Tag Archives: customer service

Boring AI is the Key to Better Customer Service

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Boring AI is the Key to Better Customer Service

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Boring can be a good thing. When something works the way it’s supposed to, it shouldn’t be a surprise. There shouldn’t be friction or drama if a customer has a problem or wants a question answered. It should just be easy. And when it comes to customer service, “easy” and “boring” are good. The experience should just happen the way the customer wants it to happen. You might call that boring. I call that excellent.

That was the beginning of a conversation I had with Damon Covey, general manager of unified communications and collaboration for GoTo, on Amazing Business Radio. GoTo is one of the leading cloud communications companies, providing software and solutions to companies of all sizes and helping them implement AI systems that work, without the complexity and stress that can come from new technology. Covey’s goal for our conversation was to demystify AI, cutting through the noise and complexities of flashy AI and taking it down to a practical level. Boring was the word he liked to use, emphasizing it should be easy, simple and uncomplicated.

In our discussion, Covey said that large companies used to make six- and seven-figure investments to implement AI. Today, AI technology is far superior and, at the same time, much less expensive, so even the smallest companies can afford it. They can get advanced technology for hundreds of dollars, not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Covey said, “For example, a small bike shop or an automotive dealership can now provide the same advanced customer service options as large corporations.” With that in mind, here are the main takeaways from our conversation:

Conversational AI

Until recently (within the past two or three years), a basic chatbot had to follow pre-set rules. Conversational AI provides a much broader opportunity, allowing a computer to interact with people in a natural, human-like manner. Today, AI can understand and respond to customers’ questions and issues with much more flexibility. It has the capability to recognize different languages and understand fumbled phrases, much like a human would. By using conversational AI, businesses can provide 24/7 service, allowing them to respond to customer queries and schedule appointments even when the customer contacts them outside of regular business hours.

Treat AI Like a Team Member

If you hire a new employee, you train them. Treat your AI solutions the same way. Covey said that, similar to training an employee, you need to set specific parameters and provide the AI with the necessary information to ensure it stays within the scope of your business requirements. He emphasized the importance of making sure the AI only draws from the information provided by your business, such as your website, FAQ pages, product manuals, etc., rather than pulling from a source outside of your company, to maintain accuracy and relevance. Covey said that AI should be continuously optimized and trained over time to improve its performance, much like you would train and coach a human employee to expand their capabilities.

Productivity: Automating Processes

Covey talked about automating processes. Anything you do more than three times can be a candidate for AI automation. For example, AI can integrate with a business’ telecommunications system to automate the process of taking notes during calls. It can then summarize the call, put the information into the customer’s record and create a list of next steps, if appropriate. This is a simple function that helps employees be more productive. Instead of an employee typing notes and summarizing the call, AI can handle the task so the employee can move on to helping the next customer.

Augmenting the Business

AI can help businesses do things they don’t normally do, such as remain open for certain functions (like customer support) after hours. It can act as an after-hours receptionist, answering phone calls, setting appointments or providing basic information to customers after business hours. That turns a business that’s typically open during traditional hours to a 24/7 operation.

It is Easier Than You Think

At the end of the interview, Covey dropped a nugget of wisdom that is the perfect way to close this article. For many, especially smaller organizations, deciding what technology to use and how to best use AI can be a daunting decision. It shouldn’t be. Covey says, “Start with the problem you want to solve, and solve for that problem.” He added that you should start using the technology for small problems. Once you understand how it works, the more complicated issues will be easier to solve for.

And that brings us back to where we started. AI doesn’t need to be complicated or flashy. It should be boring—in a good way. Start small, focus on one problem at a time and let AI do what it’s supposed to do: make customer service easier and more efficient. When done right, your customers won’t be amazed by the AI—they’ll just be amazed by how easy it is to do business with you.

Image Credit: Unsplash

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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Are Your Customers’ Calls Actually Important?

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Are Your Customers' Calls Actually Important?

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, I wrote an article about the customer service farce. One of several examples I shared was the line we often hear when calling customer support: “Your call is very important to us.” When we hear it, we hope it’s true. We hope it means that the company is going to respect our time, that someone will pick up the call quickly (versus being put on hold for an unreasonable amount of time), and that the agent we talk to will have the knowledge and skills to answer our question or resolve our complaint, and we’ll not have to repeat our story again and again.

