A Complaint is a Gift?!

Customer Service skills for any business

Company Profile

Akron General Medical Center

Location– 2 Health & Wellness Centers– Main Hospital – Community Centers, Tallmadge, Hudson, Green, Stow, etc.– Physicians Offices

Healthcare

Company Profile

IS Department Supports: Mainframe 200 servers 3000+ PCs over 100 mobile carts (nurse stations)

About the Help Desk

Location of Help Desk -IS Building

Financial Building

Help Desk Hours– M-F 7 am – 5 pm– After hours supported by on-call and operations staff

What software is used to track incidents?– CA Unicenter Servicedesk.

About the Help Desk

Total Help Desk Calls by Year

Total Incoming Calls 2004 22,748First full year we collected data

 Total Incoming Calls 2005 26,635

A 17% increase over 2004 Total Incoming Calls 2006 35,550

A 33% increase over 2005 Total Incoming Calls 2007 37,571

A 6% increase over 2006

* Note: These figures are for calls to 46604 on Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM through 5:00 PM.They do not include calls from 5:00 PM through 7:00 AM or weekends, voicemail left on the helpdesk line, or emails to the help desk.

Tracey Touma

10 years at Akron General Medical Center Started with Integrations Team Moved to Help Desk 8 years ago Customer Service is my passion ITIL Certified Completed AGMC Mentoring Program Degrees from University of Akron:

– Bachelor of Science in Technical Education– Minor in corporate training– Masters in Information Systems

Involved on Corporate Culture Committee

A Complaint is a Gift

Consider a complaint as a gift Opportunity to allow you to recover from the

situation and exceed the expectations of the dissatisified customer

Strengthen the faith of the customer in your organization

Not all people express their dissatisfaction in the same way

A Complaint is a Gift

Loyal Customers Activity Standup / Sit down

LOYAL CUSTOMERS A loyal customer RETURNS despite offers

from the competition A loyal customer REFERS others A loyal customer RELATES to you as a partner

Service Recovery

Satisfied Customers tell ______ people

Unsatisfied Customers tell _______ people

Service Recovery

Treating customers well when things go well Treating customers exceptionally well when

something goes wrong – is service recovery Turn problem situation so that an upset

customer is satisfied – restore faith and strengthen their loyalty and will tell others

Talkers vs. Walkers

Talkers aren’t satisfied and will let you know– 1 out 2 dissatisfied customers will talk– Give the greatest opportunity to exceed

expectations– Also added benefit to organization by exposing

problems (others may be experiencing the same problem but unnoticed before)

Talkers vs. Walkers

Bigger Challenge Don’t tell you Just don’t return

Taking the Heat with a Talker

Hear them out Empathize Apologize Take responsibility for action Works well with talkers – vent their anger and

taking the HEAT allows you to first satisify the individual’s personal and practical needs.

Taking the Heat with a Talker

Hearing out or actively listening to customer Do not interrupt Gather necessary information Take notes if necessary

– What happens if you fail to hear them out

Taking the Heat with a Talker

Empathy is one of the most powerful tools Most effective when it involves active listening

and responding in a way that demonstrates that you understand how a person feels.– Why can this be difficult

Taking the Heat with a Talker

Apologies are an important part of Service Recovery BUT only after the first two steps have occurred.– Why

Key components for an apology

Sincere

Simple

Compassion

Taking the Heat with a Talker

Take Responsibility for Action– Means fixing or resolving the problem– Follow through and follow-up– Employees need to be empowered to use Tool Kit– Need to have a Tool Kit

Service Recovery Tool Kits could include discounts, movie tickets, phone cards, vouchers, etc.

Taking the Heat with a Walker

Customers reluctant to express their dissatisfaction directly to the service provider.

But not hesitant to tell others Need encouragement to voice their complaints Once they start to talk then you can use the

HEAT

Complaints are a gift

Complaints are truly a unique gift.

It gives the organization an opportunity to learn, to grow to be better and to provide their customers with the best possible service

QUESTIONS