The Return of Customer Service?

Bad Customer Service is one of my hot buttons and what I feel is an undervalued area for many consumer and B2B tech company CEOs. As a result, it’s not considered a “core” area of the business and receives far too little attention from senior management.

I’ve said in the past that not only is it important to have good customer service so that your customers and prospects won’t flee in droves, but that it can also be used as a strategic competitive advantage. This is true for nearly every company, whether B2C or B2B.

In past articles, I’ve been critical of some tech company management teams for their approach to customer service: see my articles entitled “The End of Customer Service” and “A Case Study in Bad Customer Service.”

I’m always looking for the bright side on this topic. I’ve had a couple of experiences recently that led me to believe that more companies may be giving customer service greater attention–and maybe even thinking about it as a competitive weapon instead of a cost center.

Change in tone and substance at DirecTV customer service

In “A Case Study in Bad Customer Service,” I was pretty hard on DirecTV. I was a customer for over 20 years, and any relationship that lasts that long will have its ups and downs. But I was truly ready to leave when I wrote that article. The only thing that slowed me down was some unique programming. Attention CEOs and Marketing Managers, here’s another important customer retention tool. So at the time, I just couldn’t get elsewhere. But I was so frustrated and angry with the company’s policies toward longtime customers that I would have left soon.

However, soon after I wrote the previous article, they were trying hard to improve their customer service policies. When I called for service and support, the first thing that happened was that the rep acknowledged how long I’ve been a customer and thanked me for it. It’s a little thing, but it sets the right tone. In many cases, I felt that being a long-time customer made a difference in how I was treated. And you know what–it should! Of course, all customers should be treated as well as possible. However, it’s important to remember it’s far less expensive to retain a current customer than to acquire a new one. Maybe more importantly, long-term customers are far more valuable than the simple cash flow they generate. They serve as key influencers (positive OR negative) and even champions in the marketplace. Maybe even write articles like me.

How leadership from the top impacts customer satisfaction

I also ordered additional service from DirecTV and was misquoted on the cost. It wasn’t a lot of money, and I wasn’t really upset. But I was immediately transferred to a remediation department where the rep went far out of his way to ensure I was happy, including deep discounts and some free stuff. At the risk of sounding like a price whore, it did make me happy!

A couple of months later, I ran into problems with a receiver. And then the replacement receiver. After a slow start, I was put into what DirecTV calls “Case Management,” reserved for special cases or intractable problems. My issues were treated with great urgency and quickly resolved, including onsite visits from their top technicians.

Much better, but far from perfect service and support

It wasn’t all sugar plums and lollipops. While overall the training of the customer service reps improved dramatically, customer experience was still spotty. Satisfaction depended on who answered when you called. For example, I called about a problem with a remote control. The on/off buttons had stopped working. The rep informed me that there wasn’t anything he could do for me since “most of the buttons were working”. He also stated that their receivers were now so advanced that they didn’t need to be turned off anymore. I found this VERY unsatisfying. So on the other side of the ledger, there’s that.

But there was a very noticeable overall difference in DirecTV’s customer service operations. This comes from the top. This company was previously run using an Accountant’s approach to marketing. There was now someone in a position of power who understood marketing and the power of positive customer service. As a result, my attitude toward the company changed dramatically. I have since left DirecTV for a competitor, but the decision was driven by their very high prices, as well as programming that I could no longer get from them.

T-Mobile may be number 3–but it tries harder

Some of you might remember the advertisements by Avis, long-time runner-up to market leader Hertz in the rental car market: “When you’re only #2, you try harder.” It was the underdog approach and one of the classic advertising campaigns of all time. My mobile phone service provider, T-Mobile, was long a distant #3 in the US wireless market. Until they took on a similar underdog-style marketing message. Of course, great advertising is fine, but it’s not all that meaningful if it isn’t backed up by reality. In T-Mobile’s case, it appeared to me that they WERE trying harder.

I found their prices and program innovation to be market-leading among the major carriers. Among the big 3, they led the way in areas like no-contract service.  I’ve saved a lot of money with them over the years. Their wireless service has been generally solid, with one notable exception: service inside the house. This has been an occasional problem, but it has gotten worse lately. T-Mobile hadn’t had access to the type of spectrum that best penetrates walls.

