Back in early March I wrote a piece about Verizon Wireless and how 15 years of Customer Loyalty was killed with one bad customer experience. You can read that piece here.
So my 5th piece of crap Samsung Fascinate stopped working this morning and once again it was determined not to be a user problem but a manufacturer problem.
However Verizon did the right thing this time. Without the slightest bit of hesitation the tech support person said “let’s get you out of this phone once and for all.” No gimmicks. No having to speak to 18 supervisors. No suggesting we go for #6. Yep, 5 strikes and you’re out! (As a reminder #1 was purchased on 12-20-10.) A few computer strokes later and it was done.
But here’s what I loved about Amber:
- She didn’t feel tied to a policy
- She was willing to make something work despite the fact that my account was eligible for nothing in terms of an upgrade
- She seemed genuinely excited about helping me and solving my issue
At the end of the day it comes down to this:
- Employees first – let them feel empowered to do what is the right thing; even if it might not be the policy. There are always exclusions/exceptions.
- Customers second – we won’t put up a fight and get all annoyed with you when your employees are genuinely working to solve our problems and use some common sense.
Now of course it did take 5 strikes before someone said enough is enough. But hey, my loyalty level just rose a whole bunch of notches because someone pretty down on the chain of command “gets it!”
And I suggest any leader/manager/CEO/business owner think about this a bit from time to time:
Are any of your policies holding employees back from being great and offering a truly amazing customer experience?