Customer Service Stories « Dave Stelzl's Blog

Archive for the 'Customer Service Stories' Category

May

The Roof Top Experience

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: customer satisfaction, Customer Service, paragon construction, sales process

When I have a great sales experience I take note! How often does a sales person do a great job calling on you? We’re all selling, learning how to sell better, etc. But sometimes its fun to be sold to, just to see how others are doing as they do what we do…today was one of those days.

This morning, a rep from Paragon Construction came by to look at my roof…I have several companies coming by to review the project and deliver a quote, but he’s the first one in the process. It was a great experience – a few points on my experience are worth noting:

1. It turns out that Chris Nguyen is not only selling, but he is one of the owners. The thing that impressed me here was his passion for the business. He didn’t show up with his “President” title – in fact, he doesn’t have a title on his card. Only after he demonstrated a high level of expertise and customer care did I care who he was.

2. He took at call from his wife while here – this may seem unrelated, but his attitude towards his family was exceptional. That tells me he isn’t just putting on a show to make a good impression – there’s some character in there.

3. His approach was completely educational. No pressure to “act now” and no marketing manipulation tactics. He spent his time collecting relevant data, educating me on what matters most, and giving me some recommendations on what to do about it.

4. By the time he was done, we had become friends. My wife will tell you – I have a high degree of sales resistance. I don’t cozy up to the sales person who pushes a friendship to get the business.

5. At some point his passion for his business was evident. This wasn’t a sales gimmick, but rather a chance to share his vision with a potential customer. In this end, people buy into your passion and excitement long before they buy into your product. In a commodity business, which he is in, there are few points of differentiation. In my opinion, Chris provided them.

Feb

Customer Experience – the New United Airlines

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 4 Comments

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: airline, Customer Service, flights, travel, united, usairways

Coming from Charlotte, it’s rare that I fly anything other than USAirways (the only airline based here), but this week I had a chance to experience the new Continental/United airlines. Several things impressed me….and one disappointment.

First, the disappointment. Any airline that flies commuter jets on a three hour leg, really should consider changing the seats. Something about these older commuter airlines – I’m not sure who designs these seats, but there ought to be a requirement that the airline try them before buying them.

Now for the upside…United Airlines

They actually served a complementary hot meal!
More leg room, even in the cheap seats.
Having the Gold Star/Elite line (nothing new here) is better than the the USAirways line where everyone crowds into the same line regardless of their zone.
Flight attendants were helpful and friendly.
In flight entertainment – USAirways ripped all of their stuff out! (There is a charge for this, but at least it’s there)
A promise from their CEO to upgrade the seats.

I think companies under estimate the customer experience, especially those companies in the transportation business. When was the last time a train attendant made you feel welcome or treated you like they were honored to have your business. Buses, airlines, etc. This is simply a culture these companies have built – they have allowed the people working these customer facing jobs to see this as, just a job, and not an event. When you pay several hundred dollars for something that lasts a couple of hours, it should be a great experience! I should want the trip to last longer, and look forward to the next one. Why not?

Jan

Compressor Aftermath

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: adviser, call center, compressor repair, sears customer service, won't start

Two posts ago I was writing about some customer service issues I had with Sears. This topic deserves one more post to bring to it to closure! While out on my planning trip this past week, my son brought this compressor to a friend’s house. It turns out that a capacitor used to start the motor had a cracked housing. My friend was able to repair the housing without purchasing any additional parts, and I am back in business for 0$. That’s right, my 230 something dollar quote from sears was fixed by a friend without replacing to motor, and without replacing the capacitor (if you read the post, you recall that Sears simply left me a message saying “My motor had to be replaced for $235).

The problem here is simple; the technician is programmed to replace parts regardless of whether they actually need replacing, and when a part is no longer made with their brand on it, they are not programmed to advise…We are all in business to make money, but when a fix can be made with a $2 part from Radio Shak (or simply repaired with glue, etc.) the value the consultant brings is in their advice not to spend more money. Customer loyalty depends on the customer feeling like they can really trust the person advising, and when the advice is easily challenged and the fee reduced by orders of magnitude, somehow the customer is left feeling less than confident in the service they are receiving.

Whatever position you are in, study and equip yourself to give the best answers, even if it reduces the size of your initial sale. In the long run, it will pay off. What are the chances of me recommending you head to the Sears Services Center (as the customer sat. form reads 0 – 10…hmmm).