An example of great customer service

When I called with this complaint, the customer service folks jumped into action to solve my problem. No denying they had a problem, or trying to blame it on something I was doing. Which you often get from customer service reps. They just stated they didn’t want to lose me as a customer (again, I’m a long-term customer of T-Mobile). They tested the service and decided to send a signal booster for the house–at no charge. This solution worked quite well at the time, winning my continued loyalty.

Recently, T-Mobile became majority owned by a European company, and unfortunately, their approach to business has changed. They broke some long-term promises on price, which has boosted their profitability. But it has also enraged many of their long-term customers. Because of this, I am now open to being poached by a competitor, after being a loyal T-Mobile customer for over 20 years. Even with outstanding customer service over the years, it doesn’t take much to undo customer goodwill. A cautionary tale to corporations considering boosting short-term profitability over long-term customer satisfaction.

Salesforce appears shortsighted in customer service

At the other end of great customer service is my experience with the B2B software company Salesforce.com. A truly great success story, they created the first truly successful SaaS-based software company. Sales rose rapidly, and the stock was a huge, long-term hit, trading at ridiculous valuations. But if my experience isn’t an anomaly, I wouldn’t buy this stock.

This is a company that lives up to its name. The entire employee base appeared to be one big sales force. I set up Salesforce.com for a startup software client of mine. I didn’t need to be sold. I’d already decided to use the product and was conducting an evaluation only to decide which version to buy. I told them so. I could have used someone technical to answer my questions about setting up and using the product.

Too much focus on sales, too little customer service and support

What I got instead was a constant stream of salespeople contacting me in an attempt to close and/or upsell me. 3 or 4 handoffs to different types of “account managers” just during the initial evaluation period. All starting over with me each time. All of them were proactive and persistent in contacting me. But none with the product knowledge to answer any of my questions. I’m a sales & marketing guy, so I have a high pain tolerance for this type of activity. But this was beyond excessive. And it continued from there. 6 months into a 1-year contract, we were handed off it a “renewal manager” to sell us on the next contract.

It’s what happened when we had a problem that I found particularly troubling. A colleague of mine, and a new user, inadvertently deleted some important data. It was about a week before I realized it. I promptly used the help links to discover that there should be a recycle bin that held any deleted data for two weeks. Since the clock was ticking, I opened an online support ticket and also called their help desk. You’re not encouraged to use the help line unless you’ve purchased “Premium Support”. However, this is already an expensive product simply to access what are pretty basic CRM functions. To get anything very advanced, you had to pay through the nose. Yet they wanted to provide support only via the Internet. As if it were some free online consumer application.

Ignoring a critical customer issue is unforgivable

After being on hold, I finally got someone who isn’t a support person and was told their support time is 2 days. Even with the issue being raised to a priority level. Remember, this is our data I’m talking about! And the clock is ticking on our ability to retrieve it. When I finally did hear from someone 3 days later, what potential assistance did they offer? Another sales rep was pitching “Premium” data restoration at a minimum of $10,000.

I was flabbergasted and asked, “What about the recycle bin?” The answer was” Oh, just go to your homepage and access the recycle bin”. I responded: “But there is no button showing for the recycle bin on our homepage”. Remember, this was still within the two-week period in which our data should have been easily restored. The answer came back, “Sorry, your data is gone,” and that was the end of the communication from their end. Even though I wrote back several times.

So here’s a high-flying company that has 30 sales reps for every support rep and a hyper-sales culture. It reminded me of the old days when Novell was shipping bricks to their distributors at the end of fiscal quarters, so the sales force could make their numbers and receive quarterly bonuses. This company also appears to be focused on meeting those public company-critical quarterly sales goals. At the expense of taking care of the customer. They had serious momentum, and this tactic will work for a while. But in the long run, taking care of the customer is what grows your business. While the company is still doing ok, their momentum has slowed in recent years.

 A trend or isolated experience?

So my latest snapshot on customer service performance in the tech market is still a mixed bag. I do think the arrow appears to be trending up. Some very big players have realized that in the long run, how you treat your customers will define your brand. Not everyone, for sure, but some significant companies. Brand is the only true long-term differentiator. Of course, my experiences represent a small and narrow sample.

What have been your experiences lately, good and bad, in the customer service area? Leave a comment below so we can expand our collective experience.

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