\u2026 a well trained “customer service representative” (CSR) – when dealing with a “customer” – will never use the phrase “I’m busy” or “I don’t have time”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
first of all the customer doesn’t REALLY care – they are contacting “customer service” because they had a problem, the fact that the occasional individual CSR is new (and learning) or is just incompetent becomes another hurdle to overcome in getting “problem fixed”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the “good customers” will politely wait (because yelling at the CSR ain’t gonna make things happen faster) – but the chances of that customer leaving\/switching\/never coming back will increase if the “customer service experience” is bad enough<\/p>\n\n\n\n
NOW if the “cost of switching” is zero (0) and customer service is “bad” then that means that “customer loyalty” will be non-existent<\/p>\n\n\n\n
if the “business” in question operates on high volume and low profit margins – then the amount of “customer service” is guaranteed to be “low”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
this is by design – think “big box store” – they have low prices, but getting “help” will be a challenge. Which isn’t necessarily a problem – as long as “customer expectations” are still met – i.e. I don’t EXPECT a high level of service when I go to “big box store”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
still – CSR’s should be trained to actually be helpful and polite – “helpful and polite” goes a long way (and yes, sometimes the customer IS the problem – still “helpful and polite” is the best option)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
BUT the other end of the business plan spectrum is “low volume and high profit margins” — think “luxury brands” – e.g. someone can buy a watch\/jewelry at Walmart or Tiffany’s but the “customer expectations” will be totally different<\/p>\n\n\n\n
of course at “luxury brand” the CSR to customer ratio might be close to 1:1 – the customer is paying a lot more, so they expect a lot more<\/p>\n\n\n\n
THEN somewhere in the middle are folks trying to build an “influencer”\/”artist” brand of some kind. Again the terms “I’m busy” or “I don’t have time” aren’t going to be in the competent influencer’s vocabulary.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Well, if the influencer wants to minimize the effort and lower the value of their “personal brand” – then of course tell everyone how busy you are, and that you don’t have time to interact with lowly peons like “fans.” (yes, that is sarcasm)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
WHY? well – assuming the customer isn’t a sociopath they will understand the the influencer\/artist is “busy” and has time constraints – responding with “I’m busy” gets interpreted as “your concern\/request is not important and\/or valued” – and “I don’t have time” just comes across as “go away, you’re bothering me”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
umm , and if the customer IS a sociopath – well, that is why the modern world is kinda scary sometimes. Be polite, but also be careful …<\/p>\n\n\n\n
again, this is from a “business” non-intimate interpersonal communication point of view — if someone you have known for years tells you they are “busy” and can’t do “whatever” it PROBABLY means they respect you enough to be honest – i.e. they ARE busy, and offers to help might be appreciated but aren’t practical<\/p>\n\n\n\n
oh, and the “signal to noise” ratio for that hypothetical influencer\/artist should heavily favor the “signal” side – i.e. “useful information\/entertainment” should heavily outweigh requests to join their various paid subscription options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
STILL “helpful and polite” go a long way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, there are countless real (and AI generated) artists out there trying to build a personal brand. Well managed “automatic responses” can be extremely useful – but they shouldn’t become a replacement for REAL “customer engagement”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
the various “comic cons” become great case studies for real world brand management and “fan engagement” – “fans” are not only willing to stand in line to meet “celebrity” they pay for the privilege of a brief interaction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The classic example of “fan engagement” is still athletes signing “whatever” for fans – again, folks willing to wait in line for a brief interaction.
BUT in both “comic con” and “athlete autographs” the “brand” has been built by the actor\/athletes performances.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If the “brand” is a tree – then “fans” are the fruit of the tree – and “fan engagement” becomes an exercise in meeting expectations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Oh, and “come see me in person” has been a good business plan since Mark Twain’s time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
well, no. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The joke about “agents” is that when they say “trust me” what they mean is “f*** you” – and when “customer management” says “I don’t have time” or “I’m busy” what they mean is “you should go somewhere else where they value your time and business”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
’nuff said<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026 a well trained “customer service representative” (CSR) – when dealing with a “customer” – will never use the phrase “I’m busy” or “I don’t have time” first of all the customer doesn’t REALLY care – they are contacting “customer service” because they had a problem, the fact that the occasional individual CSR is new […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,7,11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1044","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-business","category-leadership","category-philosophy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1044"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1048,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1044\/revisions\/1048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1044"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1044"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.iterudio.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1044"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}