11 Oct My Personal Customer Service Story: Empathy and Support Inspire Innovation
Happy Customer Service Week!
One of the things I feel most strongly about is that customer service professionals should never ever be sworn at, demeaned or abused.
Sometimes agents feel powerless, and can’t tell a customer they’ve crossed the line. Agents are afraid that if the abuse is not accepted with a smile they’ll lose their job. So they swallow the pain to get through the day, to get that paycheck. This is not acceptable for the agent, the managers or the next customer. When morale declines, CSAT declines, and good people leave.
My Experience
I had a couple of bosses that stepped up for me when I was young. The first was my manager at Bullock’s (bought by Macy’s), David Ghetty. I was a young college student working in the dress shirts and ties department. A customer had grabbed my buttocks after I had rung up his sale and I was crying in the stockroom. My boss looked flustered until I told him what had happened. Livid, he asked why I didn’t call security, call him over, or slap the guy. He thought it was my right to defend myself.
I told him that I was afraid the customer would return the sale and I would lose the commission. My boss said that would have been hard after banning the customer from the store. Until I heard that I didn’t know my boss had empathy for my situation and would support me. I didn’t want to be abused, but I needed to make rent. I felt frozen to act. My boss made a comment about it all being recorded and not to worry he had my back.
That feels like another lifetime. I‘ve completed college, worked a number of jobs and owned my own business. I even changed professions, however, I still remember how my throat closed in fear during that disturbing customer behavior. It taught me empathy for the customer service professional dealing with an abusive customer. That empathy has never waned. I treat agents with respect and a smile, seeing my younger self in them.
Empathy and Support Inspire Innovation
Now I know I’m just one person and my smile doesn’t travel that far. The work I am currently doing does. I am proud to have worked on the first product on the market to address when agents are being harassed by their customers, CSAT.AI. This innovative tool is inspired by empathy. It improves CSAT, ROI, and QA, but its ability to protect agents is near and dear to my heart.
CSAT.AI monitors customer service interactions to boost company CSAT scores and notifies the managers so they can protect their employees from abuse and harassment.
I know what it’s like to be in the moment wondering whether management has my back, and being afraid of losing my job/sale. In helping CSAT.AI assist companies and customer service agents, I’m supporting employees and managers who have their back like my previous boss.
Celebrate Customer Service Week with improved customer and agent experience. I can help your company enhance CSAT, reduce agent harassment, and minimize QA costs with one product, CSAT.AI. Ask me about it, and tell me your story.
