No matter how hard a company tries to create and promote a compelling brand, and no matter what they do to get your business, they often lose sight of the fact that their reputation hinges on every employee or representative who has contact with customers and prospects.
So why is it that so many companies put people who are unable to communicate clearly in these frontline roles? Whether it’s someone at the counter who can’t deliver a coherent answer to a customer question, or “Bill,” the highly accented voice that tells you he is really sorry you are having this problem, and then offers advice you can’t understand, these poor choices forever tarnish your impression of the organizations behind them.
I was reminded of that in an email exchange with an American technology company whose name you know and probably respect. Their product wasn’t working as promised, and they offered email support, so I decided I’d try that instead of spending an hour having “Bill” tell me he was really sorry I was having this problem.
Their service rep’s reply still has me scratching my head. Maybe you’ll understand it. “In order to assist you, we will really appreciate you use in order for you to create your data disc, if you try to do this my computer, you could only copy the shortcuts of the application or files. Have a great day.”
(I subsequently Googled the problem and fixed it in a matter of minutes.)