I see a trend going in the right direction …
In companies where front-line employees have direct customer contact, it’s common for there to be a “12-step process” or “19-point customer service checklist” that tells employees what they have to do when they meet a customer. Often, these companies hire people to pose as customers and rate employee compliance on these steps. I heard a story of a hotel front desk clerk who received an apology at check-out from one of these hired “blind” shoppers who said, “You were one of the best people I’ve seen in this company, but I’m going to have to give you a bad grade because you skipped a lot of steps.”
Ugh. Not surprisingly, when I work with front-line employees at companies like this they tell me how silly the scripted processes are. One company I worked with had a 38-step process. Luckily, none of the employees I interviewed knew what the 38 steps were.
The good news … I’m starting to see companies realize the folly of this rigid employee scripting. Recent comment from the operations V.P. of a client company: “We don’t need a 16-step process. We need one step: Connect with the customer.”
Is this a trend that is really happening? If so, is it all good, or am I missing something?