Customer Service: How to deal with "me first!"

900 Greenbank Road
Suite 531,
Nepean Ontario
Canada K2J 4P6
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Customer Service: How to deal with "me first!"

By Wayne McKinnon

Many years ago while managing providing customer service, I realized there was no possible way to solve everyone's problems in the time they wanted. In order to keep my "clients" happy, I managed to come up with the following techniques which I have found to be effective at almost any level, from end-user support to managing multiple projects.

For those providing service

Set Expectations - Clearly state what the minimum level of service that you can provide is and in what time frame you can deliver those services.
Make efforts visible - People are much more understanding when they realize the how much you have on your plate and how much you have accomplished. This is particularly effective when your efforts are pro-active and have a clear benefit to those making demands on your time.
Negotiate priorities - Don't assume you know what values are most important to your customers.
Let the customer choose to be the bad guy - When you have made a commitment to one person and another wants to jump the queue, show them your list of tasks or projects and ask who you should bump. Most people will not want to be the one to bump Bob from accounting. If they do, now you have ammunition for the next time you decide to bump them.
Provide regular updates - Status reports are important in order to let people know you have not forgotten about them, or to make them aware of any new delays.
Delegate - Make use of additional resources. If you do need more help, make sure the people you serve know who to direct any complaints to. Assuming your doing your job and making your efforts visible, these complainers can be your best allies when making the pitch for more help.

"I began going to my mechanic when I was in college. I didn't have a lot of money but my time was cheap, I was looking for Band-Aid fixes and things I could fix myself. Today, my time is worth a lot more and reliability is very important. At one point it was necessary to let my mechanic know my values had changed."

For those requiring service

1. Don't shoot first and ask questions later - give people a reason to want to help you by being nice

2. Get a firm commitment - whenever you ask someone to do something for you, get them to commit to a due date. Using this technique, you will receive their permission to hold them accountable.

3. Follow up if you do not receive service when promised. By being firm but polite, you are sending a signal that indicates you are not willing to just forget about the whole thing. Your problem is not going to go away and their problem is going to get worse if they do not take action.

4. Make your problem visible. If you feel you are not being treated fairly, make sure others are ware of your problem. The way to do this is not to whine or complain to the person assigned to help you. Instead state your case in writing and send a copy to all parties involved including someone of authority who is in a position to assign additional resources to the problem.

5. If lack of service is an ongoing problem, keep a log file of problems your organization has experienced, and the time it took to resolve the problem. On an annual, bi-annual or quarterly basis, address the problem at the management level. Be clear what it is that you expect as well as what you are willing to do if the situation does not improve. One finance department in a large organization set out to set up their own support group. Since there was no longer the same level of demand for corporate resources, the copmay's internal IT group was forced to downsize.

"A business should not exist to run an organization - that's bureaucracy" - Stan Davis, Futurist

Wayne McKinnon. 900 Greenbank Road Suite 531, Nepean Ontario Canada K2J 4P6 phone: (613) 860-1384 Fax: (613) 825-4895
e-mail:info@ITcoach.com

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