I will cite an example from my own personal experience. I have a grueling day on most of my weekday routine and I need to plan my day well ahead in advance from completing my responsibilities as a consultant and my household chore which mostly includes grocery shopping. Like most of us, most of my work is done through computers. I wake up early morning, get done with my morning ablutions, I have my breakfast and then I sit down to begin my work, which I plan in my head that it must be completed within a set time frame. These planning are important as I need to prioritize my work life from my personal life.
I had just purchased an internet connection from a well-known Wi-Fi service provider so that I didn’t face any problems in my work flow. After a matter of few minutes the internet connection started showing signs of distortion. Though not a tech savvy, I tried using my common sense to the maximum to resolve the problem. I referred to the booklet which is provided at the time of purchase. I followed the instructions provided in the booklet but to no avail. I began reading he section again but then I realized that I am running out of time so in order to get done with it, I preferred dialing the helpline number.
Not being able to complete the work according to set time and then the issue of network problem had already aroused the irritation level in me. Various doubts began haunting my mind, as I dial the helpline number, if at all doing this will be helpful. After the dialing is over which is generally acknowledged by a grand welcome through a music which is very loud most of the time, but sorry boss I don’t have time for this. Which is then followed by the IVR speech and then I need to hold my patience a little while longer before I can speak to a live agent. It is mostly seen that the procedures that is required to follow the IVR is tedious and out of 100 there is high chances that 60% of the customers have to redial in order to re-follow it again. Well, frankly I had to do the same which only increased my irritation level. Finally, when I successfully managed to reach the live agent, my irritation had reached to its maximum.
Now, customer service representatives need to take heed of this situation, the irritation level had maximized. From a normal mood to the mood of frustration, this is obvious to arise. I got hold of the representative who had managed to solve my problem at one go, which not only abated my irritation but also made me very happy. When I look back at that situation, the happiness was also due to the way the problem was handled tactfully. As a consumer that impressed me totally and I was in total awe of the company and their services. I wonder what would have happened, if things went the otherwise. What if the representative did not have the solution for it? What if the he did not have much knowledge about the product and he would have told me to wait? Would I have taken this attitude in the positive stride? No! Being a busy woman I don’t have the patience to deal with such trifles. All I would do is discard their services and opt for a new one. It is as simple as that. Many customers might have tolerance for imperfection but most of them don’t.
When a customer avails a service or purchases a product the only belief that he has in his head is that it maximizes his use without any complaints and that will perhaps be an optimum experience of a product. Just the other day a friend and I were having conversation of a well known online retail portal that sold almost next to everything, from books to gadgets, from clothes to accessories. This portal is a famous among the urban consumers, but most of the time the consumers are faced with problems regarding delivery, quality or broken packages. In order to deal with such situation these website portal hire Retail Call Center to deal with the woes of the customer. If the problems persist then it is apparent that the company won’t survive in the market for long.
My example is just one aspect when compared to thousands of customer that go through similar situations. It is rightly said that the experience of a consumer only counts after the product and service has been availed. If the companies are least bothered in the foray of serving customers after the purchases then the tenure of the company is short lived. However, that is not the case in today’s scenario, almost all the companies make provisions and invest in modules where the serve their customers in the best possible manner and a successful Customer Service representative will be the one who can put himself in the shoes of the customer and look through his perception. This consideration of looking through the perspective of the customer is what will define the stature of a company that provides customer services.