In our most recent customer service and customer experience (CX) research, we asked a number of questions about contact centers that convey the message, “Your call is very important to us.” The answers will make you smile – maybe even laugh. I’ve shared some of these findings from surveys from the previous year. Here are the latest with a couple of new ones:

  • Cleaning the Toilet: Nearly four out of 10 customers (39%) say they would rather clean a toilet than call customer support. (That’s gross!)
  • A Root Canal Is Better Than This: A third of U.S. customers (34%) would rather visit the dentist than call customer support. (That’s painful!)
  • Dinner with In-Laws: Half of the customers (53%) say they would rather have dinner with their in-laws than call customer support. (That could be painful, too!)
  • Glossophobia (The Fear of Public Speaking): Even though speaking in public is one of the greatest fears, often ahead of death, one in four customers (26%) would rather speak in front of an audience of 1,000 than call customer support. (Yikes, that’s scary!)


But seriously … as humorous as some of these findings are, there’s some truth behind them. Consider these three findings from this year’s report:

  1. Half of U.S. customers (51%) say that when they call customer support with a question or to resolve a problem, the company does not value their time.
  2. And speaking of respecting time, over half of the customers we surveyed (55%) say they stopped doing business with a company or brand because it kept them on hold for too long.
  3. Six out of 10 customers (63%) say they have stopped doing business with a company because of the inability to connect with someone from customer support. </li?

It sounds like I’m being negative, but the reality is that this information gives me hope – for the companies that get it right. The more serious findings mean that more than half of customers are ripe to switch companies, and if you’re doing it right, they are hopefully going to switch to you.

Whether your company has just a few dedicated employees to support your customers or a large contact center, this information and the opportunities we take from it are applicable to you. Your customers deserve attention and respect. Don’t make them feel as if their call is NOT very important to you!

Image Credit: Pexels

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of May 2025

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Top 10 Human-Centered Change & Innovation Articles of May 2025Drum roll please…

At the beginning of each month, we will profile the ten articles from the previous month that generated the most traffic to Human-Centered Change & Innovation. Did your favorite make the cut?

But enough delay, here are May’s ten most popular innovation posts:

  1. What Innovation is Really About — by Stefan Lindegaard
  2. ‘Stealing’ from Artists to Make Innovations Both Novel and Familiar — by Pete Foley
  3. Benchmarking Innovation Performance — by Noel Sobelman
  4. Transform Your Innovation Approach with One Word — by Robyn Bolton
  5. Building Innovation Momentum Without the Struggle — Five Questions for Tendayi Viki
  6. Change Behavior to Change Culture — by Mike Shipulski
  7. The Real Reason Your Team Isn’t Speaking to You — by David Burkus
  8. The Enemy of Customer Service is … — by Shep Hyken
  9. Three Real Business Threats (and How to Solve Them) — by Robyn Bolton
  10. Better Customer Experiences Without Customer Feedback — by Shep Hyken

BONUS – Here are five more strong articles published in April that continue to resonate with people:

If you’re not familiar with Human-Centered Change & Innovation, we publish 4-7 new articles every week built around innovation and transformation insights from our roster of contributing authors and ad hoc submissions from community members. Get the articles right in your Facebook, Twitter or Linkedin feeds too!

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Have something to contribute?

Human-Centered Change & Innovation is open to contributions from any and all innovation and transformation professionals out there (practitioners, professors, researchers, consultants, authors, etc.) who have valuable human-centered change and innovation insights to share with everyone for the greater good. If you’d like to contribute, please contact me.

P.S. Here are our Top 40 Innovation Bloggers lists from the last four years:

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Nothing and Everything Has Changed in Customer Service

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Nothing and Everything Has Changed in Customer Service

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

With all the talk of AI, ChatGPT and more, I’m often asked when interviewed, “What’s changed in customer service?”

My answer is accurate: Nothing!

For thousands of years – actually about 3,775 years – when customers have had a problem or question, they have contacted the company they are doing business with and hoped that it would be resolved to their satisfaction. That’s the way it’s been and will continue to be for thousands of years to come.

But there’s also another answer to the same question about what’s changed: Everything!

By everything, I’m referring to the latest methods of responding to customers’ questions and handling their problems and complaints. I mentioned that for 3,775 years, customers have been contacting companies when they have problems or questions. About 10 years ago, I wrote a Forbes.com article when I learned that tucked away in the British Museum is an ancient complaint that dates back to 1750 B.C.

Nanni, the customer, bought copper ore from a supplier, Ea-Nasir. Unhappy with his purchase, Nanni sent a letter in the form of a stone tablet with the engraved complaint. Loosely translated, the “letter” opens with these words, “What do you take me for that you treat somebody like me with such contempt?” The rest of the letter was a demand that he receive what he thought was right.

