Tuesday, April 12, 2011

When service becomes over zealous

Delivering that blow away client experience is what most businesses strive to do. We create processes that support this goal, train our teams on the concept, we create documents within departments that guarantee clients their money back if they feel we have got it wrong, train our teams on service delivery etc etc etc

However there are times when i feel that the whole concept of customer service has been done to death and in many ways become an unemotional process itself.

Let me give you an example of this:

I recently bought an investment property off the plan in Melbourne. I told the real estate agent that I was happy for them to organise the solicitors etc

I pay the deposit and a few days later I get a call from the solicitors looking after the exchange and they are sending me paper work to sign off on... Tick the box on customer service

Two days later I get a call from NAB bank saying they would like to talk to me about my loan to purchase the property. Firstly I had not given permission for my details to be provided to anyone re a loan and  secondly as I am not settling for two years I didn't really need a loan right now..... Scratch my head and go interesting 

A week later I start getting calls from connect now about contacting them urgently re a connection matter. I ignore it at first thinking they have made a mistake, the calls turn into text message 2-3times a day at which point I call them to be told the solicitors have given them my details re utility connections on a property I am yet to settle on that mind you has not even been constructed as yet....this time I go Customer service gone mad!!!

Here is what has happened, the solicitors have designed a process that they believe is what their clients need but have probably forgotten some basics:
They didn't really ask their clients what they want
They did not take into account every scenario and then build process
They did not actually walk through each process from their clients prospective as an audit to experience the service they are trying to deliver

Customer service is about the delivery of excellence to the clients standards not the biz.
It's about going above and beyond and the blow away experience.

But first you must undersstand your customer, what are their needs right now, then you fit your process and the service delivery around it.

And one size does not fit all. We( customers) are all different and we have different needs. Your challenge is to find out what it is and then deliver the "blow away experience" whether you are a biz or individual agent.

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