The Hindu Business Line : Customer service lessons from Barack Obama

I am writing this week’s column in Harvard and the transformation in the American political landscape following Barack Obama’s election as the next US President is being discussed in the corridors here. So what is the first lesson to learn from Barack Obama? Customer service and follow-up!

“Your call is important to us… Please don’t hang up… Our customer executive will be with you in a few minutes…”

Now, be honest. What is your reaction to a taped voice assuring you some 10 times over that your call is important? Aren’t you tempted to hang up? And the next time you call and get the same message, you’ll hang up without waiting for the tape to reach round two.

Your irritation is entirely warranted; you’re within your rights in thinking that you have better things to do with your time than listen to a recorded voice spouting meaningless sentiment. You’d be justified in looking elsewhere for what you need. The fallout for the original service provider is, of course, loss of business.

Paucity of staff was most probably the reason you got the taped message in response to your call, yet keeping the two ‘Ps’ in mind is very important to all our business strategies. The first ‘P’ is professionalism and the second ‘P’ is personal touch.

As a manager, you need to make sure that your organisation has the right number of people with the right attitude to attend to customers’ requirements promptly and efficiently.

Superb timing

In this context, I’d like to quote an e-mail that Barack Obama sent each of his campaigners after his victory was announced. Obviously, it had been prepared in advance and Obama had made arrangements using technology to personalise each mail and send it out. But the beauty is the addressees got it just minutes before he made his acceptance speech. It was a small, superbly timed and important part of the elaborate strategy that put the first African-American in the White House and so made history.

Here it is:

Kamini —

I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don’t want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign — every day you knocked on doors, made a donation or talked to your family, friends and neighbours about why you believe it’s time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you.

Thank you,

Barack

Note the planning which went into this exercise; note the wording, calculated to make each one feel special, and therefore ready to give continued support: A calculated public relations measure from a master tactician.

I’m by no means decrying it though; rather, I wholeheartedly appreciate the thought that went into it and the wonderful results this relatively easy step is sure to have generated.

The same principles can be used and extended to draw up your winning strategy for customer service too — give personalised service wherever possible; get to know your customers by name, you could even ask after their families or their hobbies. Put in a little extra service when possible so they’ll feel they’re getting into a relationship that is above mere business. This way, you’re ensuring customer loyalty.

Our customer relations manager at Global Adjustments always has smiles that reach up to her eyes and says “terve” and “kiitos” (welcome and thank you) to all our telecom clients from Finland and each time, she gets a loyal customer on her side.

Also, one last point about Obama’s e-mail: It was, in a sense, a follow-up effort. And follow-up is an essential part of customer service. When you have concluded a deal or provided the service the customer sought, the story shouldn’t end there. You need to find out if the customer is happy. You need to keep in touch and offer solutions to any problems that might crop up. By doing this, you are keeping lines of communication open for repeat business.

For instance, just the other day, we helped a single, Finnish woman, who had just moved to an Indian city, settle into her new home.

When our manager called her a week later, she found her down with the relocation blues. Our Finnish client had been to a beach with a large number of poor people on it and had been overwhelmed by India. A visit to our office, a cuppa and a chat fixed her morale and sealed our friendship forever. We always have time for our customers, even when they don’t ask for it.

Successful customer service is thus a well thought out series of measures, sincere in its intent, yet a great strategy aimed at ensuring a satisfied clientele which keeps coming back for more.

(The writer is Founder CEO of Global Adjustments, a relocation and cross-cultural training company and author of Doing Business in India for Dummies. She can be contacted at info@globaladjustments.com )

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