Here’s a perfect example of why companies should hire smart people who care.
Recently an AT&T customer was talking with their customer service service department. He started having symptoms of a heart attack and eventually passed out during the call. Rather than hang up (because the customer became non-responsive) the AT&T employee (Kelly Hart) knew something was wrong so she called 911.
The customer ended up in the hospital with a stent in a major artery. When he got out he let AT&T know what a wonderful person they have working for them. In fact, he and Ms. Hart finally met in person on CBS’ “The Early Show” where the tears flowed all around.
Too many of us have experienced customer service calls where the employee can barely manage to work their way through the script in front of them. And if you say anything not related to their script, they have no idea what to do. Some freeze. Others stammer and sputter. Sometimes you hear someone (in the ‘background’) telling them exactly what to say to you .
If a person can’t answer a simple question or have a “how’s the weather” type conversation then I doubt they’d be much use if their customer dropped to the ground with a heart attack during the call.
Of course, most customer service employees will (thankfully) never have to deal with this situation. But that’s not really the point is it?
If you hire people only to train them to a rigid, programmed script, you’ll give your customers a lower quality experience. But if you hire smart, caring, motivated people and let them be themselves, you’ll get better results. Your customers will have a better experience. Your company will get better feedback. You’ll keep more customers coming back.
And, once in a great while, something amazing will happen.
I can see him having a heart attack, especially if he has an iPhone and has to deal with dropped calls all the time.
Sorry, it was just too easy.
Very cool story though, thanks for posting. I always prefer stories about amazing service over those about terrible experiences.
Hi Tim – I agree. The “bad customer service” stories can be instructional but I like these better. More optimistic and I think more memorable.
Thanks for writing!
KS
Yes great example of what all organizations desire for their employees. Managers should learn from this example and use it for training and a motivational case study for their employees.
Thanks for sharing.
That’s a great idea Kathy!
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