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Continuity Matters

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Recent experiences with various companies has really driven home how critical continuity of the message and actions is to provide basic acceptable levels of customer service.

Handoffs lead to Disconnects

In the past two weeks, interactions with four different companies (large and small) were all scarred at various points by because the transactions could not be completed without interacting with multiple individuals who were not in sync with each other.

The sad part is on the whole these experiences could have been totally satisfactory or even better had these unfortunate hand-offs not left a bad taste for something that overall was fine.

Coordinate and Confirm

The solution is simple. The principle should be a single point of contact for a customer to the greatest extent possible.

In cases where other expertise or skill focus is needed the transfer of the customer should always include all parties in the company (and the customer) to ensure a full understanding of what has incurred to date.

Just dropping the customers into someone else’s hands is a recipe for disaster.  Consistency in approach requires a “warm” handoff.

How We Doing

With longer service and support interactions, particularly those requiring some handoffs of the customer, pay attention to how things are going.

Confirm the customer is getting what they need at a minimum by asking them for feedback each time a transfer is made to someone else (always a warm transfer with everyone present at the beginning).

Avoid dumping the customer on someone else without confirming they are okay with bringing in additional support and be sure to consult internally beforehand to ensure continuity of message and avoid duplication.

Simple Approach Works Best

The suggestions made here can virtually always ensure success with every customer interaction.  Even if things don’t always proceed without glitches (shit happens) being sensitive to this and addressing issues collaboratively within your organization can make the overall experience for those you serve a positive one.

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Picking a Leader

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Democracies enable control over the organization or group to be driven by the majority of it’s members.  In most cases this occurs by creation of a governing body with representatives selected by a majority vote.

One of the key risks with this system lies with the ability of unqualified leaders to be selected.  The process for the members to select a candidate is often as much a popularity contest as it is a selection of the most capable and skilled representative.

Worshipped or Valued

The current president of the United States is a good example of inadequate leader selection.  Worshipped by many as a reality TV star and  his ability to speak the language of the uneducated Donald Trump has been instrumental in creating a very sick country.

While not to blame for a global pandemic the inadequate response and disastrous results currentl being experienced by Americans can be laid squarely on his doorstep.   For example, the pandemic will not be eliminated if we stop testing as he has publicly suggested.

Bad Example

Instead of promoting public safety through his own behaviour President Trump is in fact doing the opposite, behaving as if the covid 19 outbreak is not serious and acting as if our reactions our overblown.

As the number of cases and the death count mounts he continues to display a strong disregard of the need to stay safe by wearing a mask and limiting in person social contact.

In the face of his constituents mortality Trump encourages dangerous behaviours that only fan the flames of the epidemic and in the long run will crush their economy.

And yet, he is still a contender in the upcoming presidential election. In spite of his massive failures his worshippers continue their support. Wow.

 

 

 

Random thoughts – keeping you on your toes

Get it done sooner

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Getting something done soon simply means within a short time.  This is, of course, a subjective measure and arguably depending on your perspective could be minutes, hours, days, months, etc.

The term is relative and so if the task would normally take a century, the term soon could refer to getting it done in half a century.  That is earlier (or soon) relative to the normally expected time.

Sooner

The comparative adverb of soon is sooner.  While still a subjective measure there is an implied baseline.  In essence, the expectation is the task would be completed before the initially selected duration.

Logically though, with the term sooner there is a bit of a paradox because any moment of time before another moment of time is sooner so the soonest time does not exist because there is always a sooner time (considered on an absolute basis).

Getting it done earlier

Finishing an activity or achieving a goal before the accepted duration could be sooner but it is not necessarily faster.  Doing it sooner is about reduced duration.

It can be achieved by doing less work but still attaining the same outcomes.  That is working smarter not harder.   Getting it done sooner does raise the question as to why it was not scheduled soonest in the first place.

This is not a question I ask when dealing with bureaucracy.  There is really no point.  The culture in these situations is largely focused on process versus urgency.  (In many cases mindless process).