Jan

How Not to Handle Customer Service

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 1 Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: customer relationship management, Customer Service, quality, Sears

For some reason these customer service stories keep coming up, and while I am looking forward to writing about other things, this just stands out as important. I don’t think I am much different than your clients when it comes to customer service. I want to get a great deal, be treated well, and know the company I am working with is responsive to my needs. I’ve been waiting to write about this; just waiting for the final outcome.

I started over a month ago, in mid-November, working on getting my Craftsman compressor repaired. It would seem like a simple thing – a big tank full of air, with an electric motor. I sent it over the Sears repair center, with a $35 diagnostic fee that would be applied to the repair, which was pre-authorized for about $100. A week later I received a call with a $250 quote to replace the motor. Now, I had done some homework on this. I had actually taken this thing apart with my father, and tested the motor, and sure enough, it ran! After questioning the technician, he explained that it was actually related to a capacitor, a part that starts the motor, but is not longer in production. So, the fix is to swap out the entire motor with one that is available.

Not wanting to pay the $250, I picked up my compressor. Once home, a man in my church agreed to take a look at it and fix it, however we both felt it would be helpful to know what part was actually not working. I called Sears Repair center, hoping to get a five minute explanation. Three weeks later, I am still calling, talking to enthusiastic call center people, who are leaving messages for the technician; however, no return call. Christmas comes and goes, and finally I decided, this is great blog material. So the next step was to take this up the ladder. After several attempts, I was able to get the call center person to directly connect me to the manager – what a disappointment. After explaining my situation, he actually told me that “they are not obligated to answer my questions since I have already picked up my compressor!” Wow. Mind you, I have paid the non-refundable diagnostic fee, and if I can’t figure out how to repair it, at some point I would be coming back to Sears. You would think they would value my business.

After I hung up, I decided to go another route. Sears has a department at headquarters called the Blue Ribbon Team. Supposedly this executive office team is dedicated to getting satisfaction. After speaking with David, an official member of the Blue Ribbon Team, he assured me he would figure this out and get back to me by Friday. Friday came and went, so the following week I was forced to make a second call to the infamous Blue Ribbon Team. This time I was connected to Picole, who sits right down the line from David. David wasn’t in, but after hearing my story, Picole assured me he would track down David and call me back with an update by the close of business that day. Well, as expected, five o’clock came and went.

This morning I had it on my list to call Sears, something that has become part of my daily routine, but before I could get to it, the technician actually called me. I sensed that he did not really want to talk to me, as he repeatedly reminded me that he had already spoken to me, but he did give me the details I needed.

The lesson here – The technician did end up having to call me, but look at how much time he wasted. He wasted weeks of my time, while also adding to my stress, and defaming his own brand. He also spent time avoiding my messages. You know it takes some time and mental capacity to get a daily message from someone, and not call them back. And, it greatly eroded my confidence in Sears to provide customer service! For most of my life I have thought of Craftsman as the right brand to buy when talking about automotive tools, mostly because of their reputation for life-time warranty. While electric power tools and compressors don’t carry that same warranty, I expected quality treatment. Don’t let this happen with your customer issues!

Jan

More Negotiation Practice

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories and Negotiating
Tags: Customer Service, esculate, negotiation, sales training, Time warner cable

I’ve written numerous posts on negotiating, and as I continue to study this area, it gets better all the time. Over and over I have encouraged people to practice! Use every customer satisfaction issue as an opportunity to work through difficult situations! Become an expert at staying cool, controlling the situation, and methodically moving through the process.

Yesterday I experienced another victory – I received a call several weeks ago from a telemarketer asking me to switch from Windstream to Time Warner Cable for phone and Internet. The cost was about half of what I was paying (I think I actually wrote about this sale a few weeks ago – the agent did a great job selling me), so I bought it! Well this was the week to cut over. I am now running my office on digital cable phone for half the price…however, vmail was not included. The sales agent assured me it was, but alas it is not.

So yesterday I decided to see how high I would need to go to have free vmail. I started with the call center who predictably could not give me free vmail. Agreeing that this would be impossible, I asked to speak to the supervisor – Wyatt soon joined me, and we reviewed the situation. He was sure is could not be done, so I simply restated, “You are not able to do this”. He agreed, and I asked for his manager John. John was very helpful, however he was not able to do it either. However, John truly did want to help me, and began reviewing some options. Finally he came back and asked me to visit the local store. Well, who has time to drive to a store in the middle of a work week? So I asked for the store phone number instead, which he gave me. From there I called the store, asking for the supervisor.

