An argument against firefighting

The third “P” of the three core values for customer service organizations is Proactive Resolution. Seems obvious. That’s what we do in customer service — fix problems and resolve issues quickly and in a way that satisfies the customers most of the time. Customers expect to talk with a knowledgeable agent who can resolve their issue on the spot.

But, too often an agent who is fully empowered and probably knows what they need to do to resolve a customer issue ends up transferring the call to their supervisor.

For illustration purposes, let’s call a customer’s problem in need of a solution a “monkey.” Picture a rep who has a customer on the phone with a situation out of the ordinary that requires some creative problem-solving. Her supervisor who is in reactive, firefighting mode and feeling rushed does the most expedient thing which is to take the monkey (the customers’ problem) from the rep and handles it.

However, had the supervisor been less reactive and more intentional in their approach, he would have realized that the rep had a solution in mind and all she needed was a dash of encouragement to handle it on her own.

Now picture that same firefighting supervisor who at the end of his day has so many biting, screeching, starving monkeys around his neck he can hardly walk. Exhausted, he staggers to his office and opens the door only to find hundreds of dirty, nasty, screaming monkeys demanding to be fed.

If this scenario isn’t a vivid enough reason for supervisors to make the shift from ineffective firefighting to using a more intentional, proactive approach, consider the business reasons: fewer escalated calls, better customer satisfaction scores, higher first call resolution, and happier employees.

Oh yes, there’s another benefit — think of the money you’ll save by not having to buy all those bananas.

Happy Holidays! All the best to you and yours.
Look for the next Monday Aha! on Monday January 3, 2011.

Barbara Burke

2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.
www.barbaraburke.com

>  Missed the first 2 core values? Click on the links to read the last two Monday Aha!s featuring Personal Responsibility and Positive Regard <

We were horrified by what we heard.

The first escalated call the supervisors, team leaders and I listened to as part of the role playing exercise was an obviously distressed, elderly woman pleading with the rep to stop sending her utility bills in the name of her long-deceased husband. Instead of apologizing for the error and offering the poor woman her condolences, the rep proceeded to explain in clinical detail the company’s deceased-customer-account-transfer-to-surviving-spouse process and what must have gone wrong.

Next, we heard a call in which the rep transformed a mildly irritated customer into an irate one by blaming him for what was clearly the company’s mistake. The customer (spitting-mad at that point) demanded to speak to a supervisor and was put on hold for several minutes while the rep lied to her supervisor about the facts and called the man an “idiot” and a “moron.” We shook our heads in disbelief as we heard the supervisor commiserate with the rep about how incredibly stupid their customers are.

It was only until the supervisors and leads heard these calls that they realized how indispensable core values are for setting standards for behavior.

We suspended the agenda for the day and used the time to discuss practical ways these leaders could utilize the three core values, or “3 Ps” (Personal Responsibility, Positive Regard and Proactive Resolution) to guide their behavior and that of their teams.

Given what they just heard, it was no surprise that many of the items on thier “to do” list addressed the second “P,” Positive Regard. At the top of the list was a new rule, effective immediately: zero tolerance for badmouthing customers.

The next morning one of the leads couldn’t wait to tell us what happened when she returned to the call center after class and informed her team that from that moment on there would be no dissing and badmouthing of customers. She said she couldn’t believe how quickly the reps jumped on the idea. Not onlydid they treat their customers with greater respect, they didn’t hesitate to remind the reps who did their usual post-call rant to knock it off.

And then she smiled and said,  “It was as if every one was just waiting for somebody in management to finally say something.”

Be the Change.

Barbara Burke
2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.www.barbaraburke.com

Be the Change.

When I asked the customer care managers to tell me what they considered their biggest problem, they replied, “Our supervisors don’t take personal responsibility for outcomes.” Next, I met with the supervisors and posed the same question and got the same answer, “Our reps don’t take personal responsibility.” Then I conducted some focus groups with their reps in which I heard a chorus of “we are treated like children!”

And then there were the customers. I read verbatim comments about the reps from customer satisfaction surveys such as, “She didn’t seem to care.” “I just got the runaround.” “I had to repeat myself three times before she got my problem.” Translation: The rep didn’t take personal responsibility for solving my problem.

It was clear to me that this client didn’t have a supervisor training problem. They had a much deeper problem. They were operating in command and control culture that was risk-averse.

Somewhere along the way doing the right thing for the customer had fallen off their collective radar. While the leaders spouted phrases like “customer centricity,” “Wow! the customer” “exceed customer expectations” they didn’t walk the talk. As is true in many customer service organizations, what gets measured is what gets done. Success was
defined by making your numbers (average handle time, quality scores, occupancy, etc.).

As you can imagine, there was no quick fix for this client. It took a multi-pronged approach over several quarters lead by a VP who understood that what really mattered was training her managers and supervisors to replace the existing  “firefighting” style with a more “intentional” approach; the basis of which was living a set of three core values.

For the next three Monday’s I will share with you what I consider to be the three most important core values for customer service organizations, The 3 P’s: Personal Responsibility, Positive Regard, and Proactive Resolution. These values are at the heart of my “Intentional” approach to customer care — the antithesis to reactive firefighting.

This Week’s Leadership Challenge:

• Be authentic.
• Work on purpose.
• Begin with right intention.
• Focus on the person, and the numbers will follow.
• Do the right thing.
• Treat others as you would like to be treated.
• Remember that what you expect is what you get.

In other words, Be the Change.

Barbara Burke

2010 © Barbara Burke. All rights reserved.
www.barbaraburke.com