"The customer is not my problem." Who should deal with the dissatisfied customer in the organization?
To whom should concern about a dissatisfied customer reach? Is there anyone in the organization who can say: "the customer is not my problem"?
The answers to these questions tell us about the culture that exists in the organization regarding customer service, and the place that the customer occupies in the strategy of that company.
I have observed that there are two situations that occur commonly in organizations, in which the customer is excluded by some key players. Let's say: management vs. first line.
"The customer is not my problem" says management
This is the case in which management believes that it should only be concerned with directing employees within the organization, and controlling the results. Ensure the profitability of the company "from within"… of your office.
A few months ago it happened to me to have to escalate with a claim to the managerial level of the company. It was not easy to get this manager to attend to me, but I no longer had anyone to turn to, and my insistence won out.
His comments made me understand why the company served customers so poorly. At one point he told me “I shouldn't be doing this. I don't see clients, only numbers come to my office ”.
Of course, with a management disregarding the client and their problems, service management can hardly be successful. It is true that customer problems should not come to management. When this happens, it is because all previous instances have failed.
However, if this situation has arisen, the management cannot miss the opportunity to find out what is failing in the service, and to be able to solve those potholes. But you will achieve this goal only if you engage with that dissatisfied customer.
Therefore, a dissatisfied customer who has reached the management, it is the manager's problem, because it is an irrefutable sign of large potholes in the service, which must be repaired as soon as possible.
"The customer is not my problem" say operations employees
This other situation occurs when, despite the fact that senior management has understood that the customer is a priority for the company, it has not managed to get that message down to the end of the command line, to the operations employees, who directly provide customer service.
This situation can be just as damaging as the previous one, but it has the great advantage that it can be solved. When management ignores the client, it is very difficult to generate lasting change, because the decision must come from them. But if we have the commitment of the management, it is easier to solve the problems that exist on the front line.
An experience that illustrates this case: due to the non-compliance with the deadlines of a 24-hour mail service that I had requested, I have submitted the claim to the company's customer service. It took me a lot for the operator to understand that the company was at fault with me for that breach, and to finally agree to raise the claim.
However, once this stumbling block was overcome, the complaint reached the branch manager, who personally contacted me and offered me a solution.
Checking that management is committed to customer satisfaction is encouraging. However, there will be many customers who never find out, because the barrier presented by the first line expels them from the system.
These are employees who simply carry out their task, as if there were no clients involved, but only an impersonal result. “Let the customer service staff take care of the dissatisfied customer. I limit myself to fulfilling my tasks. "
This is extremely dangerous, because top management will never know what is happening on the front lines, and this ignorance will keep a possible solution away. The good news is that the solution exists, and management must push it to be effective.
So when a dissatisfied customer reaches the ears of management, it is a great opportunity to assess what is happening with the service. Ignoring these signs is not wanting to face reality.
In your organization, who says "the customer is not my problem"?
