Emotional Intelligence | Stevehein.com
Customer Service and Emotional Intelligence
* under construction
The other day I found a recording of a service call to Dell. Here are a couple different links to it.
http://www.spikedhumor.com/articles/59509/Dell_Support_Call.html
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/2006/10/dell-support-call.mp3
I can understand how this customer feels. I have called those kinds of lines myself. I even tape recorded some calls to Compaq because I was so unsatisfied with their service. It was very much like the customer said in this tape. I had to keep calling and talking to computers or different people who kept asking me the same thing when I had a simple question. Or they didn't believe me and treated me like I was stupid. I proved the technical support people wrong on several occasions so I felt very insulted when they implied I didn't know what I was talking about. I have also been known to swear at customer service phone support people, so I can empathize with this guy. The only thing I haven't done is say I would kick their ass, as this guy does!
Anyhow here are some suggestions for big companies.
When a customer is that angry and frustrated, bend the procedures a little. Don't ask him all the usual questions right up front. Instead, validate his feelings. Let him talk about his frustrating experiences until he feels heard and understood. Then you can move onto the administrative and technical stuff.
When they say something like "I just gave someone that information!", say something like, "Oh, you did?" And see if they want to talk some more. They might say something like "Yes, to three different people. Why can't you guys get your act together?"
Then you can say something apologetic and understanding like "Wow, I am really sorry. That is kind of a waste of time isn't it?" You might also say something like, "I am going to put in a suggestion to my manager that they pass that info along to me when I take a call from someone else."
If the customer starts complainging about all the administrative data the company wants you to collect, say something like: "Well let's see if we can quickly solve your problem, then if you don't mind I'd like you to help me file a complaint about the bad service, then we get all the other stuff like your name and phone number, if that is okay with you at that point."
In other words, some general guidelines are
- Agree with the customer.
- Show understanding.
- Validate his/her feelings
- Make some exceptions to the standard procedure. This helps the customer feel more important and unique. No one likes to be a victim of standard procedures.
In the Dell case, the tech could have said early on "Ok I am sorry this has been so frustrating for you. Normally I would have to ask you a lot of questions, but since you've spent so much time on this already let's just try something. Often you can just hold down the power button for ten seconds. Do you want to give that a try?".
Often you can just hold down the power button for ten seconds. Let's try that first.
- Give him some control of the process (like "if that is okay with you" and "Would it be okay if ..." "Do you want to give that a try?'
- Show them you take them seriously.
This is easier to do if you try to put yourself in their situation. If you try to force yourself to show understanding and empathy when you don't really feel it, an emotionally intelligent customer will sense this.
Customers want representatives who do more than follow procedures. They want someone who thinks and feels. In other words, they want a human, especially when they are already frustrated from talking to computers and automated attendants. How much did the customer feel understood between 0 and 10? Probably zero.
What I would suggest to Dell is they apologize to this customer and ask if he would be willing to accept a small consulting fee to help them improve their customer service. An irate customer like this would make an excellent consultant on how to improve things.
Or, at the very least, Dell could ask if he would accept a small gift certificate or something like that for his troubles.
Another idea would be to ask him if he would take time to voice his complaints to a customer complaints specialist, and put him directly through to one, or have him leave a voice recording of his complaints and then have someone call him back with in the next 2 hours or something.
Later...
...you said there was a problem with the batteries too?
Could have said "how many people have you talked to?"
He didn't see what was important to the customer.
Customer wanted someone to listen to his complaint, understand how he felt.
I did a search on "Dell customer service call" and found these articles which provide more evidence that treating customers in an emotionally intelligent way doesn't seem to be a priority at Dell.
--
Begin by turning off all the LEDs on your keyboard.
My keyboard doesn't have any LEDs.
You must turn off the LEDs on your keyboard.
My keyboard doesn't have any LEDs.
I can't help you if you don't turn off the LEDs.-- Excerpt from a Dell customer service call
If Dell CEO Kevin Rollins owns a copy of The Cluetrain Manifesto, he ought to beat his customer support managers roundly about the head with it. Because the Round Rock, TX company on Friday, in complete defiance of Cluetrain's famous "markets are conversations" pronouncement, shuttered the Customer Service boards on its Dell Community Forum, apparently to suppress the anti-Dell sentiments that were proliferating there. A hamhanded move, and one that demonstrates, yet again, Dell's continuing failure to recognize that business, at bottom, is fundamentally human. And though Dell's move will quiet, for a time at least, a few of the louder dissenting voices in the Dell Community Forum, it will do nothing to silence the company's more visible critics, among them Buzzmachine proprietor Jeff Jarvis, who's been pushed to the verge of an aneurysm these past few weeks by a ghastly failure of Dell customer support "I paid for both at-home service and complete care but have received neither," Jarvis wrote in a recent email to Michael George, chief marketing office and vice president for Dell's consumer business, posted to his blog. "Your at-home and complete care service is a fraud. Your customer service is appalling. Your product is dreadful. Your brand is mud."
Also...What The Fuck is with Dell Technical Support?!
http://jeremy.zawodny.com/blog/archives/006009.html
under construction