Another Nightmare Waiting Story…
August 31, 2009 by Yuval Brisker
Every time I go to a place where people don’t know me or what I do – and then find out… I am always inundated with “waiting” stories: people who want to tell me about their nightmare “waiting at home for something or someone to arrive and deliver something or do something” stories. It’s amazing how this is subject gets people talking. If you give people an opening – and by the very nature of what we do, I do – they can recount their horror stories to the minutest detail.
It’s always interest to me as someone who thinks about innovation in customer service…why this particular event… waiting for the cable guy, waiting for the gas person, waiting for the furniture or air-conditioner to be delivered… why this is so memorable to the finest details and gets people talking…
My conclusion: The combination of the loss of control and a sense of helplessness which is all translated into a loss of freedom.
I call this the ‘Cog in the Machine Syndrome”
In these situations, when there is nothing you can say or do that can affect a positive change for you. You have to relinquish your time, your freedom; and become part of “The Machine” it’s a rude reminder that maybe you are not as unique as you feel and think. That you are just one of the Billions.
That sense – whether or not you are being treated as a unique individual; whether your being processed as just another account number… that sense is the defining emotion in the customer perception of terrible, good or great customer service.
A smile, an extra courtesy call, a little token of appreciation sent to you via email (and if it’s tailored to you as an individual, how revolutionary) that all goes a long way. The long wait window with no recourse – death by service. Service and Goods providers – you may choose to violate this sensitivity. But you do it at your own risk.
At the end the brand can either rise or fall on this issue alone.
