Being Genuine – Part 2

Last month, I was on the phone with Comcast. The Support lady was very friendly, tried to resolve the issue on the phone, and when she was unable to, she set up an appointment for between the hours of 9-11 that same day. Being that it was already 9:15, I was shocked that she quoted those hours, and highly doubtful. Little to my surprise, before  9:30 was here, there was a van in my driveway, and before 10, the problem was resolved and the technician was on his way. I tell you this story, because I really do like Comcast.

Now, when it comes to being a Customer Support Rep, there are a couple of traits that you need to project when in discussion with customers: apathy* empathy, forgiveness, coolness……I am sure that you get the picture. In the 15 minutes that I was on the phone with the support rep, she must have apologized to me at least 25 times. That is an average of almost 2 times per minute. By the end of the call, I could not believe how many times that she said that she was sorry. It got to the point, where at the end of the call, I was really wondering if she was really sorry. I believed her for maybe the 1st 5 or 10 times that she said it, but there was definitely overkill (like the famous story below) during my call.

Today, I went into my Nissan dealership for an oil change. I walked in and a service guy asked me what I needed, and was very friendly to me. Said that he was going to try to get the car serviced as fast as possible, asked me if I wanted anything to drink, and asked me to take a seat. 20 minutes later, my car was serviced, he came over and let me know that the car was done, told me to have a nice day, then stopped himself before he walked away, and said, have a nice 4th. I told him to do the same, and he said thanks, and walked away.

There are definitely many different factors that may have had an effect on each of the situations – in person vs. on the phone, technology vs. automotive….the list is endless. I just wanted to point out that it is very easy for a customer to read through the lines within the Services industry, and be able to tell those that are real vs. those that are fake.