There is dignity in sincere customer communication

A few days after I had my oil changed at one of those quick lube places, I got a call from the company. A woman on the line said she wanted to know about my experience. Did I have time to answer a few questions? "Sure," I said.

"Were you greeted promptly?"

"Did the attendant clearly explain your options?"

"Was the waiting area clean?"

These were the kinds of questions she asked, and she offered me options such as "agree," "somewhat agree," and "disagree" that I could use as responses.

When she asked how I would describe my overall experience, I explained that everything went great, but that when I arrived I pulled into one of the available work bays, only to be instructed to back out and pull into a different one. I said I didn't mind but I thought it strange that they wanted to service my vehicle from work bay No. 1 after I already had pulled into work bay No. 2, and there were no other customers in the shop at the time.

When I paused, she asked me, "would you describe your experience as excellent, good, average, or unsatisfactory?"

Her question made it clear she wasn't listening to me. She took no interest in my story, as trivial -- admittedly -- as it was. Clearly, she was reading from a script and was not going to deviate from it. I gave her an answer from the options she offered and the survey ended.

When our conversation started, I was impressed that the oil-change company was interested in customer service. I thought it was interested in me. But by the end of the call, I felt as if it wasn't really interested in what I had to say, only in demonstrating that it surveys customers after their visit. Instead of feeling like a valued customer, I ended up feeling used.

One of the best ways to summarize what it means to bring God to work is that it means respecting the dignity of those around you. That means when you talk to customers, you need to be willing to really listen to what they have to say. If you have limited them to a few potential responses, you are not engaging in a dialog that respects the full capability of the customer. It's dehumanizing, albeit on a small scale, but it still feels bad. Initially, I thought the woman posing the survey questions was interested in me, but I learned that she was really only interested in the survey.

To be clear, surveys are useful tools. But the best ones allow for respondent answers outside the preset options. If you are going to take the time to actually contact someone, why not let them express themselves in thier own terms? Respect people for what they have to say, not what you want them to say.

Respecting others -- customers and/or colleagues -- is a big deal. Make every effort to respect them. That's how you love them. If your job involves interacting with customers, work to make that interaction experience as sincere as possible. If your job is to manage, train or otherwise direct employees who interact with customers, empower them to conduct humanizing experiences. Don't handcuff them with scripts or procedures that set the customer up for indignity.

Comments

[Michael Bischoff]

I'm happy to have found your blog. You have wonderful, practical insights about bringing faith into work. I've been on a quest to find people and businesses that integrate faith into work life. I look forward to following your blog, and reading your book at some point.

I'm organizing an event about faith and leadership that I'd like to invite you to. Michael Naughton from the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought will introduce the topic, and then a panel of 4 business leaders will speak from their experience. It will be on Dec. 3rd at a business in Vadnais Heights. We'd be honored to have you join us. Here are the details of the invitation: http://faithandorganizations.eventbrite.com/.

Blessings.
Michael Bischoff
michael@clarityfacilitation.com
612-234-1122

[Cathy_of_Alex]

Excellent post. As a researcher, there is a danger when setting up surveys that we get too focused on setting up the analytics to follow rather than really listening to the voice of the customer/consumer.