So I am starting another series. Yes, I will have this one with another one on coaching and oh yeah I have another management idea I had this morning at 5:00 a.m. Yikes. For this one, I am partnering with a great group of people. There is an AT&T dealership I have been pretty blessed to work with. Wireless Logic, Inc. is in Wisconsin. They are growing and are being led by some pretty smart cookies. So I challenged their team to share their thoughts about a metric that is pretty important to them (and AT&T)…Willingness to Recommend. So it is about the customer experience. I love it and I asked the store managers to provide either experiences they have had or ones they have given. My first one has been shared by Jamison. For reference sake, please note his remarks are in italics and quotations. This is straight from the email so I won’t be worrying about grammar or punctuation. My remarks will come at the end with a bit of a call to action based on the message. So here we go…
“I had a customer come in that was excited to add a new line of service to her wireless account for her son, who was getting his first phone. As I was going through the activation process, we had a problem that we needed to get resolved. Apparently, there was an account from AT&T that had been opened for a home phone under that customer’s name. She had no recollection of ever opening a home phone account with AT&T.”
“I proceeded to call customer care in regards to this to ask a couple questions about this mysterious account. The customer care representative told me that they would be better off going to a corporately owned store in order to get this issue resolved. The customer wasn’t very happy at this point and was furious that AT&T had this collection out against her. I assured her that I was going to do my best to get this resolved. I talked to a manager from our billing department, and they said they would submit a ticket in regards to this and that the issue would be cleared up within 24-48 hours. I explained to the customer that we need an account specialist to look at this case, and assured her that after the 24-48 hours that this situation will be cleared up.”
“The customer came back 3 days later with her son to get the phone activated. When I called in to finish the activation, they said the ticket had been closed, but the balance outstanding bill was still there. I proceeded to explain to the customer that I was going to get this taken care of today. I advised her that it may take a while, but I will not stop making phone calls until this gets resolved. I asked her to complete any errands she had outside of the store, and that I would call her immediately after this was taken care of. After speaking with 6 different AT&T representatives and spending about 4 hours on the phone, I finally got the situation resolved and was able to add a new line to the customer’s account, and leave her with a great experience.“
“The home phone account was not opened by a wireless logic employee, but after she saw how hard I was willing to work to get this issue fixed, she told me that she is going to be returning to our store to purchase all of her phones. Taking ownership of a problem and going the extra mile in order to get any situation resolved shows the customers how much we value them. This was the first time the customer had ever purchased anything from our store, but it won’t be the last.”
Now, what do we take away? Normally, I would give a list of considerations. I have challenged myself to come away with just one thing. I want to make it simple and not overcomplicate the action. That does not mean you should limit what you take away from the experience. I am looking at my “aha” and the manner to amplify it in the future.
Action. People want to know that something is happening. Nothing is worse than a retailer who says sorry and that is it. In almost every situation like Jamison’s, the customer wants (needs) to know what happens next. Even if the news is that there is not an immediate or obvious answer, just a “I will get back to you in 24-48 hours.” In a way, you are expressing your acknowledgement to the customer, “you need an answer and I am going to get it some way for you. It may not be today, but I will stay on top of this.” That action in so many ways is not the best answer per se…it is sufficient to let the customer know you have their back. Jamison had his customer’s back and did not let go of the objective. Do you think that matters? Yep. The only caveat…if you say you will get back to them in 24-48 hours, you have to get back to them in 24-48 hours. Even if there is no news. That is key. And keep working the objective.
Jamison, well done. I am proud of you.
Cheers