What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 5 – Part 10 - The Question Every Organization Should Ask Instead of asking only: “Did the employee complete the transaction?” Businesses should also ask: “What story did the customer leave with?” Because that story matters. One employee may see a customer for two minutes. The customer may tell that story for two years. And in today's connected world, the customer may not be telling it to fi

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 5 – Part 9 - Customer Service Is Still a Service So, is customer service a service of the past? I hope not. But perhaps we need to remind ourselves what the word “service” actually requires. It requires more than completing a transaction. It requires recognizing that there is another human being on the other side of the counter, telephone, email, chat window, or computer screen. Customers s

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 4 – Part 8 - Service Recovery Matters My own experience also demonstrated something businesses sometimes overlook: a bad interaction does not necessarily have to remain a bad experience. The employee who ultimately helped me could not undo the first interaction. But she could influence what happened next. She listened. She apologized. She corrected the problem. She provided information. She

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 4 – Part 7 - Social Media Changed the Customer-Service Equation Customers have always talked. Technology simply gave those conversations a microphone. A customer with a negative experience can now reach an audience that would have been unimaginable during the era when complaints were primarily handled through telephone calls and comment cards. But businesses should not respond to this reali

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 3 – Part 6 - The Economics of a Two-Minute Interaction Consider what a company spends to attract one customer. Advertising. Marketing. Branding. Social media. Promotions. Loyalty programs. Mobile applications. Store design. Employee recruitment. Training. Technology. Companies invest significant resources convincing people to walk through their doors. Then a two-minute interaction can under

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 3 – Part 5 - One Employee Can Become the Face of an Entire Company This may be one of the greatest customer-service risks businesses underestimate. Customers generally do not separate an employee from the organization as neatly as the organization might. They don't necessarily leave saying: “I had an unfortunate interaction with Employee Number 14.” They say: “Let me tell you what happened

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 2 – Part 4 - Intent Does Not Always Determine Impact An employee may never intend to make someone feel unwelcome. They may be tired. They may be busy. They may be having a difficult day. Their communication style may be abrupt. They may not realize how their facial expressions, tone, words, or body language are being received. Those possibilities can help explain behavior. They do not erase

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? Day 2 - Part 3 - When a Customer Starts Wondering, “Was It Me?” There was another dimension to the experience that deserves a thoughtful conversation. I am an African American woman, and the dismissiveness of the original interaction left me wondering whether my race had anything to do with the way I was treated. Notice the wording carefully. I am not saying that I know race caused the treatmen

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company Day 1 - Part 2 - Then Another Employee Changed the Experience I went to the front, where another employee handled the situation entirely differently. He apologized. He replaced the cinnamon roll. He put the new one in a box. He explained how to warm it. He offered me a cookie for the inconvenience. The difference was striking because the underlying problem had not changed. The customer-service response had. One interactio

What Does Inconsistent Customer Service Cost a Company in the Age of Social Media? There was a time when a bad customer-service experience might have been shared with a spouse, a few coworkers, friends, or neighbors. Today, before a customer even reaches the parking lot, that experience can potentially be shared with hundreds or thousands of people. A Google review can be posted in minutes. A social-media post can be shared. A video can circulate. A community group can begin