- Customer service is a process operating
within a larger process that's the organization.
Let's take a look at what that means
and what it tells us about where
and how to make improvements.
Customer service involves many variables,
including employees, systems, policies,
customers, and others.
And there's a whole layer of variables within each.
For customers, for example, there's channel preference.
Do they want to call or use self-service?
There's their knowledge and experience
using our services in the past.
There's communication ability.
Their expectations, even their mood is a factor.
Broadly speaking, customer service is part
of the organization and expansive process.
More specifically, each customer interaction is a process.
In fact, any one part of an interaction,
say something simple like entering data, it's a process.
It involves a data system, a person, and an approach.
Now, consider any aspect of service you want to improve.
Let's say handling service issues correctly the first time,
so there's no unnecessary additional work.
Each of these variables will have an impact.
They're all interrelated,
and that highlights a principle
at the heart of the quality movement.
There's little use exhorting the employees
to improve quality without making improvements
to the processes they're a part of.
I once worked with a technical support center
that had wildly different handling times to resolve issues.
Many reps had an average ranging from eight to 12 minutes,
which is a pretty significant spread,
but one tech support rep had
a 22 minute average handling time.
Their VP of customer service rightfully questioned
is that efficient?
Is our service as consistent as it can be?
I wandered around and observed, and I noticed the rep
in question posted to his cubicle wall emails
from customers thanking him for the great service.
Now simply forcing a standard, let's say,
hey, keep average handling time to 12 minutes or less,
that would've caused any number of problems.
The rep might've become disgruntled and quit.
He might've stayed,
but with a demoralizing and debilitating belief
that the company really didn't care about good service.
The VP took an approach that turned out to be very wise,
and it encapsulates so well the importance
of tackling improvements with the process in mind.
She had several reps,
including the one with a particularly long handling time,
create a flowchart
of a typical customer support interaction.
She gathered them in a room with a large conference table
and gave them index cards and markers.
"Work together to write each step you go through on a card,
"and lay them out in order," she explained.
She returned a couple of hours later
to find the cards neatly laid out
from one end of the table to the other.
In some areas, there were branches of steps
that diverged from the main flow.
"So what'd you learn?" she asked.
One employee volunteered that he wasn't going through some
of the same verification steps as the others,
and he wondered whether, you know,
maybe that could lead to some errors.
The rep with the long handling time was walking customers
through features he felt could be valuable to them,
and they undoubtedly were.
But he admitted he was probably going beyond tech support
to provide training.
But maybe that's what they should all be doing?
It was a fair question.
As a team, they were now empowered
with the insight necessary to intelligently discuss
how far tech support should take things.
I returned a few months later
to find much more consistent services.
Handling times were in a tighter range.
10 to 12 minute averages were common,
including with the rep in question.
And employees were engaged as ever.
And customer satisfaction scores were as high as ever.
Some of their employees were involved
with cross-functional efforts to assist
with product development and customer training services.
It was a great success story.
Some leaders attempt to force change
by simply mandating standards.
That's a big mistake.
By better understanding processes,
your team will be equipped to make improvements
that are truly effective and sustainable.