I ordered an item that I needed in five days, and the company assured me I would have it in three days with the method I had chosen for shipping. I still wanted that extra cushion, because sometimes deliveries take longer. I kept the tracking number that was emailed to me just in case.
The item did not arrive in three days. On day five, I opened the email with the tracking number and saw that the item I had ordered had reached a warehouse forty minutes from me on day two. Yesterday, it was scanned as received in a warehouse eight miles from me. This morning it was placed on a truck at 6:07 a.m. for delivery today.
I periodically checked its status throughout the day, wanting to believe that it would be delivered today. I called at 8:45 p.m. and was put on hold for about 10 minutes. The representative told me that their company makes deliveries until 9:00 p.m., it was only 8:45 p.m., and I should call back at 9:00 p.m. if it was not delivered.
“It has been on the truck for about 15 hours with no delivery,” I said, “Do you really think that it will be delivered within the next 15 minutes?”
The representative replied, “Yes.”
I had very deep and serious doubts, but I really had no choice.
At 10:00 p.m., I checked to be sure the package was not left on the doorstep and then called the delivery company again. I also checked the delivery status again and saw that their records had been changed! There was no evidence that the package had ever been on a truck for delivery! A note said, “Emergency Conditions Beyond XXX’s Control.” I was outraged that the company's records had been changed to hide the fact that it was out for delivery and had not been delivered!
After I was put on hold for about 10 minutes, a woman finally answered and said it would be delivered tomorrow. I said, “That was what I was told yesterday and it was not delivered today. Furthermore, your records now do not indicate that it was scheduled for delivery today! I do not appreciate a company that changes its records to hide that it missed a delivery today.” She said nothing.
She then mentioned the Emergency situation. She said it was most likely the snow. I replied, “Today is the warmest day we have had in two weeks. I cannot see where snow would have been a problem.” I offered to drive to the warehouse and pick up the package. She said that was not possible, as the warehouse was closed, so I had to wait until the next day.
Neither of these representatives ever acknowledged my problem or my upset. My feelings toward the company would have been so much more positive if only one had said, “I am sorry that this package was not delivered today, and I can understand that you are upset. Let me see what we can do to make sure that it will get to you tomorrow.” Neither thanked me for my business or acknowledged that I relied on their company’s promises to my detriment. They both seemed indifferent and just kept referring back to their logged notes, which further angered me.
The next morning I saw that my package had been placed on a delivery truck at 1:05 a.m. for delivery that day. I called the company and was on hold for about seven minutes. A more compassionate woman answered and started with, “I am so sorry this has happened to you and I really mean it, and I am not just saying that, I really do.” Wow, what a difference! I felt she was genuinely sincere and cared. She said that she would look at the truck’s historic delivery records to see when it usually delivered in my area and asked me to hold a minute. It was a true minute! She said it would most likely be delivered between 2:05 p.m. and 7:04 p.m. What a breath of fresh air!
These were tools that the first two representatives could have used to give me information about my package, but they did not. They could have been more honest with me and said, “It is 8:45 p.m., and based on the truck’s historic delivery data, the chances are slim that it will be delivered tonight since the latest that truck usually delivers in your area is 7:04 p.m.” I would not have liked that response, but at least she would have been straight with me and the company would have retained more credibility and goodwill.
Maybe the representatives did not want to be honest with me. Maybe their evaluations are based on how long they are on the telephone with a customer, so the longer they spoke with me, the worse it was for them. Maybe they were not as experienced as the last woman and did not know about the truck’s historic delivery data. Maybe the company did not hire the right people or train and monitor them to be certain they were providing their customers with exceptional experiences.
Whatever the reason, it is not my problem. This is the company’s problem. As the customer, I can easily tell when a representative is indifferent. And that indifference is the reason that I and 68% of customers stop doing business with any company. Indifference is the slow strangler of customers’ loyalty.
Teach your service people how to be compassionate. Tell them that they really need to care enough about their customers and place themselves in the customers’ shoes. Reward them when they go the extra mile. Tell them to first apologize and really mean it. If they cannot do all the above and be absolutely delightful every day, then they should find another job.
Why? Because your company cannot afford to hire uncaring and uncompassionate representatives. Each indifferent person slowly strangles your customers’ loyalty, your value proposition, your competitive advantage, the extra hard work you and others have put into the company to make it successful, and ultimately your business’ profits.
Be willing to annually invest in upgrading your “humanware”. It may seem expensive, but the alternative is to have untrained people ineptly and clumsily handling your most valuable assets – your customers! Having untrained people is not a viable or wise choice in today’s market, yet most companies unconsciously make that choice every day.
As a country, we are so used to crappy customer service that it has become the acceptable norm. The alternative is so much smarter and easier. It creates happy and productive employees and happy customers with super-glued relationships to your company. In turn, these customers will reward you by buying more, staying longer, referring more of their friends, and giving you priceless word-of-mouth advertising. In the end, you will have higher and higher profits!
It is a choice. And for those companies that really get it, it is the only viable choice.