed and invited. I try to kill the silence while the billing system is catching up by making small talk and, in the event that I cannot fix their problem over the phone, I try to be as flexible with our scheduling as I can possibly be with four-hour appointment windows, advise them on what to expect when we get out there, and reassure them that I am not trying to "waste their time," even in the rare occurrence that this may be a repeat issue for them and the call will be their 2nd, 3rd, or 4th visit for a service issue in as many weeks.
I was also amazed at the fact that some of these people have been with our company for a while, in a department that generally has a high turnover rate, a while is longer than 6 months, and still have no clue that these are some of the things that you need to know about customer interaction.
There are 8 reps in all, and the four I listened to today didn't do much to ease either the customer's or my fear about dealing with the company tomorrow.
I hope it turns out better for tomorrow and that I am just overreacting. Maybe the reps were afraid because I was sitting right behind them. Maybe they were afraid because I am good at what I do, and as a peer, I can still relate to them without having the ability to do anything, but because I am close with the people in upper management.
I care not for the rationale of these four mal-employed customer service representatives. I wanted to take over on almost every single call, just to show them how a happy customer can be with them listening. They wanted me to take over because they don't really want to talk to the customers. It's just fucking horrible.
So with that comes the mature response to the reader.
While I have been in your shoes, "I am a customer too," from one of my previous posts, I apologize. Maybe I get the service reps talking when I call other businesses, because I want to have their attention and have them relax. I am sorry that I make it seem like the customer is the one causing the problem, but I must handle my calls differently from the the other reps. I may not have any stock in the company that I work for, but it is MY company. I share it with the people that I work with, and, up until today, I thought we were all working from the same playbook. Maybe it was the Buffalo Bills book from the Superbowl trips they made in the 90's.
I hate being proven wrong sometimes.
No rants about the government for today, but do us a favor, will you?
Go and check out this link for me.
This is a Republican proposal on its way through both houses right now and it is online due to the wonderful men and women of the ACLU.
Thank You Teri!
Please have Flash player 7 installed and turn your speakers up a little.
It's kind of freaky.
We have reached the end of another entry.
I would like to thank you as always for joining me here. Please won't you be, my neighbor?
Much Love.
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