Ancient Customer Service Shep Hyken

Customers still complain, and companies – at least the good ones – respond and properly take care of their customers. But how they do so has radically changed.

What may have started as an engraved complaint on a stone tablet eventually turned into handwritten letters, then phone calls, emails, chat, and more modern-day ways of communicating. AI has become the topic of the day, and the strides made in automation and self-service have come a long way.

While many companies are still improving and trying to keep up with the technology, customers who take advantage of the new ways to get questions answered and complaints resolved are very happy with the companies that have kept up with the latest ways to manage the customer experience.

At its core, customer service hasn’t changed. Customers still want to be heard, understood and valued. Sometimes, they even want a little empathy. However, what has changed is the way we deliver that experience. The tools may have evolved from stone tablets to AI chatbots, but the goal remains the same: take care of the customer.

Companies that embrace new technologies while staying true to the timeless principles of great service – listening, responding quickly, and meeting or exceeding expectations – are the ones that will keep their customers coming back. The best companies know that while everything seems to change, the most important thing never changes: a relentless focus on the customer!

Image Credit: Pixabay

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Doing Personalization Correctly

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Doing Personalization Correctly

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Companies today face three critical marketing and Customer Experience (CX) challenges:

  1. How can you keep customers coming back?
  2. How can you get your customers’ attention so they don’t consider switching to the competition?
  3. How do you create an experience that makes price less relevant?

These questions and others can be answered in one word: Personalization.

It used to be that personalization was a marketing tactic. Simply using the customer’s name in the salutation of an email or letter, such as “Dear Shep,” was personalization in its most basic form. Include a reference in the body of the message, for example, what city the customer lives in, and you had what many considered to be a more sophisticated personalization program.

Today, the concept of personalization has blended into part of the customer experience. Using a name is barely a personalized experience. Using information about the customer that feels like the company or brand knows them takes marketing from promotional to customer experience.

For example, if I call a company that I’ve done business with and have questions about a new product I’m interested in purchasing or a customer service question, the company representative should have enough information about me to know how long I’ve done business with them, what products or services I’ve purchased, what problems, questions, or complaints I’ve called about and more. Using that information the right way is the beginning of a more powerful personalized experience. Customers like it when you know them.

And this concept goes beyond live interactions between a customer and an employee. A modern-day personalization messaging campaign is powerful and turns traditional email or text message marketing into a highly personalized experience.

This same experience can be used in email or text messages, either as part of customer support when customers “write in” with a question or for marketing when you want to push a message to the customer. Used the right way, you’re showing your customers that you know them.

On a recent Amazing Business Radio episode, I interviewed Ronn Nicolli, chief marketing officer of Resorts World Las Vegas. He talked about how storytelling can hit an emotional chord with a customer, helping to create and maintain an image that customers embrace and look forward to. And when the customer can relate to the story—or maybe they are part of the story—you connect at a different level. A higher level.

Nicolli said, “Ten years ago, email marketing was like fishing with dynamite. Throw the dynamite in the water—in the form of a big email campaign—and see what floats to the surface.” It was a mass marketing campaign, and the extent of personalization was the customer’s name. Today, because of advances in technology, Nicolli says, “AI gives us the ability to market in mass, but on a one-to-one basis.”

What you’re selling may be the same for everyone, but the message is highly personalized by merging the customer’s name, dates they did business, comments they made and more into the message. Nicolli referred to the AI program as an intelligent learning program.

Curating personalized messaging and visuals in mass that speak to each individual is going to resonate far better than a general message with no personalization other than the customer’s name. Nicolli shared that he can send out a million emails, and the messages are all re-curated to ensure they are meaningful and speak directly to the customer. For example, the resort may want to promote a seasonal package to its database. A message to a customer/guest who comes in with a group of friends for college basketball’s March Madness tournament weekend will receive a different email than a customer who frequents the hotel with a spouse or loved one for the occasional romantic weekend—even if the promotion is asking for the same call to action.

So, whether you’re personalizing the experience for customer support or a marketing message, it’s now all part of the customer experience. Our latest customer experience research finds that eight out of 10 customers prefer a personalized experience. They will even pay more for it, making price less relevant. They want to do business with or go to the place, like the title of the theme song from the hit 1980s TV sitcom Cheers implies, ‘Where Everybody Knows Your Name’.

