In part one, I mentioned that the first standard of great customerservice companies is that they know why they are great, the secondis that they know where they stand, and the third is that they knowwhere they are going. In part two, I explained that the fourth standard is that theiremployees can accurately describe their jobs. Now, let’s move ontothe fifth and final standard.

Customer Service, A Recap

Finish this sentence: “Customer service is ______.” It can be asentence, a list, or even a picture. It does not mat­ter. Once youare finished, refer to the customer service basics on the next pageto see how your answer compares.

See Figure 1 to the right. These are common descriptions used byemployees in training classes to define customerservice. Are any of the items you wrote down mentioned on thislist? If so, then you are one of the gang and you understand theconcept well.

However, what is not included on the list is the mainelement that constitutes great claims customer service. Companiesthat provide outstanding customer service under­stand that theymust meet or exceed a customer’s expectations, regardless of whatthe expectation might be.

Everyone knows that there are some customers, no matter what youdo, that cannot be pleased. However, there are also customers thatremain happy, even though we fumble during every step of theprocess. Why? Because they do not know any better. Theirexpectations are low or nonexistent, so anything goes. Sometimes weget customer service wins when we do not deserve them, andsometimes we get losses even though we put forward our bestefforts.

The criteria, however, is exactly the same: if you meet orexceed the cus­tomer’s expectations, you have a customer servicewin, and you will probably retain their loyalty. If you fall shortof those expectations, whatever they are, you may ultimately losethem. That is the retention connection.

In most cases, we have the opportunity to set thoseexpecta­tions. Great claims employees understand that they mustmeet or exceed customer’s expectations, and also have the talentand the skill to determine what those expectations are.

“I’ll call you right back.”

One day, I was listening to a phone call in a claims office,when Layne, the customer, called in and was connected with Molly,an employee. The con­versation went just like this:

What is the expectation of when Layne will get a call back? Whendoes Layne think she will get this return phone call? Isit in one minute, five minutes, or even 20 minutes? We do not know.We do not have the foggiest idea of what Layne’s expectation is,yet it is the only way to determine whether great customer serviceis being provided.

Immediately after speaking with Layne, Molly calls the bodyshop, and after at least 15 minutes, she is connected with a bodyshop employee. He had to look at the car, and the two talked foranother 15 minutes. Then, the body shop employee had to call theparts distributor to discuss pricing, which took another fiveminutes. All in all, this call took about 35 minutes.

In my opinion, Molly did a fantastic job. Any less trained or less experi­enced, Mollywould have gotten snookered. But she did not. She walked the bodyshop employee through every single step of the repair process,which showed that the parts that he was talking about were, infact, included in the prices that they had already paid. By thetime Molly was done, the employee admitted that he was wrong andthat Molly was right, and they would go ahead with the repairs asoutlined. At this point in monitoring this phone call, I thoughtthat Molly had done an incredible job.

Molly got back on the phone and called Layne. Rather than askingif the problem was solved, though, Layne demanded to know why ittook so long for Molly to call back.

Molly explained that the body shop employee had to look at thecar and call the parts distributor. Of course, all that did wasirritate Layne because now it sounded like Molly was makingexcuses. When Molly tried to explain that this was done in a veryshort period of time, Layne got even more irritated, and angrily explained that if she knew it would takethis long, she would have told Molly to call her at work.

They argued for a few more minutes, and then Molly finally toldLayne that the problem had, in fact, been solved. Layne respondedwith a “whatever,” and then hung up.

A Simple Solution

What were these two people talking about? Were they talkingabout what a great job that Molly had done? How about the greatcustomer service that Molly provided? No, they were talking aboutthe fact that Layne’s expectations were not met. Even though Mollydid a fantastic job technically, she did not set the expectationsof the customer so she would be able to meet or exceed them.

What if instead, Molly would have said that she would call thebody shop, where an employee would have to examine the car forreview. She could mention that she might even have to call theperson who wrote the estimate and that the whole process couldeasily take an hour and a half. If it was 8 a.m. when Layne firstcalled, Molly could tell Layne that she would call back by 9:30a.m. Layne might then request that Molly call her at work.

After speaking with someone at the body shop, Molly then callsLayne back at 9:30 a.m. at work with the answer. Has Molly metLayne’s expectations? Yes. As a matter of fact, she has exceededthem. The only difference between the first interaction and thesec­ond interaction is that Molly took the time to set Layne’sexpectations.

Great claims employees know that taking the opportunity to setexpectations, when possible, is crucial. How many times have youheard someone say that they will check with their supervisor andcall you right back? You probably find yourself asking when thatwill be. We have tremendous control over being able to setcustomer’s expectations and we do not take them.

Saving Time

I happened to be monitoring phone calls in a claims office whena claims adjuster told a customer that their claim check was issuedthe day before, and the customer thanked the adjuster.

I asked this adjuster what she thought the expectation of thatcustomer would be for when they would receive the check. Sheassumed that it would take a couple of days. However, the customerwas informed that the check was issued yesterday. Thecheck may not be put into the mail until today and it may take twoto three days for it to arrive. Since this was on a Tuesday, itwould definitely be to the customer by Friday. Since the customer’sexpectations were not set, she probably thinks the check willarrive the next day, and when she does not get it, she is going tocall back again. This creates more work, and the customer’sexpectations have not been met. Then, the customer will befrustrated.

The adjuster should have told the customer the check wouldprobably go out in the mail today. Because it takes two to threedays for the mail, it would arrive by Friday. The adjuster shouldthen tell the customer to call back if it has not arrived by thattime.

The adjuster thought that was a stupid idea because she cannotcontrol the mail. We do not control the mail, but we do control thecustomer’s expectations. The customer is not going to call the postoffice when the check does not arrive. The customer will call theadjuster.

If you want to save some time, start setting someexpectations.