Yesterday was a very frustrating day for me from a customer service perspective.
I had issues transferring monies from my (multinational) bank to my NS&I (premium bonds) account. When I eventually spoke to the customer service teams at the bank and NS&I they were very friendly, patient and empathetic. The challenge was actually getting to speak to them rather than an AI bot.
I’m sure the Senior Leadership Teams at both the bank and NS&I believe that the triage systems – press 1 for this, press 2 for that, press 3 for a.n.other – combined with AI deliver huge benefits for customers. In reality, however, they represent, in my opinion, the antithesis of great customer service. It is the difference between what the supplier plans and controls (Customer Journey) and what the customer actually feels and experiences (Customer Experience).
The experience
By the time I have committed to the stress of phoning the customer service team at the bank, it is because I have been on the website, I’ve checked out the Q&A, in fact I’ve done everything I can to avoid the traumatic phone call. So, when I am then told that the answers could be on the website, I start to stress. When I am then asked to speak to an AI bot and describe for them what my problem is, I tense a little more because I have arrived at this juncture precisely because my question isn’t straightforward and doesn’t fit into one of the prescribed boxes.
Eventually convincing the AI bot that I do really need to speak to a human, I was then put on hold for, in the case of the bank, a good ten minutes or more. Consequently, when the phone is eventually answered there is a heady mix of shock, relief and deep, deep frustration.
The journey and the customer service aspiration of the supplier
‘We put our customers at heart of everything we do. We all take responsibility for creating a customer-centric culture, as being one step ahead of (our customers) needs will help to retain their loyalty, create memorable customer experiences and build stronger relationships’.
There is, however, memorable positive and memorable negative. It is only because the thought of switching bank accounts is so harrowing that the bank ‘retains my loyalty’, and I am certainly not disposed to ‘refer them to friend or family’!
Customer Service for SMES - SMEs can do much, much better…if customer service is genuinely important to them
SMEs can do so much better in delivering customer service that matters and truly delivers for the customer, rather than the scenario outlined above.
At the SME level, it may not be possible to define clearly what we mean by ‘customer service’ or ‘outstanding customer journey’, but we all know it when we experience it. It’s the garage that you take your car to with no questions asked because you have come to trust it and rely on its expertise and pride in its work; it’s the hairdresser that’s really on top of their appointments process and answers the phone when you call; it’s the restaurant you default to if there’s any doubt because the food is good and the staff are just so friendly and attentive.
Why Paperclip’s call answering and contact centre services can help SMEs significantly improve customer service
Given the above, it may seem like an oxymoron for me to claim that Paperclip’s call answering and contact centre services can help many SMEs take a huge leap forward in terms of customer service delivery and customer experience. So, what’s the difference?
Answer in 5 seconds
Firstly, Paperclip is resourced from a manpower perspective to answer 98% of all the calls it receives within 5 seconds. It’s not, ‘your call is important to us; so important we’ll keep you waiting for fifteen minutes’, it’s ‘your call is important to us and our clients, so we’ll prove it by answering it’. As always, thinking back to my NS&I and bank experiences earlier in the day, all I really wanted was to ‘be heard’ – and to be heard in quick time by an empathetic and friendly human that can solve my problems rather than a bot.
The 80:20 rule, technical expertise and FAQs
When I make presentations to networking groups or others on Paperclip’s call answering and contact centre services, I ask the audience why their businesses are not currently using call answering. One of the most common, and honest, answers is that the Paperclip team can’t possibly have technical expertise in every sector. This is undeniably true, but for the vast majority of our clients we are able to hand well over 80% of all customer service calls, precisely because they are not ‘technical’ in nature. ‘What time do you stay open till?’, ‘Can I pay over the phone?’, ‘Can I book an appointment please’ are not technical questions.
At Paperclip we go much further than ‘Can I take a message?’. Working with clients we build really strong FAQ databases that enable the Paperclip team to answer a degree of simple product type/product features questions. It only takes a few minutes to start building up such an FAQ database, but the medium-term gains are enormous.
Contact centre services
In the context of this article a ‘contact centre approach’ is taken to mean that for one or more of its customer service operations, a client transfers all calls to Paperclip. We become their de facto customer service team. Furthermore, rather than simply answering inbound calls, the ‘contact centre’ makes outbound calls on behalf of the client. In the case of a healthcare client, for example, an outbound call could be made to remind a patient that they have an appointment at a certain time, and to complete any necessary forms and paperwork. To quote the famous Mitchell and Webb sketch, it’s not exactly rocket science!*
Investment in training
It may not be rocket science, but delivering professional, tailored and affordable call answering and contact centre services on a day-to-day basis does require a significant investment in staff training to ensure each member of the Paperclip team is delivering best practice. It also requires effective processes and procedures supported by technology, and a committed, motivated and adaptable workforce.
Customer service and the Golden Rule
Google or Chat GPT ‘benefits of providing excellent customer service’ and you get a long, long list: customer retention and loyalty; enhanced brand reputation; increased revenue and sales; competitive differentiation; a reduction in complaints and negative feedback and so on. At the heart of customer service, however, is a simple, almost biblical, commitment to do unto others as you would wish them to do to you. Also referred to as ‘the Golden Rule’ or ‘the Ethics of Reciprocity’, treating others as one would want to be treated by them is a concept that is easy to grasp, but many SMEs and, as we have seen earlier in this piece, multinationals still continue to cut corners and costs in the customer support aspects of their businesses.
Customer service as a differentiator
Why not treat customer service as your secret weapon, the dimension of your business that makes it stand apart from the rest; the garage, the hairdresser, the physio, the solicitor your know and trust…how much cheaper is it to run your business if customers aren’t quibbling about ‘lowest price’?!
Well done to those SMEs that have grabbed the bullet and are starting to reap benefits of a genuine, deep-seated commitment to customer service.
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- 7 reasons you should be calling your customers and prospects more often, and how Paperclip can help
- Do you need help answering the phone?
- Outsourcing: maximise the benefits, avoid the potential pitfalls
- Diary Management Services in the Healthcare and Legal Sectors
Hi, I’m Louise Bellwood, Director at Paperclip. I am responsible for delivering Paperclip’s customer service and growth strategies for 2024 and beyond, I am a crusader for the benefits call answering can deliver for organisations of all kinds; customer service, sales generation, customer retention and more. If you have a question about call answering – pricing, set-up, benefits – I would love to hear from you at louise@paperclip.co.uk or 01246 418 181.