This is what your customers want and expect. So, take your customer experience efforts to the next level with a personalization strategy that creates an emotional connection and gets customers to say, “I’ll be back.”

Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pexels

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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The Enemy of Customer Service is …

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The Enemy of Customer Service is ...

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to interview Brian Hamilton on Amazing Business Radio. Brian is the chairman of LiveSwitch and an entrepreneur who has started, built up, and sold numerous businesses. At the end of every show, I ask, “What last nugget of wisdom can you share with our listeners?” He shared an amazing answer:

“The enemy of customer service is pride.”

As he shared what he meant by this profound statement, I knew it was going to be something I would write and talk about.

If you’ve been following my work, you know one of my favorite concepts is The Customer Is NOT Always Right! Let’s use that as a starting point to understand how pride can be the enemy of customer service.

When we’re taught (or told) by the boss that the customer IS always right, and one day a customer makes a statement that isn’t right or accurate, we have conflict. Or maybe the customer is argumentative. We have been taught and told – maybe even ordered – to treat that customer as if they are right. But they are not. For example, what happens if you have a liberal 30-day return policy and the customer comes to return the item on day 60, insisting they were told the store had a 90-day return policy? Can you see the conflict? They are clearly wrong, and that conflict is where pride kicks in and gets in the way of good customer service.

Enemy of Customer Service is Pride

For some, it’s hard to put pride aside and empathize and sympathize with the customer’s errant point of view. While we may not directly tell the customer they are wrong, we say something that is combative or argumentative – even if we say it nicely. When pride gets in the way, we might find ourselves thinking:

  • “I know more than this customer.”
  • “They clearly don’t understand how our system works.”
  • “If they just listened to reason, they would realize they’re wrong.”

Those types of thoughts are our pride getting in the way of serving our customers at the highest level. Instead, consider this:

  1. Listen without interrupting, even if you know they’re wrong.
  2. When you do finally talk, choose the right words to avoid escalating the situation.
  3. Empathize and acknowledge their frustration or concern.
  4. Focus on finding a solution rather than proving who’s right.

Remember, the goal isn’t to win an argument. It’s to win the customer. (Another concept I’ve preached for years.) When we let go of pride and focus on helping, we create better outcomes for everyone involved. So, the next time you find yourself in a situation where you know the customer is wrong, ask yourself, “What’s more important, being right or being helpful?” The answer will guide you toward better customer service. Don’t let pride get in the way of good customer service!

Image Credit: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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Six Revolutionary AI CX and Customer Service Strategies

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Six Revolutionary AI CX and Customer Service Strategies

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping customer service and customer experience faster than we could ever imagine. But some are getting it wrong. While everyone’s racing to implement AI, many are missing the most important part – keeping the human element alive. Smart companies have found the balance between the human touch and the digital experience.

One of my favorite AI and marketing experts is Ford Saeks, who recently released his latest book, AI Mindshift: Unleash the Power of AI, Avoid the Pitfalls, and Keep the Human Experience. The book is filled with practical strategies and tactics to help organizations leverage AI while maintaining the personal touch. The book isn’t about which specific AI tools to use. Many of those will be obsolete in a very short time. It’s about how to think about AI, hence the title, AI Mindshift. With that in mind, here are some of my top takeaways from the book:

  1. The Human-AI Balance Is Essential: This is the book’s central theme. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking AI can replace your customer service team. Instead, let AI handle the routine questions and problems while keeping your people focused on what they do best – building relationships and handling more complicated issues. This creates efficiency without sacrificing the personal touch customers value.
  2. Speed Matters: Your customers want answers now, not later. AI can deliver immediate first responses through chatbots, but here’s the key – make sure your customers can seamlessly transition to a human agent when needed. I refer to this as Time to Happiness – how quickly you can move a customer from frustrated to satisfied. The faster, the better.
  3. Feedback Is Your Friend: Create processes to continuously gather both customer and employee feedback about AI interactions. Consistently use this data to refine and improve your AI systems. If customers are frustrated with certain AI responses, fix them quickly. Otherwise, your faulty systems may frustrate your customers and drive them to the competition.

  1. Practice “Ethical AI” in Customer Service: Saeks emphasizes two big areas: transparency about when customers interact with AI versus humans and making sure your AI technology protects your customers’ privacy and data.
  2. Proactive Support: If you want to impress your customers, identify issues or problems before the customer finds them. Then, tell them you did. AI can help identify these issues.
  3. Think Big, but Start Small: Begin AI implementation with specific, manageable customer service tasks rather than trying to overhaul everything at once. For example, start with AI handling basic FAQs, then gradually expand to more complex customer interactions as you learn what works. Remember the old saying, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”

The bottom line is this: AI isn’t about replacing your customer service team. It’s about making them more amazing at what they do. Saeks’ book reminds us that the future of customer service and CX isn’t about choosing between AI and humans. It’s about combining both to create experiences that get your customers to say, “I’ll be back!”

