by Emily Mouyeos*

Last week while I was on vacation I had the pleasure of getting my wallet stolen. (Please note the extreme sarcasm.) This led to me speaking with multiple customer service agents from my bank, credit card, health insurance and rental car companies, and the NYC MTA. Overall, my experience was positive; so, I won’t use this blog post to vent about any frustrations. However, being a client service account manager, my recent experience made me think about what pushes customers to the point where their calls become YouTube videos.

My fellow blogger and BurrellesLuce client service team member, Lauren Shapiro,  recently described a company’s client service department as its brand ambassador. She wrote, “The relationship between the client and your client service representative can make or break your organization’s brand.” I can easily name brands that I’ve vowed never to use again because of difficult interactions with their client services. But what can we do when serving our customers, clients or patrons to keep them from reaching a breaking point and retain their business when their effort to get answers or solve problems doesn’t produce the desired outcome. It may be time to consider giving your company’s customer service a facelift in order to protect your brand and customer base.

One of the most frustrating aspects of reaching out for service support, and a recent issue played out in the media, is when is it is unclear as to how to successfully contact a company or representative regarding issues. Google came under scrutiny with the U.S. launch of their smart phone, Nexus One. Not only was there no clear contact information listed on their website, but customers weren’t even sure what party would be handling their service questions. Should they call their service provider, the phone manufacturer, or Google? Some companies purposefully bury contact information as a way to deter clients from calling. If client service departments are the face of companies, then it makes sense for them to be easily assessable.

In fact, for the most part, the client and public relations industries are becoming more keen to the importance of personal touch and communication. There are even websites dedicated to providing people with phone numbers that are supposed to have humans on the other end. But once a client locates a number to call, who will they speak to at your company? How many times have we heard others say or have even said ourselves, “I just want to talk to a human!” It may save money to filter client inquiries through touch-tone assistance to direct calls. However, at what cost is it acceptable to frustrate your most loyal clientele?

I’ve really enjoyed Ally Bank’s recent commercials that pick apart the absurdness of service policies and service support. The commercial I saw this morning involved a man telling a little girl that the automated doll she wanted to play with couldn’t understand her request to play and that the toy was in control. Isn’t that when we find ourselves most peeved – when we lose our sense of control?

As professionals that deal with clients and patrons, we should create environments where our constituents feel comfortable and confident when approaching our client service representatives, our brand ambassadors! We should never make our valued customer base feel as though the following quote from “The Office” is true.

“Okay, Dwight, let me explain something to you. I set the rules and you follow them blindly, okay? And if you have a problem with that, then you can talk to our complaint department. It’s a trash can.”  - Michael Scott

Does your company’s client service department need a facelift? Does it make economical and branding sense to do away with automated systems? How is your company making it more accessible for clients to reach the right contacts?

*Bio: Emily Mouyeos joined the BurrellesLuce account management team with a background in nonprofit communication and development. Her background and current experience with BurrellesLuce allows her to effectively address client needs and consolidate feedback for senior management. To Emily, nothing feels better than helping others achieve their goal, whether it’s professionally or personally.  By focusing on client management through the Fresh Ideas blog, she hopes to evaluate new client management trends, as well as provide insight to the pros and cons of current practices. She looks forward to connecting with the readers of Fresh Ideas for new perspectives and dialogue on issues that affect overall success. LinkedIn: Emily Mouyeos Twitter: @BurrellesLuce Facebook: BurrellesLuce