There’s one thing that everyone has in common: we’ve all been customers
We’ve all heard from friends and family about their experiences of being customers too. Tales of these experiences range from the nightmarish to the heroic. Everyone’s heard the stories: the Kafkaesque scenarios of getting lost in a bureaucratic maze, spending hours trying to reach a human voice, and the frustration of inefficient, repetitive systems. The horror…
Then there are the tales of the extraordinary. Ones of the customer service agent who goes above and beyond, performing grand gestures that seem to momentarily restore our faith in humanity. We can call this ‘the hero narrative’.
However, it’s time to ask ourselves; is the hero narrative really signs of success, or are they, in fact, emblematic of underlying failures?
The Double-Edged Sword of Customer Service Narratives
Let’s think back to ourselves as customers. When was it most important? When did we really feel like we needed something? When did we feel that we were, indeed, a customer? We’re not talking about standing in line at the shops or browsing items through a window, but about the moments that truly matter. Thinking about it this way, at the very core of customer service is a moment of vulnerability for the customer.
This is when a brand has the power to make a lasting impression. Exceptional service, delivered with empathy and efficiency, can bolster a customer’s sense of security and loyalty towards a brand. Conversely, a failure in service can have the opposite effect, potentially damaging a brand’s reputation irreparably. Again, you’ll have had experiences so bad that you’ve said to yourself, “I’ll never shop there again.”
Owen Davies, Business Development Manager at Gamma, agrees with this sentiment: “Brand rhetoric becomes brand reality. How customers view your business is 100% based on the customer service they receive. With so much choice available, a poor experience means they won’t return.”
As a business, you never want customers to feel that way. Reaching inside for your own bad experiences, you can innately know what you’d want your own customers to avoid. Contact centres, the frontline of customer interaction, are where the battle for customer loyalty is fought. It’s a high-stakes environment, not just for customers, but for the staff as well.
It’s important to remember that as much as customers are human beings who deserve a certain level of empathy and care, employees are the same. Contact centre agents often face their own set of challenges. They can feel trapped in inefficient systems, overwhelmed by repetitive requests, and burdened by the unrealistic expectation to be the ‘hero’ who goes the extra mile.
The Myth of the Customer Service ‘Knight’
You may think this strange, but saving the day shouldn’t be necessary in a well-run business. The ‘knight in shining armour’ narrative, where an agent goes to extraordinary lengths to resolve a customer issue, is a sign of a failure in the customer experience, not a success. Think about it from a relationship point of view. If a partner was constantly having to go to huge lengths to save the relationship, it wouldn’t be classed as healthy, would it? It would just be papering over the cracks of day-to-day failures to live up to their own promises.
It’s the same for businesses. These grand gestures often serve as apologies for not meeting the everyday, high expectations of customers. It’s time to move away from this hero narrative and focus on what constitutes consistently great service.
Consistency of experience is almost as important as individual experiences themselves, according to Owen: “Agents should deliver consistent experiences to all customers, not just as a one-off. It’s crucial that what you claim about your brand becomes the reality because that determines whether customers stay or go elsewhere.”
What’s an agent without agency? Empowering agents with true agency mean that everyday expectations become achievable. When customer experience (CX) alchemy is right, every interaction has a positive outcome. Every customer’s needs are met, and every agent feels empowered to perform, creating a self-sustaining cycle of excellent customer and agent experiences.
Agent experience is incredibly important to the customer experiences they can deliver. Owen chimes in: “The agent experience is crucial. If agents are stressed or can’t easily access the information they need, they can’t support your customers effectively. Hence, agent experience is as vital as customer experience.”
Embracing a ‘Story So Far’ Approach
Here’s some more food for thought – why do you maintain a healthy lifestyle? Because you don’t want health problems to arise, if you can avoid them. You take a proactive approach, mitigating risks by behaving responsibly with your lifestyle choices. Choosing salad over chips is one thing, but how does this translate to business?
Well, a proactive ‘story so far’ approach can revolutionise customer service. This means equipping agents with the knowledge and context they need even before the customer speaks. Such a system benefits everyone, as customers receive swift, drama-free solutions, and agents can provide help easily and consistently. The steps to a positive outcome have been taken before the fact rather than after it.
Owen shares his thoughts on the proactive approach: “Proactivity in customer support is essential. When a customer contacts us, they shouldn’t have to repeat information. Agents should have all relevant details at their fingertips, ready to resolve issues promptly, which improves the overall customer experience.”
The Challenge of Information Access
Excuse the cliché, but knowledge is power. This ancient truth applies to the realm of customer experience as much as anything else. It’s not just about having access to the right information, since one of the biggest hurdles in customer service is accessing the right information at the right time.
It’s not uncommon for agents to spend a significant portion of their time just searching for necessary details. This inefficiency can be addressed by integrating AI systems that can quickly surface relevant data, supporting a shift from linear customer journeys to a more holistic ‘story so far’ approach.
The Power of First-Time Resolution
This ‘story so far’ system enhances the chances of resolving issues at the first point of contact. Agents equipped with comprehensive data can understand the full context of a customer’s issue, increasing the likelihood of a frictionless resolution. This approach also fosters empathy, a critical asset in customer service, and helps avoid the frustration common in traditional, linear service models.
Empowering Agents: The Key to Consistent Service
It’s essential to evaluate how often your organisation relies on agents ‘going the extra mile’ to appease unhappy customers. Consider what information or processes could help agents solve problems more effectively the first time. Also, identify if there are FAQs or routine inquiries that could be handled without direct agent intervention, such as through self-service options.
The Future of Customer Service
The traditional narratives of customer service i.e. the nightmares and the heroic tales, are outdated and symptomatic of deeper, unhealthy issues that we would never accept in our personal lives. It’s time to embrace positive changes to our mindset, where every interaction is an opportunity to provide consistently excellent service.
By equipping agents with the right tools, information, and autonomy, they can shift to a ‘story so far’ approach, and leave the hero narrative behind. We can create a customer service experience where heroics are unnecessary, and satisfaction is the norm.
Here at Gamma, we’re always thinking about how we fit into the future of customer service for our customers and channel partners. Owen has some final thoughts to share: “Beyond bringing our technology, cloud and communications industry expertise, we take a customer-centric approach, and undertake this journey together to enable your success with a contact centre of the future.”
It’s time to write your own story, and wave goodbye to the hero narrative.