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We all have a nightmare customer service story these days, don’t we? I mean, it might not have been as bad as United Airlines or Delta , but something that just made you leave an encounter thinking, “What the….” Well, welcome to Customer Service 2017!
Are you shocked?
I have to admit I’m still stunned every time I hear about passengers being dragged off an airplane, listening to playbacks of a company representative yelling at a client about a service they screwed up, or companies arguing with clients about the faulty equipment they sold. In 2017, this is a huge reputational risk. Social media platforms are all too excited to gobble up the complaints and spit them out like great balls of fire.
How’d that happen anyway?
Back to Basics!
An enormous part of why customer service is failing companies is the slow death of brand messaging. There is a huge disconnect between a company’s brand commitment designed in faraway boardrooms or at annual retreats and then trickling these down into consumable lessons by the staff who must administer it. There is so much which goes into this at large, enterprise levels and the divide becomes great when the signal gets lost, unmeasured, or a general “I don’t give a damn” sets in.
How does this affect me as a financial advisor?
Plenty! Your clients are measuring your customer service skills and comparing it against other touchpoints throughout their day. So, you might win if you’re being compared to the man who has been dragged off the United flight, but what about the other experiences that day? The coffee purchase, the gas station, the grocery store checker, the department store where the client picked up new tennis shoes – – this is what your staff and you must be thinking about, but do you have messaging, training, and execution for your brand commitment?
Be a person of action – Start off by reading Joe Calloway’s book “Becoming a Category of One” . It profoundly changed my life and gave direct references and education on why people no longer segment their experiences. Understand your branding and processes in place in the company. If you don’t have this, talk with me so I can connect you. Don’t have clients walk away thinking their experience was just a mere ‘meh’ when it should be marvelous!