The Heart of Your Success

Executive Business Coach & Consultant | Transforming Chaos into Success | Leadership Development | Business Growth Strategies | Operational Excellence

When it comes to customer service blunders with companies, everyone has a tale of woe. Recently, I brought my car in for service to the dealership as I have since I purchased the vehicle ten years ago. I had previously made an appointment which upon arrival, was confirmed by the service advisor. I was promptly told I would have to leave the vehicle as they were not sure they could get to it the same day. I mentioned that on previous visits, I was able to wait for the car. I was told by both the service advisor and service manager that I could not stay at the dealership. Apparently, when I called for the appointment, I should have told them I had intended to wait for the car and they would have told me that I couldn’t at that point.

Without going into all of the back and forth with the service representatives, I felt like I was not being heard and as a customer, my voice was not appreciated. Before I knew it, I was back in my car on my way home and my car still needed to be fixed.

The point of this story is to bring home the fact that far too often, these types of things happen to customers in every organization. The employees were stressed under their workload, there was a breakdown in the process, and the view of the customer as a person was lost.

Businesses are predicated on providing a good or service for the benefit of others for which customers are willing to pay a fair price. When this is done well, results will follow. Far too often leaders focus on the wrong thing. They drive their organizations for results but do not have a real interest in understanding the problems of the people they seek to serve. When this occurs, an environment is created where customer service issues are more likely to occur.

I did call the dealership and spoke with the general manager. I suspect that the two people in the service department received the message loudly and clearly that results need to improve. I, I doubt they received the resources or support they needed to address the day-to-day challenges that created the situation. It is very difficult for employees to effectively listen to their customers if they don’t believe their leaders listen to them because they are uber-focused on results. 

Solving customer service issues so they do not become repeatable events takes the rigor of process review and improvement but more than anything, it takes active listening with empathy. Business in the 21st century is complex but people remain at the heart of every success.