For small or minor problem they may just simply call or create a service ticket for you to look into and if you are able to get back to them and let them know that you are looking into the issue, generally they will be fine and would wait for the resolution.  The trick to this, and the most important, is to let them know that you are looking into finding a solution for them.  And don’t take too long to resolve because this will make them lose faith in your product.

For bigger problems, the customers will generally not be happy and would demand a resolution immediately.  In this case, the best thing to do is to let them know that you are on their side and empathize with them. One of the important thing to avoid is to be defensive and try to push the responsibilities to the customers.

Recently I had a very bad experience with a Travel Agent which I used to book my air ticket and lodging in Taipei.  It is one of the biggest Travel Agent in Singapore, having been around for at least 43 years and claiming that they take pride in satisfying customer expectation, I certainly doubt that after the experience that I have had. To cut the story short, the first thing the staff and the manager that handled my case when I went to them to complain about our lodging was to try to push the responsibilities and wrongs to me, the customer, and uses a reference website as proof of the rating of the hotel to justify their claims and charges, and claims that they are not aware and responsible for the condition of hotel. The whole event had made me even more upset and I left this Travel Agent very unhappy! I would definitely not go back for any other future bookings, and I would also advise my friends against going to them too. (For your information the agency happens to be Chan Brothers.)

See how damaging it is to your company, business or service reputation if you or one of your staff did not handle an unhappy customer properly.

Thus, when you are in the Service sector, be it in the company, in a department or facing the public, it is important that you let the customer knows that you are on his side and is trying your best to find a solution for them. Happy customers are what you need if you want your business to flourish.

Beyond Service – How Do You Handle Unhappy Customer is a post from: IANPEDIA

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Generally our service desk staffs have been doing their best to attend to all the service tickets that have been assigned to them. But there are times when the number of cases available are simply more than what they handle. There are also incidents where support other teams are required but the members of these teams may be too tied up to assist immediately. It is when such circumstances occur that the response time to resolve a simple problem takes longer than expected. This is when the requestor will become frustrated and feel that they have been neglected and their tasks completion have been delayed.

This is one of the contribution of customer not reply to the satisfaction survey upon job completion.

So how do we manage such situation? Simply, I feel that we have to let staff know that cross assistance is appreciated and that they will not be reprimanded for putting their hands into somebody else responsibilities and that their effort is also recognized.

The other thing is that we have to get back to the customer and let them know that their problem is being looked into. But let’s be reasonable, don’t take half a day to resolve a problem that need only 5mins to solve.

Beyond Service – Improving Service Level of Service Desk is a post from: IANPEDIA

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I click on the link that brings me to the survey and when the system finally brings me there, I was appalled at the way the survey was structured and the language used in the form.

It was too impersonal and anyone who open that suvey form would be less then enthusiatic to complete the questions.  Not that there are too many questions to answer, on the contrary there are too little – 3 to be exact and the impression that I get from the questions were that ‘Just tell me that I did well for the service’.  Oh, this is so unprofessional!

First of all, to take this issue 1 step back, the task completion email is so impersonal – it’s like telling me that – ‘Hey, I have completed your request (relundantly) and now you have to answer a survey for me!’  Whoever created and approved such email structure and survey questions ought to be sent for service training again!

Who would want to answer any survey that is so badly structured and unfriendly! And they would complain that no one want to complete their customer satisfaction surveys that we sent out after the completion of each service ticket and is affecting their service satisfaction KPI!  Did they ever take one step back and examine what they did to the survey emails and questions!

Oh, in case you are wondering, I was talking about what happened in my department.  We have a section in the department that answers to our internal customers problems and to guage the performance level of the service guys we have designed a survey system to get feedback from our customers.

Servicing internal customers is just as important, if not more, then servicing external customers but many a times the resources required to serve the internal customers are so stretched that many are left unhappy for having to too long to have their problem or request answered. This is not an uncommon sight in many companies.  How to manage this and yet keep the customers are not what I want to talk about here.

What I am trying to say here is that if we want to do a satisfaction survey after every service ticket has been closed, then we must know what is the real intent of such a survey and keep the survey short – technically it should not take one more than 1 min to complete. And the questions should revolve around checking the professionalism, the behaviour and knowledge of this person, and the overall experience of the customer.