Image Credit: Pexels, Shep Hyken

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Why Customers Don’t Trust Five-Star Reviews

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Why Customers Don't Trust Five-Star Reviews

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

How important are online ratings and reviews? Our annual customer experience research found that 85% of U.S. customers say ratings and reviews help them decide if they want to make a purchase. That’s almost nine out of 10 customers!

However, that same number of customers (85%) also believe that some ratings and reviews are fake. While not all ratings and reviews are fake, the number of dishonest reviews has become a problem. RetailWire’s recent article about how Amazon is fighting back against fake reviews with strict policies and technology is an important place to learn how top online brands deal with the problem. The article also cites research from Fakespot estimating that 42% of Amazon reviews are fake.

It’s important to note that the fake reviews are not Amazon’s attempt to persuade consumers. On the contrary, the company is waging a war against fake reviews with stricter policies and proactive detection.

I recently made a purchase from a retailer selling through the Amazon Marketplace, which allows third-party sellers to list and sell products on Amazon. About two weeks after the purchase, I received a postcard asking me to leave a five-star review. A request to leave an honest review is acceptable, but that’s not what happened. This “third-party” seller offered a bribe for the positive review in the form of a $20 Amazon gift card or a payment directly to my PayPal account. All I had to do was send a screenshot or link to the review.

Fake reviews come in several different forms:

  1. Friends, company employees or others—not customers—are asked to leave reviews.
  2. Customers are bribed, like I was, to leave a positive review.
  3. Companies take down negative reviews and only leave the good ones.

And, not all fake reviews are positive. Negative reviews left by competitors—not customers—that lie about a company’s products or customer service to make them look bad can impact the reputation of a company or brand.

But having 100% five-star ratings and/or reviews isn’t good either. Our annual research found that 76% of customers are skeptical about the authenticity of reviews if they are all positive, and 30% of customers say they won’t purchase from a company that doesn’t have any negative reviews.

So, what’s a company to do?

  1. Make It Easy for Customers to Leave Reviews: If you want reviews, it’s okay to ask for them. Send an email with a link to leave the review.
  2. Respond to Negative Reviews: If most reviews are good, having a bad one isn’t going to hurt, especially if the company responds to it. A good response from a company can actually improve customer trust. Use negative reviews as opportunities to demonstrate good customer service.
  3. Respond to Positive Reviews: We coach our clients to respond to all reviews, not just negative ones. Depending on how many you get, this can seem like a daunting task. But if someone takes the time to leave a lengthy message of positive feedback, give them the respect of a simple response.
  4. Identify Verified Customers: If you look at Amazon reviews, you’ll see the notation of “Verified Purchase” next to the review. This is credibility.
  5. Don’t Game the System: Offering bribes and incentives for positive reviews crosses an ethical line. And, taking down negative reviews is, in effect, lying to your customers.

Almost every industry, not just B2C, has the opportunity for customers to leave reviews. Depending on the company (and industry), the review sites may not be public like a retailer’s website or a review platform like Google Reviews. Many industries in the B2B world have forums where customers can share experiences about companies and suppliers they do business with. With a shift in the importance of reviews, the company that practices the five tactics mentioned above will build trust. It’s not realistic to have 100% perfect reviews. As the research shows, customers don’t trust the “perfect” company. But they do trust and appreciate the authentic company. The best way to get excellent reviews isn’t to buy them or game the system. It’s to earn them!

Image Credit: Pixabay

This article was originally published on Forbes.com

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Time to Stop These Ten Bad Customer Experience Habits

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Time to Stop These Ten Bad Customer Experience Habits

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, Bob Newhart, a famous comedian and actor, passed away. He started his career as a stand-up comedian and eventually hit it big on television, starring in a TV series aptly named The Bob Newhart Show. His awards include three Grammy Awards, an Emmy Award, a Golden Globe, and the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. In 1960, his comedy record The Button-Down Mind of Bob Newhart reached No. 1 on Billboard’s pop album chart.

But enough about Newhart’s history and accolades, why is he showing up in an article about customer service and experience? The answer can be found in one of his TV specials in a funny sketch titled Stop It.

