STEP 1: Case study

We began with a training needs analysis which identified:

• Exactly what customer care staff should do in replying to phone calls and letters of complaint
• Skills required
• A range of customer situations met regularly
• Individual differences in skill
• Examples of good practice developed by individuals which would be worth sharing
• Areas/ situations where a standard department approach would be advantageous
• That the customer care staff required very little training on the bank's procedures/ policies.

As a result of the training needs analysis, an appropriate workshop programme was developed. This was designed to provide customer care staff with an opportunity to consider in detail the behavioural aspects of dealing with customer complaints and problems. The aims of the workshop were defined as:

• Building on the already good skills level of the bank's customer care staff
• Concentrating on the behavioural (as opposed to the procedural or factual) aspects of the customers' calls (and letters)
• Assisting participants to view problems and complaints from a customer point of view
• Increasing the customer focus of the team
• Assisting the group to identify and develop standard/ shared approaches to customers who are very difficult on the telephone
• Providing an analysis method to help identify why individuals found certain calls difficult to handle
• Increasing staff skill in replying to customers' letters of complaint.

Quite specific behavioural objectives were also defined for the programme.

STEP 2: Stages of the customer transaction

In order to focus attention and develop similar approaches, I developed the following model:

Figure 1. The six stages of the model, with the personal and material aspects provide a framework within which staff can operate, analyse, respond and deal with customer problems and complaints.

ISO 9000 states that quality customer service is a combination of personal and material aspects. My model asked customer care staff to consider customer phone calls (or letters) from both a personal and a material viewpoint. The 'personal' aspects of the model have to do with the customer's needs, mood, expectations. The material aspects are focused on the complaint or problem and likely solutions. One could say the personal aspects deal with emotions, feelings and expectations while the material aspect deals with facts, limitations and possible solutions. The model also identifies six stages which customer care staff need to address.

STEP 3: Identify and recognise

The first hurdle for customer service staff is to recognise and identify all important factors in both the material and personal sides of the model. Table 1 shows what is required.

The detail of Table 1 had been identified over a period of time working with a variety of clients. In working with the bank, it was built up during discussion which reflected on actual examples both good and bad. We did not do so in this case, but with another client, we developed a pocket size version of the model. Supported by the content of Table 1 this pocket card was produced for continuing reinforcement and easy use by staff.

Table 1 

STEP 4: Required response

In my experience of many organisations, it is clear that many customer problems and complaints are exacerbated or escalated because staff deal only with material aspects and ignore the customer's feelings and emotions. In responding to the call, or replying to the letter, staff need to work as shown below in Table 2.

Table 2

Take Action

This action stage is crucial to the resolution of the problem or the complaint. Again, for customer satisfaction, it is important to ensure that both sides of the model are addressed. Table 3 shows what is required.

Table 3

STEP 5: Negotiate a solution

The second last stage is to negotiate a solution and close the call. At this stage staff need to:

• Ensure that the customer understands staff goodwill and care for their concern
• Negotiate a solution, ensuring a balance between customer needs and the interests of the organisation
• Bid farewell to the customer with reassurance that they and their custom are valued and the problem regretted
• Close the call or end the letter leaving the customer feeling good about what has happened.

The issue of increased customer loyalty when service recovery takes place i.e. when a complaint is well handled, is one that needs to be emphasised at this stage. During workshop discussions at the bank, customer care staff commented on the clear analogy between the model above and the steps of a successful sale - see Table 4.

Table 4 

This interesting analogy led to further discussion which reinforced that:

• A complaint is an opportunity to put things right
• Finding an acceptable solution is a way of reinforcing the customer's belief and trust in the organisation
• Negotiating an acceptable solution is about ensuring a win-win situation
• Emphasising 'the organisation's position' too formally or with too much glee replicates the NIGYYSOB (now I've got you, you SOB)* of transactional analysis
  
  * Note: The late Dr. Eric Berne initiated the psychiatric school of thought known as transactional analysis. He analyzed games such as NIGYSOB, in which a person who has the upper hand takes more pleasure in making the loser look bad than in actually winning. 
• Service recovery is the aim of the process, not putting the customer in their place
• The skill and attitude of customer care staff is of major importance in problem resolution.

STEP 6: Types of difficult customers

Coping effectively with customer problems and complaints involves not only defining and understanding the problem or complaint itself but, as the model in figure 1 shows, also with understanding the customer and reacting appropriately. To react appropriately, the bank's customer care staff needed to be able to recognise customer types.

Our ongoing work on customer service had identified a variety of customer types. The list at Table 5 shows nine different types of customer. Other types or other definitions may exist. The precise labelling does not matter. What is important is that customer service staff listen hard, and pick up sufficient cues and clues to be able to identify the customer type and respond appropriately.

Table 5 

We agreed during an exercise developed for the workshop that some of the customer types are very easy to identify, while others take more effort. All, however, can be identified by various cues and clues. These include:

• Tone of voice
• Words and language used
• Repeated purposes
• Regular behaviours
• Attitudes portrayed
• Silences or implied ideas.

