Does anybody out there remember "the good old days?"
I probably have a few years on the majority of my readers (except for George, Wayne, Weldon...I'd better stop there!). I can remember full-service at the gas station, for example. "Wash those windows for you sir? Check that oil for you sir?" Bank tellers used to "teller," drive-thru windows were only at fast-food restaurants, and "Your call is important to us, please hold" did not exist.
So....is self service a good thing or a bad thing? The answer is yes!
The essence of self-service was intended to assist customers in getting what they needed in the most efficient way. Organizations need to ask themselves, is this what our self-service processes accomplish? Have you asked yourselves, or better yet your customers, how effective they feel your self-service systems are?
Let's start this thought process by listing down the various self-service systems in use at your organization.
1. Automated Attendant. Is your telephone system structured to bring initial calls to a voice-prompted system? Does the system allow for the ability of the caller to get to a human being if they need to? Does it provide a directory of extension numbers? Does it make your caller spell the full name of a person before it will react? Have you surveyed your customers to get their reaction to the system?
2. Do you use a "tank system" in customer support areas? These systems are designed to queue callers and forward them to the least busy representative or next available representative. Does your system give the caller an estimated wait time, allowing them the option of ending the call? Do you have a policy that governs the maximum allowable wait time in order to be perceived as customer focused? How do your customers feel about doing all of the work of punching in codes and answering questions to an automated system? Do your reps ask the same questions all over again when the caller finally gets connected?
3. Reservation systems. Does your reservation system require the customer to operate at certain hours, making it more difficult to do business with you? (A great example is a certain airline that only allows you to get a boarding pass for a flight after midnight on the day of the flight.) Have you surveyed your customers to get their take on this service? Does the system repeatedly ask for information that has been previously gathered? (A certain car rental company that wraps their cars in brown wrapping paper asks for basic information every single time you make a vehicle reservation.)
4. Systems accessibility. Are your systems available when the customers need them? If the system must be put down, is it done at a time that makes sense and with proper notification, allowing your customer to plan?
5. If a customer utilizes an onsite facility, is there someone there to assist the customer, if needed? I'm sure you can add many other types of systems and issues to my list. Hopefully, I have made the point that self-service can be a good or bad thing, depending on the reliability of your systems and whether they are focused on making life easier for your customer instead of easier for your organization. The blending of technologies must have a highly evolved human component to be truly successful.
If you are not sure of how your customers react to the self-service systems in your organization, Houston Partners offers a full line of survey tools to help you find out. If you're interested, contact us at info@houstonpartnersinternational.com and enter the text "OD Survey Please" in the subject line of your email. One of our certified consultants will contact you.
To Your Success!
Jerry
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