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)

US Cellular

My wife and I made some changes recently to our cell phone service; our phones had been through different carriers and we finally decided to consolidate onto one family plan.  I gave them a call the other day to discuss the details and get things set up for us to make the switch and after being on hold for over 10 minutes ended up having a pleasant experience. 


The man that I spoke with was knowledgeable and able to help me with what I needed.  Other than the fact that he tried to sell me more services (but that's his job), it was quick and easy.  It took less time than I was on hold.  He even threw me a bone (though I am sure he throws it to all of his customers) by waving the activation fee for me ($30).  My wife is now on my cell plan and we should have her new phone in just a few days.


There are three lessons that we can learn from this brief interaction:
1. Make sure that the employees who work with your customers know everything they need to (or know how to find the answers/information they need) to help
2. Be quick, most of the time customers don't want to be patronized (however, don't forget to be kind).  They are busy and need to get things done, working with you is usually just an item on their to do list and helping them quickly shows respect for them
3. Make the customer feel special/important.  By throwing me a bone I felt like US Cellular appreciated my business; waving the fee made me feel important because they made an exception for me (and if they do it for everyone I still saved $30 which is almost as valuable :) )