Here are 3 customer service scenarios for a college IT department:
- A staff member calls in and says that they’re having trouble logging in. The employee responds: “I can reset your password for you.”
- A faculty member calls IT and says: “I need help showing a video during class next week; do you know Meredith?” The employee says “Oh, I know Meredith; let me get you in touch with Career Development where she works.”
- The employee asks the staff person from the other department “do you know what the status is on that work order?” The other individual responds “I’m trying to get to it as fast as I can; I’ll put a rush job on it for you.”
One reaction to these scenarios is that the person responding is being very proactive. They are jumping on the request and coming up with a quick solution or next step. Unfortunately, these are conversations where assumptions took place, and each assumption was wrong.
In the first case, the login difficulty had nothing to do with the password. In the second case, Meredith had worked with IT before and was suggesting that the faculty member contact IT for support. In the third example, they weren’t looking for a rush on the work order. They were seeking an update just to make sure it would be done when needed.
Many customer service people are so responsive and so willing to help that they can run to the next step to try to get the ball rolling and to resolve an issue. But if that’s done before clarifying and confirming what that real issue may be, they may be solving a problem that doesn’t exist. They may be taking action down one path without realizing they’re going in the wrong direction.
These are examples we saw at a University client years ago, and these are examples that we see in mystery shopping that we conduct for clients today.
Be proactive. Be responsive. Take action on behalf of the customer. However, first make sure that you clearly understand what they’re seeking before you take that action.
Don’t assume the answer and waste your time and the customer’s time as well.
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The customer was throwing an absolute fit in the lobby. Sitting among several other customers waiting for her number to be called, she was raising her voice and letting out the occasional expletive about the lengthy wait time. An employee sitting behind the counter thought to herself: I’m going to ignore her and not make eye contact and hope somebody else deals with her.
Steven was trying to make the purchase of his new used car official, so he could get license tags for his State. In order for the State to allow him to put the vehicle in his name, he had to submit paperwork to prove that the prior owner (from another State) had passed away since the owner’s children were selling the car. Steven put together 13 pages of documents including a copy of the death certificate, and he sent them off to the State.
