Call Centers

One of the reasons many e-commerce sites are closing their doors or suffering major layoffs is because so many of these firms work day and night to make sure a prospect or customer doesn't return.

Too many firms are relying on CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software to handle questions and inquires. Successful firms, like Lands' End, hire smart employees with soft skills and then teach the skills of customer service.

My personal experience with most e-commerce firms is they excel at hiring people who can't think, read, answer questions, make an empowered decision, or even use common sense.

One of the greatest weaknesses of extremely bright, nerdy and tech people is that they are not good at schmoozing with customers. They prefer no customer contact, avoid all customer contact, and are extremely rigid in their thinking.

Some organizations think that since they don't talk to customers, customer service skills are not important.

When you send an e-mail or a written note with specific questions and a telephone number, you'll find that most of the time your questions will not be answered.

Many e-commerce firms believe they are in the technology business. Many airlines think they are in the transportation business. These and many manufacturing, retail, hotel, government organizations need to realize they are in the service business.

To create a service culture, you need management at all levels to walk-the-talk. All employees need to be trained on the art of service with new materials at least every six months.

The leading service providers are spending at least 40 hours in training per employee. The majority of this training focuses on customer service skills and attitudes. It is ridiculous to think that employees and supervisors will be superior at service just because you told them once. It's important to master customer service just like you would golf or skiing. The more lessons you receive, the more you practice, the better you become. Tiger Woods didn't become the best golfer in the world by taking one lesson or practicing once. If you want the best customer service driven employees in the world, you'll need to invest every year in them.

Tiger Woods spends most of his time and lessons on mastering the basics. Maybe all of us should spend our time mastering the basics of service in order to be a Tiger Woods.


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John Tschohl is president of Service Quality Institute, speaks all over the world, and is author of four best-selling books & a leading authority on customer service. "Time" refers to him as a "customer service guru." Contact John at www.customer-service.