Seven years ago, I first shared a link to the Stop It video in an article I wrote titled Just Stop It. The focus was to stop doing the things that customers complain about most. To honor and remember the late Bob Newhart, I’d like to bring back the theme of Stop It, and this time, focus on stopping bad habits, systems, or policies that destroy a good customer experience. With that in mind, here are ten (10) things that, if you notice they are happening, will make you want to say, “Stop it!”

  1. Stop putting customers on hold for too long. If you must put customers on hold, tell them how long and provide an option to be called back.
  2. Stop transferring customers multiple times. Get them to the right person the first time!
  3. Stop asking for feedback if you’re not going to take advantage of it. Our CX research (sponsored by RingCentral) found that 71% of U.S. customers assume the company won’t make changes based on their responses to a customer satisfaction survey.
  4. Stop using company or technical jargon your customers might not know or understand. This makes them feel uncomfortable and may make them feel like you’re “talking above them.”
  5. Stop making promises you don’t keep. For example, if you say you’ll call someone back in an hour, don’t be late.
  6. Stop making it hard for customers to talk to a live person. If you have live agents to support customers, don’t make it complicated or hard to get to them.
  7. Stop relying on too much automation. Some companies have gone 100% digital, eliminating customer service agents. Even Amazon, the most digital retailer in the world, has customer service reps to help when problems arise.
  8. Stop blaming others for a mistake or problem, even if it is someone else’s fault. Customers don’t care who is at fault. What they care about is talking to someone who will help them. Even if it’s not your fault, it’s your opportunity to make things right. No blame is needed for that.
  9. Stop being anything less than easy to do business with. This is a big one. Customers want friction-less, no-hassle experiences. Evaluate your processes, systems and policies to ensure they are customer-friendly.
  10. Stop being average! Even an experience that is the tiniest bit better than average, as long as it’s consistent, will get customers to say things like, “They are always so helpful (friendly, knowledgeable, etc.).” The consistent above-average experience will make customers say, “I’ll be back!”

Shep Hyken Bad Habits Cartoon

This list of ten ideas to stop is just a start. Sit down with your team and use this list as an idea starter to discuss the issues, problems and complaints you hear about more often than others. Then, as the late Bob Newhart said, “Stop it!”

Image Credits: Shep Hyken, Pexels

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The Secrets of Customer Support Triage

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The Secrets of Customer Support Triage

GUEST POST from Shep Hyken

Recently, I had the privilege of being a keynote speaker on customer experience (CX) at a company’s quarterly event. Following the speech, the CEO shared an insight into their approach to customer service and CX, comparing it to a medical emergency room. “Our response to customer complaints and issues is akin to triage,” he said. “We effectively diagnose the problems, yet find ourselves treating similar cases repeatedly as if sending them to an emergency room that never addresses the underlying causes.”

Triage is an interesting word. It’s a medical term, but I wanted to better understand the definition, so I did what most people do. I Googled the word, and this is the definition from Merriam-Webster:

  1. The sorting and allocating of treatment to patients, especially battle and disaster victims, according to a system of priorities designed to maximize the number of survivors.
  2. The assigning of priority order to projects on the basis of where funds and other resources can be best used, are most needed, or most likely to achieve success.


The first definition confirmed that the CEO’s comment was accurate. They fix problems, but don’t seem to be preventing the problems. The second definition sounds like common practice for most businesses, not just hospital emergency rooms. They prioritize projects – in this case, customer service issues – and focus on what will provide the best return.

I loved the CEO’s comment because he recognized the end goal wasn’t to deliver great customer service when there was a problem but to create a customer experience that had few, if any, problems. Put another way, it’s one thing to fix problems. It’s another to understand why there’s a problem and create a preventative solution or system that eliminates – or at least mitigates – the problem in the future. Yes, there will be customer service issues, but with this line of thinking, you can eliminate many problems and complaints.

This reminded me of commercials I remember seeing when I was a kid. From 1967-1988, there were commercials for Maytag washers and dryers. Many of you are too young to remember the Maytag repairman known as “Ol’ Lonely,” who was lonely and bored because the Maytag equipment was so dependable. Of course, the machines weren’t perfect, but they were reputed to be more reliable than competitors.

I like the idea of boring – when it comes to problems and complaints. Nothing would make me happier than to see the true depiction of a company’s customer service agents sitting around bored because customers seldom called with complaints.

So, consider this question: Would you rather be the company known for solving problems when they happen or the company that doesn’t have problems?

Image Credits: Unsplash

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