Customer Service From Hell

Saying you are sorry -- is that enough for your customers?

I thought you might enjoy an entertaining, yet realistic customer service piece written by John R. Brandt posted on Industryweek.com. Brandt, formerly editor-in-chief of IndustryWeek, is CEO of the Manufacturing Performance Institute, a research and consulting firm. Here's an excerpt of his article -- thoughts on Sorry.

Sorry means never having to actually solve a customer's problem. The customer service reps (CSRs) may not have been able to find my luggage by staring into a computer screen in a cubicle in India (some 8,000 miles from Atlanta, where the bags were presumably stranded), but boy, could they apologize. It was clear that Hell had spent an enormous amount of time and money -- not on baggage recovery, but on training CSRs in how to deal with angry people without clean underwear; I have never in my life received so much useless (but polite!) empathy and understanding for my trouble, my frustration, my inconvenience.

Continue reading Brandt on Leadership -- Customer Service From Hell