Throw away the script; give your people more autonomy to identify and solve problems.
— Shep Hyken (@Hyken) March 4, 2014
Not that long ago I discovered, to my dismay, that some customer support and customer service people didn’t want autonomy. I always thought, like my friend Shep Hyken suggests in the tweet above, that everybody wanted to use judgment and decide things on a case-by-case basis.
But I was discussing this in a business owner workshop once when one of the owners in the group said:
Actually that’s not really true. Lots of people want not to think about it, and not to take responsibility to decide when to make exceptions. They want the simplicity of being able to have clearly defined rules to follow.
And in defense of Shep Hyken, who’s a true expert in this field, it’s not fair to take pot shots at a tweet. If you want real insight into customer service, check out his book Amaze Every Customer.
But it’s also a good reminder that you have to take every piece of advice carefully, always evaluating whether or not it fits your exact content. There may be a lot of good practices, but there are no reliable best practices. Well, sort of.
And here’s the rest of that exchange:
@Timberry Surprising and disappointing. Front line must have certain customer focused skills and personalities.
— Shep Hyken (@Hyken) March 5, 2014
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