The customer care staff identified, during syndicate work, that certain common responses and reactions are required for dealing with all customer types. These include:

• Believing that most i.e. 99.5% of anger and even abuse is not directed at the individual
• Treating all customers with respect
• Remembering that customers have rights
• Being aware that staff and the bank have rights
• Working for a win-win solution
• Never regarding the customer as the enemy
• Remembering the importance of service recovery.

STEP 7: Customer response tactics

Beyond these common responses there are more specific tactics which can be used with different types of customers. These are shown in Tables 6 to 14 below:

Table 6 

Table 7 

Table 8 

Table 9

Table 10

Table 11 

Table 12

Table 13

Table 14

STEP 8: Role Playing 

The card game we developed for this workshop consisted of two parts. In part one participants were given a list of the nine customer types listed in Table 5 plus a set of nine cards labelled A to I containing sets of clues and cues. The participants were asked in their groups, to match the customer types to the cards. With syndicate and plenary discussion a high level of matching was achieved.

The second part of the "game" involved a further set of cards, this time numbered 1 to 9. These contained suggested required responses. Participants were asked, in their syndicate groups, to match the required responses to the customer clues and cues. When reporting back, the groups identified not just the matches but also the reasoning behind the matches suggested. The explanations led to much useful discussion and many good comparisons.

For this Byte, the pairs of matched cards are presented side by side under the appropriate customer type (See Tables 6 to 14).

What was interesting was that, after some initial comments that the types were not as clear-cut as the cards suggested, discussion on people's experiences showed that the nine types described in Tables 6 to 14 were recognised, and had been met by the group. We even had statements like "Remember Mrs. X, she's very much a '1'", or "Major B, he really was a '4'". The discussion on the types 1 to 9 was very valuable because it proved a fertile source of ideas and examples and was a perfect way to share good practice and to overcome personal feelings of inadequacy.

STEP 9: Customer focused language

Rudyard Kipling said "words are the most powerful drug known to man". The language used during telephone conversations with, or in letters to, angry or difficult customers may not be a drug, but it can certainly be either a pacifier or a further irritant. It is not always the message which irritates or angers customers, it can be the language used to deliver it. The phrase "you'll have to" is coercive and non-customer focused.  The phrases "I'd be grateful if you would..." or "I wonder if you would...?" can achieve a positive result whereas "you'll have to" often does not.

Working with the customer service staff we identified that certain words and language could be seen as customer focused and therefore appropriate to use, whereas other words and phrases are not customer focused or supportive and should therefore be avoided.

What is important about language is, we agreed, that it does not matter what one as an individual thinks is right or acceptable, what is important is the likely effect on the customer. Easy old habits may have to be changed but that should not be a major issue. The important thing to remember, the participants agreed, is the old adage "there is no meaning in words - only in people" and that the participants needed to use language in a customer-focused rather than a company-centred way.

Table 15

STEP 10: Reactions to phone calls and letters

However well equipped and prepared, the customer care staff experienced more difficulty with some calls than with others. Sometimes the reason for this is easy to identify. Sometimes it is not immediately apparent why there was a difficulty.

As practical work showed, analysing a call and one's response to it after it is over will not improve the situation for that specific customer but it will help to ease future discussions. Such analysis can also be useful in identifying best practice to share for recurring problems, the solutions to which may have to be negotiated with other parts of the organisation. Table 16 gives an analysis instrument which can be used either to analyse a phone call retrospectively, or to analyse customer letters before a reply is drafted.

Table 16 

Using this form will provide real information about what caused the difficulty and where it arose. It enables customer care staff to identify whether any problems are caused by:

• The customer
• The technical aspect of the complaint or problem
• Any shortfall in their own competence and skill
• Problems created by other parts of the organisation.

It also enables decisions to be taken about who else needs to be involved to resolve the situation. Finally, and quite importantly, potential repercussions can be spotted, noted and acted on. The focus needs always to be on preventative as well as corrective action.

The instrument was welcomed by the bank's customer care staff because they saw it as being useful in identifying the cause of any personal discomfort with a situation. It was also seen as providing a way of reaching common departmental standards and approaches.

Outputs

As a result of the workshops with the bank there were a number of outputs. Syndicate work had come up with an inspired acronym, suggested and constructed by the team. This has since been printed colourfully and encapsulated in plastic so that everyone has a copy for permanent reference.

The acronym which is, of course, copyright of the Bank and DBA defines how the participants felt they should treat all customers:

This acronym is not just neat, it is a good reflection of the very real care and concern these people have to get things right for their customers.

Another interesting output was based on that part of the workshop which dealt with the stress involved in dealing constantly with phone calls and difficulties. The group identified a tactic for relieving individual pressure and their manager agreed it. A motif and icon has been identified which can be placed on a desk if the individual feels they must get away for a few minutes. The remainder of the team contracted to cover for any such signposted absences.

Conclusion

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