The person who answered the phone insisted on helping me before getting a supervisor involved, however, he also could not help me once I explained my dilemma. Finally, I was escalated to the store manager Brett. Within a few minutes Brett was checking to see what he might offer me. I recommended a half year of free vmail, to which he agreed, and then proceeded to add it. Perhaps I could have pushed for more, but I was happy with the response. Time Warner Gets an A+ for customer service on this one (although I would recommend empowering some power down the line to shorten this up a bit). Once again, it pays to work through the process rather than getting upset or giving up. Give it a try.

Dec

Customer Service: Don’t Make Your Customers Threaten to Leave Before Acting

By Dave Stelzl's Blog 3 Comments

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: angry customers, customer satisfaction, Customer Service

When the customer says, “Can we resolve this”, don’t say “No” before checking into it! Imagine how silly the American Express Customer Service Rep looked on a call with my daughter this morning. Last year my daughter and I approved a small purchase of a planner – not realizing that American Express was signing us up for a lifetime subscription. After receiving a new planner in the mail this year, our statement showed up with a $40+ charge! Wow – the price suddenly went way up. I guess they assumed we would just let it go.

Of course we called to return it, but they the rep said “No, we can’t take it back”. My wife overheard this and immediately jumped on the call – “So you’d rather me cancel the card and keep the planner?” she asked…”Well, well….blah blah blah, no…” She said. Within two or three minutes we not only had a credit, but they told us to keep the planner (suddenly it’s free). So they were right, they can’t take it back, however the credit was there, we just had to ask. American Express gets one star for customer service on this one. Make sure your customers are happy they are doing business with you, and when something happens that causes a customer satisfaction problem, don’t make the customer threaten to leave before responding.

Nov

Customer Service Requires Some Attention to Detail

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories
Tags: Customer Service, David Stelzl, las vegas, speaker, technology conference

Luckily I review my hotel bills – but imagine my surprise when my credit card was hit with over $200 for drinking a bottle of Fiji water at the Aria in Las Vegas. They were of course happy to refund the money, but no customer wants to pay the bill, then wait for the credit, and in the mean time have to take the time to look up the hotel bill, call the hotel, wait on hold, and explain the problem in the midst of a thousand other pressing demands on their day! Paying attention to details frees up your customer to concentrate on the work they care about…

Jun

Practicing Negotiating Part II: David Stelzl Demonstrates How to Lose

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories and Negotiating
Tags: call center, Customer Service, David Stelzl, marketing consulting, negotiating, sales speaker, sales training, technology motivational speaker

A few weeks ago I wrote about my vaporizer and how we climbed the ladder to win the free replacement…it was exhilarating and yes, I did get many positive comments on the post! Today let’s look at how to lose…and learn from it.

Last night I nearly had a heart attack when I realized that I had booked my flights to CA using a PM flight rather than the AM flight I was hoping to take. Here I am just a few days from leaving and I discover that weeks ago I made this mistake, and I am taking my wife who is flying on points. What are the chances they have a point seat open and will move me without charging me? Zero. But, we can always negotiate, so I called customer service.

The call started out much better than I had expected. The person serving me was actually willing to change the tickets for free, but only if a point seat were available. Of course, there were none. At this point I new I had to negotiate. There must be a way to override the policy – there always is; however, knowing this poisoned my approach. I learned at this point in the conversation that I was already speaking with the shift supervisor, and she was informing me not only that she could not do it, but that is was impossible.

Now, you and I both know, nothing like this is actually impossible. Certainly the CEO could make this change, and probably someone who reports to him, and likely someone reporting to them – how far down can we go with this (pretty far)? So instead of escalating as I’ve encouraged in past calls, I simply asked her how high up would we need to go to get this changed. Instead of agreeing with her (agreeing that she has no power to make this change), and sympathizing with her, I in a sense, challenged her. She sort of laughed at this point, but I didn’t take the hint, as she insisted that it was in fact, impossible. At this point, feeling proud about my position (another mistake in negotiating), I politely pointed out that I had had a similar situation a year ago and proceeded to boast that I had actually had this type of thing resolved once before when no point-seats were open, therefore it can be done. Big mistake.

She’s not on commission, and she also knows that I don’t really have a choice because there is only one carrier based in my city and there is no way I am flying by connection every week. So at this point she gets sarcastic with me. This is terrible customer service behavior, but I’ve asked for it. I realized I had lost and said goodbye in the friendliest voice I could muster.