On top of that, the wordings used in the email, the acknowledgement note and the survey questions should be personal and friendly, and address the person by his first name if possible.  All these are the less that one should do in designing a survey form so as to entice the customer to response.

One final word, the layout must also be ease to read and neat – give enough spacing between paragraph and demarcate the questions clearly.

Well, did I answer to that satisfaction survey for the ticket that I rose? Yes, I did but most relundantly and not without voicing my experience here

Beyond Service – Customer Satisfaction Survey is a post from: IANPEDIA

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What really is customer satisfaction survey and what should be the real purpose?  And what if my users do not want to answer those survey and what does this mean?

I have been pondering these questions for a while now and my current interpretation of customer satisfaction surveys are these:

1.                  A mean to keep me on my toes?

When a job has been assigned to me it is natural to assume that I am the right person to work on the job and to help users resolve the problem that he is facing.  However, what if I do not have the necessary knowledge to do it and because of that I take longer than expected to complete the task or I make the situation worse?  And to make the situation worst, I am the only person around at the moment that can be deployed to look at the problem.

What would a customer satisfaction survey result implies in this situation?  That I am incompetent?  I am slow and not responsive?  That I lack the initiative to seek advice from other colleagues who may know how to resolve the problem?

All these will sound stressful when you want to think of such situation in such a negative manner.  On a brighter side, in such situation I would take it as a learning opportunity, so what if I take longer than expected to resolve this problem the first time, I will be able to do it better the next time I encounter the same problem.  I think in general most users are not unreasonable and they would understand if we explained to them that you are new to the problem and may take a tad longer to resolve their problem.  When encountering a problem most would find comfort when they know that someone is looking into their problem and that they are not neglected.

2.                  To find out how I performed in that task?

It is good to find out how my users think of my service after each job is being completed.  However, would I get to know what they think of my service?  It would definitely be great for my morale if I know what my users think of me, especially if I know that they are happy with my service.

So if the survey is done electronically and available to be online, I would definitely like to know how I performed in the eyes of my users at least once a month and maybe see their feedback, if any.

Now, knowing how my users think of me is good but if I have a raving review from my users, would my boss care?  I would definitely more encouragement if my boss would show me some form of appreciation too.

(Acknowledgment: Picture modified from www.careerkidztv.com)

Beyond Service – Why Survey is a post from: IANPEDIA

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Do we have to have a service level agreement with our users in order to proof that we are out there to help them in times of need?  Well, my answer is a ‘Yes’ and a ‘No’.  Yes because this will serve as a guideline for the service provider to follow and this is good for newcomer to the service team.  And in the case of a disagreement between users and the service provider this becomes an avenue of recourse.  This also serves as a guide for the management if there is enough staff to upkeep the service level.  Of course the cost for justification of increasing headcounts just to maintain the service level has always been management nightmare, especially in bad economic times.

I am not fully in favor of an agreement are because service is actually beyond service agreement and service ticket.  It would also add undue stress to the service staff if the agreement is not carefully crafted.

If there is an agreement between users and the service provider, then shouldn’t there be an agreement between the different supporting teams within the service providing department?  Many a times this is always neglected.  But really, is there a need to?

My personal opinion is that service must come naturally from within us, all of us are a service provider in one way or another, be it at work, at home or out in the public, with your colleagues, friends or relations.  Do we have a service agreement with them?

Service is also not about solving the problems that the customer is facing but also the time for relationship building.  Having a good relationship with the customer is also a kind of service level.  Having a good relationship between the customer and the service provider will also helps to get things done faster, and also less likely to kick up a fuss out of a molehill.

This is all well and good in an ideal situation but there are also instances where relationship building is almost close to impossible.  This is when the time spent with the customer is so short or the customer is in a mood that relationship building is out of the questions.  I suppose this is when an agreement and a service ticket will come in handy.  But generally how many of such cases will that be within a company?  Everyone are colleagues how many will want to put the other party in a difficult position?

In my years of experience, the importance of having a good and cordial, if not a close (not intimate, this is a definite no here and will only complicate matter) relationship between use and the service provider goes beyond that of a service agreement and service ticket.

Beyond Service and Agreement is a post from: IANPEDIA

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