Guest Post By: Karnail Jita
I recently wrote about an example of excellent customer service. However, in another case, I had reason to call my mobile phone provider regarding a faulty phone that was still within the warranty period.
“Yes, I see from your call history that you’ve called us on this problem a couple of times and prior to that, no problems…it’s still not resolved? …ok, let me post you an envelope to return the phone to us, and I’ll email you confirmation of the job.”
Now, as a customer, that one conversation gives me reassurance that the company knows me because they have my call history, they can see my issue (their repairs system is connected to the CRM), and there’s no putting me on hold and transferring me to a separate team to arrange returning the phone. Is this a Universal Agent? They have a complete view of me regardless of what means I use to contact them, clearly their email system is integrated to their CRM.
Could my Telco provider have gone that extra bit further? Undoubtedly.
I’d called four times over a few days on the same issue. I suspect their management reports served management more than the customer, otherwise they would have noticed that I’d blown up their First Call Resolution figure. Perhaps unbeknown to them is the fact that they can capture in real time, instances such as when a customer has called more than twice within a short period and is therefore at risk of being very upset or, worse still, at risk of churn. By connecting that customer with, say, their billing history, you get a picture of how valuable that customer is to service and therefore whether to pass this key customer to Retentions to service immediately.
Having the capability to interrogate internal systems regarding Abandoned Calls and First Call Resolution are just two ways of going that extra bit further than the competition, leaving that extra positive impression on what is now a loyal and positive customer. Rather than wait a week for the next scheduled report run, and if you can do that in real time then all the better for retaining that customer.