THE REST OF THE STORY…part of the problem is, I knew I had a way to escalate outside the system, but I should not have had to play this card. My wife was able to make a call to a senior executive and get this resolved in minutes. She made a call to a friend, who contacted her husband, who then graciously made the change, no questions asked, reinforcing my original belief, that there really is a way; its just a matter of finding that person. What did I learn here?

1. Pride leads to a fall. No matter how confident you are that you’ll win (and you just about always can), you can’t show it. People react to pride, and it always leads to contention. Don’t do it. Meekness is the ability to restrain your power or irritation – this is the proper way to approach the negotiating table.

2. The person you are dealing with probably can’t change the policy, so it’s important to agree with them They also can’t escalate every call up to their manager or lead you to believe they can. If they did, they would get fired. So work with them and make them feel good about the work they are doing. Too many people yell at customer service people (which I did not do), and this never works, so get over it.

3. The servant wins here. The better you make the agent feel, the more likely they are to help you when you begin the escalation process. So help them help you. If they push back, continue to press forward with a genuinely positive attitude. If you have one in a hundred call center people on the phone, it is better to simply thank them and hang up, then call back – you’ll get another person who might be more willing to help. But don’t burn the bridge with any of these people as the word might spread.

4. No matter how hard they insist, “It can’t be done!” it just about always can. Be patient and work the system. Most of the time you don’t have an executive contact to call, so don’t blow your chances in the call center. I got lucky on this one. In fact it was my wife who won – I lost.

5. Finally, when you do win, don’t flaunt it. You have your reward. Express extreme gratefulness to the person who solves your problem, and if there is a way to get word to their management on what a great job they did, do it. Even if it’s an email back to that person that can be passed along. You never know what is going on with that person’s job, so help them as much as you can to be recognized for doing what no other person seemed to be able to to do.

6. An finally, as I am now doing, learn from your mistakes and don’t repeat them. In fact, learn from my mistake, and you’ll avoid the feeling of defeat.

May

Practicing Negotiating; Planning to Win

By Dave Stelzl's Blog Leave a Comment

Categories: Customer Service Stories and Negotiating
Tags: call center, Customer Service, education, negotiating, negotiation, sales, school, selling, Strategy, support, training, winning

How do you win – you need a strategy.

Yesterday I called customer service to have two warm-steam vaporizers replaced. This is the 3rd or 4th time these units have had to be replaced over the past seven years – but they are lifetime warranty. The problem is, they require a $25 dollar fee (each) to return them, plus it costs $10/each to ship them. I’ve never paid the $25 fee, however they put us to the test yesterday.

I use these opportunities to teach my children how to negotiate, so earlier this week I had one of my daughters place the call. They started asking all kinds of questions and insisting we were doing something wrong. She wasn’t getting anywhere. In the past, this group has been easy to deal with, but something has changed and it didn’t look like we were going to get our units replaced for free this time. So how did we win?

The key to winning with this type of call is understanding how to escalate the call. Getting angry never works – after all, they are not obligated to give me anything. The call center people really have nothing to lose, and certainly no liability. Gathering my kids around the speaker phone, I said, “Let’s see if we can win this one.”

I made the call, getting the tier one person on the phone. She insisted on going through a set of diagnostic questions, and in the end determined that we could in fact send them back, but the $25 dollar fee was firm. I asked her if she was able to wave that and she said, “No.” I understand that – her company has apparently not given her authority to take action, so I agreed with her and asked to speak with her direct supervisor.

Tom came on the line next. He was also hardened..not very friendly. His tact was to verify if this was actually a warranty issue. In his opinion it was not. I asked him if he could do it any way, and he said, “The Policy is…” and basically said, no. Again, I agreed with him, understanding that he is not authorized to change the policy, but perhaps he could forward me to his manager, which he did. I politely thanked him for his time.

Carlos was next. he was genuinely polite, and seemed eager to help. I explained my situation, which was well documented in his system. I explained that the shipping fee for this type of item was high, and that the $25/each fee was out of my reach. I asked if we could wave the fee. Without question, Carlos said, “No problem, that is what we are here for.” He is sending me a shipping label, sending me two new units, and will have my old units analyzed in order to report back why they are not working.

The outcome was predictable. I was able to make this call on the speaker phone in front of my kids as a demonstration because I knew we would win this. Staying calm, agreeing along the way once it is clear that the person I am dealing with is unable to make a change, and escalating each time, is the key. This is great practice for selling. Use these situations to practice dealing with difficult people and negotiations, and apply this to your selling efforts.