Cory and Shawn

I was watching an episode of one of my all-time favorite TV shows, Boy Meets World, the other day with my wife. The two main characters, Cory and Shawn, get internships at this company working in the mailroom. One day they are delivering mail on the floor where all of the company's executive officers' offices are located and they walk by a phone that's ringing. Shawn stops to answer the phone and Cory tries to talk him out of it. Shawn replies: "I may not know much about business, but I know that when the phone rings you answer it." After that Shawn gets appointed to be an assistant to one of the vice-presidents. As I watched this episode I realized that most of the time customer service really is that simple, just pick up the phone when it rings. We should be polite and helpful when we answer the phone but it all starts with answering it. Customer service associates can be trained by world-class professionals how to answer the phone but if it rings and goes unanswered all of the training was a waste. WE MUST ANSWER THE PHONE WHEN IT RINGS. It's that simple and is where it all starts.

The episode of Boy Meets World continues with Cory working in the mailroom bitter that Shawn was promoted. He looks at his supervisor, Phil (who appears to be in his 70's), and the following interchange occurs:

Cory: "I don't get it Phil, all he did was pick up the phone."
Phil: "Was it ringing?"
Cory: "Yeah."
Phil: "He's a smart kid."

That really was a smart move. Let's follow suit and answer the phone when it rings.

(the above mentioned episode is "Boy Meets World," Season 5, Episode 9)

Returning Phone Calls

So this is the busy season for institutions of higher learning. We are gearing up for the start of a new academic year and all that that entails. In Student Financial Services we are particularly busy encouraging students to complete their financial aid and pay their student accounts. Part of what makes us so busy are the phone calls and emails from our customers: students and their parents. As part of our customer service focus (in Student Financial Services) we have set a goal to return every phone call (voice mail) we receive the same business day. This is a real struggle for us most days as we usually have between 5 and 10 messages to return at the end of the day while still answering the phone when other customers call. My staff have been amazing. They are real troopers. We so far have a 99% success rate (the 1% failure rate is solely and completely my fault). We haven't yet really received any compliments from our students but I have noticed a difference in my staff. Our confidence in the level of service we are providing is increasing. It is beginning to become a matter of pride that we return all phone calls the same day. When someone calls or complains that they have tried calling but no one got back to them we know that they aren't talking about our office, we return phone calls the same day we receive them. We are building more confidence in ourselves and our ability to serve.

The moral of this post is not that all phone calls should be returned the same day (though I would strongly recommend it) but that setting customer oriented goals and then achieving them builds confidence, pride, and satisfaction in your staff which leads to even better service and results. Happy employees help make happy customers.