The Blatant Truth Weblog

Customer Service Cred: You Either Have It Or You Don’t

The devil is Dell Computer or so it seems after reading The Haggler column in today’s (9/12) New York Times. We’ve all been there with computer issues, deadlines looming, fear in one’s heart and a totally inept Customer Service rep on the other end of our phone.

I swear. I truly got chills when reading the article. Why can Zappos make it work and yet, according to the article, Dell cannot even take ownership of the situation and be properly contrite. Buying a Dell PC are you? Read the article.

And then there’s “A Ray of Sunshine in Every Bite” extolling the sheer unadulterated happiness that comes about when entering Blue Sky, a muffin shop in Park Slope, Brooklyn. The muffins sound sublime, the ambiance even more so and I have already bookmarked the store for when I am in that ‘hood.

There you have it. Dell or Blue Sky. Which sounds more like your business in terms of pure satisfaction on the part of customers?

We all hear a lot of sound bites about the importance of good customer service. What type of CS do you provide? All of us should have a good idea of what our customers think about our product AND our service.

A good way to uncover the truth: a Voice of Customer survey to learn what you are doing well and what you need to improve. Can you afford to not be interested?

PS. Dell, I AM available to discuss a Customer Service skills training program to coordinate with what you are doing in-house (and that is clearly not working as well as it should!)