As I’ve said, I sometimes wander around and try to find new blogs that are interesting. A recent blog that I’ve found is Tom Vander Well’s QA QNA blog about Call Center’s and Quality.  He posted his “top 10″ blog postings, so I may be going down some of them and making comments … the first one, however, is certainly true!

It is NOT service when someone makes a mistake and then next call is a mumbled, insincere “Yeah. Sorry.”.

It is NOT service when there’s no acknowledgement of an error made.

Service requires work. Service is “4: the act of serving: as a: a helpful act” (Webster).

Take the time to be sincere. Really mean it that you take responsibility for your, or your company’s, actions when you’re talking to someone.  Don’t deflect. Don’t say “but… but ….”. Simply say, “We apologize for the inconvenience and understand your frustration.”  If you can, offer a little “summin’ summin’”, as it were — a gift card, a follow up email from your manager apologizing as well, a discount on the next order, an extra 30 day warranty… you name it. 

Just remember, you, as a call center agent or manager, are the representative of the company. You need to take responsibility.