How May I Help You.

“How may I help you , mam? ” came  a very pleasant voice from the other end of the phone. I was irritated with the service or rather the lack of service from this particular service provider. I had all the data about the previous calls made, the vague reasons that the previous customer care executives had given, the complaint number etc at my fingertips. I was all prepared to tell them why their service was bad and that I just wanted to stop their services.

But strangely something about the way this executive spoke, calmed me down. I ran her through all my concerns and issues and asked her to give me a solution. She did not intervene or try to give reasons for lack of service. Instead, she listened to me patiently and gave me a plan that could work the best for my requirements. She asked me to think through it and get back to her. The best part was that she gave me a landline number at which I could get connected to her directly. ( Which meant I did not have to go through the entire process again by getting connected to a new executive) . Before ending the call I actually thanked her for patiently listening and talking to me.

While in the call , I was making note of the information I was collecting from her . She gave me time to understand the product and clarify all my doubts regarding that product. When I looked at my notes, I realised that I had learnt a lot about the product and I could use it while talking to any other service provider for that product. And that is exactly what I did. I used this information to bargain a deal with the other service providers I spoke to. I even considered continuing services from the same company. But since I got a much better deal with another company I went ahead with it.

I eventually called her back and told her that I have gone ahead with another service provider because of some extra benefits that they provided. She did not sound any different even after I told her that. She wished me a good day and ended the conversation on  a very happy note. I thanked called her for helping me in understanding the product.

We have read a lot of blogs and articles about the bad experiences that people have with customer care executives. I have had my fair share of those too. But there have been instances when I have encountered such good people at the other end of the phone.  Some of them have a knack to speak , to genuinely understand your concerns, to calm you down  and to help you. And some of them just lack all of it.

So, the next time you call up a toll free number , May you get those who fall in category 1. 🙂