An Opportunity to Walk in the Customer Support Center’s Shoes

The Customer Experience

There is no doubt that customer service is a great differentiator. This is especially true in a world where a customer, depending on what they need, has many choices of businesses to choose from, all selling similar, if not exactly the same, products and services.

Okay, that’s most likely nothing new to you.  And if you’ve been following my work, you know that I’m a fan of every employee being a part of customer service, not just the customer service department or others on the front line.  Some companies take this to a higher level than others.

Here’s an interesting story to make the point.  Olark is, today, a live chat software company. Olark was founded in 2009. The very first project started by the founders, in 1998, was a web hosting company. This evolved into what Olark is today. The founders immediately recognized that delivering great service would differentiate them from their competition.  The four guys who started the company realized that one person couldn’t handle all of the customer service calls. Consequently, they decided to share the responsibility evenly between them. As the company became more successful and added employees, they continued to split the customer service function between all employees.  They actually named this practice All Hands Support.  Customer service was part of their culture.

This idea is brilliant, as everyone employed at Olark learns just how important customer service is at many levels.  They learn about customers, they hear about all of the different issues and problems, and they have an opportunity to see how their responsibilities can impact the customer experience.

Years ago, I wrote about Anheuser-Busch executives would take one day out of each quarter to spend with a sales rep in the field.  This gave them a better understanding of their customers.  Undercover Boss, the popular TV show, demonstrates just how important it is for higher level executives to experience what happens in the field and on the front line. In many cases, the boss finds it to be an eye-opening experience.

But that’s just for the company’s leadership. However, how do you think your employees would react in such a scenario? Why can’t everyone, like the employees at Olark, experience what it’s like on the front line, dealing directly with customers? What kind of reaction do you anticipate your employees would exhibit upon firsthand discovery of the interactions between your customers and your products or customer service?

Imagine the guy who boxes up the product on the phone with a customer who received a product that was missing parts.  Or someone from the accounts receivable department on the phone with a customer who has been overcharged.  If even for just a few hours every few months, consider giving all employees an opportunity to walk in the customer support center’s shoes.  It could only help everyone understand just how important their roles and responsibilities are to the customer experience.

Shep Hyken is a customer service/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep’s customer service and customer experience keynote speeches and his customer service training workshops at www.Hyken.com. Connect with Shep on LinkedIn.

(Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken)