4 ms·

Customer service reps are often the lowest paid employees in a lot of organizations. But think about it: the customer's impression of your company is probably d

Customer service reps are often the lowest paid employees in a lot of organizations. But think about it: the customer's impression of your company is probably derived from the people they speak to. And nine times out of ten, they're talking to your CSR's - not the CTO, or Finance, or marketing. There are probably a lot of nice people at Comcast, but my negative opinion of them is almost entirely derived from my customer service / billing issues with them.

parennoob 10y ago
> And nine times out of ten, they're talking to your CSR's - not the CTO, or Finance, or marketing. The CSRs's behaviors are direct results of decisions made by these very same people. If the CXOs at Comcast gave enough of a shit they would have competent customer service reps and plans that had clearly defined charges. But their current slimy and confusing practices earn a lot of money, so the people at the top don't want to do anything to shake that up.
- tfigment 10y ago
  And that is basically the point of that segment of the podcast. The parking company execs invested in the customer support dept and treated them better with with lower calls per day, colorful titles and nice zen rooms. They indicated zero turnover afterwords in that department and probably helped that company retain customers as a result and probably lower costs due to lower retraining. Unfortunately, large companies with monopolies don't need to do that to retain customers as they dont have much of a choice.
  - parennoob 10y ago
    This is a good perspective. I hadn't thought of it that way --- probably because I was mentally comparing a very large company (Comcast) with a much smaller one (SpotHero). But you are right, in both cases it is decision trickling down from the top that affect the behavior of CSRs and how the company is perceived.

4 ms·

Customer service reps are often the lowest paid employees in a lot of organizations. But think about it: the customer's impression of your company is probably d

by archildress 10y ago

parennoob 10y ago
> And nine times out of ten, they're talking to your CSR's - not the CTO, or Finance, or marketing. The CSRs's behaviors are direct results of decisions made by these very same people. If the CXOs at Comcast gave enough of a shit they would have competent customer service reps and plans that had clearly defined charges. But their current slimy and confusing practices earn a lot of money, so the people at the top don't want to do anything to shake that up.
- tfigment 10y ago
  And that is basically the point of that segment of the podcast. The parking company execs invested in the customer support dept and treated them better with with lower calls per day, colorful titles and nice zen rooms. They indicated zero turnover afterwords in that department and probably helped that company retain customers as a result and probably lower costs due to lower retraining. Unfortunately, large companies with monopolies don't need to do that to retain customers as they dont have much of a choice.
  - parennoob 10y ago
    This is a good perspective. I hadn't thought of it that way --- probably because I was mentally comparing a very large company (Comcast) with a much smaller one (SpotHero). But you are right, in both cases it is decision trickling down from the top that affect the behavior of CSRs and how the company is perceived.