September 25, 2006

Dell resolution strategy

A complaint can be a unique opportunity to strengthen the relationship with a client, or if not dealt with efficiently and promptly, can blow up in your face leaving considerable damage.

The focus should be always on solving the customer's problem, not on getting through as many customer service calls as possible in a day.

In the latest issue of Fortune, Michael Dell highlights just how important resolution not speed is.

"Last year, we had parts of our company where we would say 'hey, let's handle the calls faster." The problem is that if you handle the call faster, you solve 90% of the problem instead of 100%. So the guys call back. And you've just pissed him off more, and you haven't accomplished a damn thing.
This year we said we're not going to measure how well we did solving the problem.What happened in the second quarter was we had two million fewer calls than we had planned. The average hold time before we answered the call was cut by more than fifty per cent, and the satisfaction rate went up quite dramatically - like seven or eight points- in just a couple of weeks."

Integral to any professional customer service strategy - solve problem asap.

Ironically, though it is your duty to deal with customer complaints efficiently, you will exceed their expectations with your professionalism and decrease the possibility that the customer will leave your company in the short term

That is why I am a strong advocate of a proactive strategy of seeking out customer compaints rather than waiting for them to knock on your door. Remember at this stage, it is likely you have already suffered some "bad press."

Get solving today!

Posted by Kevin Kelly at September 25, 2006 09:46 AM