Customer Service was intentionally built to be this painful, it isn’t the way it is by accident. The fact that it takes effort to go through the phone menu is no accident. It is also no accident that most customer service employees sound like my crooked cousin wearing a wire. NO ONE talks like a customer service representative. Do you know anyone that sounds so “fake nice”? They are trained to be sterile. There is intention behind most of the things in customer service that does not make sense to you. This isn’t some vast conspiracy to annoy you. This is the result of faulty thinking, which leads to faulty design and bad outcomes for customers. There is intentionality in customer service.

Every business problem is a money problem. Despite all the flowery words customers say about loving their customers. Customer Service is a cost that eats into profits. You love your children but you look for places to save money if you are not made of money. A business is no different, they want to provide you the best customer service but also want to maximize profits. The thing about customer service is that the payoff is not straightforward. When they spend money on marketing someone buys their product. When it is spent on customer service it is usually delayed gratification.

We spend 43 days of our lives just waiting for service. It would be nice if you do not need a sherpa to navigate the world of customer service but you do. You do not want to keep pressing 1 or pressing 2 and I can help. Let’s be clear, even I can not promise pain free. I helped build a lot of the way customer service is now, and I can tell you how to avoid all the traps. Customer Service will be great one day, but until then I want to arm you with the insider’s secret to help you avoid the worst of it.

We have not had a new idea in customer service for decades. Every single idea we hear basically boils down to – use more technology or better training. I have some new thinking. It is not the primary thesis of my book, I spend most of it really really identifying the problem. I hope you find the new ideas refreshing whether you agree or disagree. I want to hear from you, so let me know your thoughts if you work in customer service.

We need to examine the role we the consumer play in this. In any failed relationship, there are usually two culprits. Yes, the companies and governmental agencies we interact with are full of blame. What role do you and I play in this? I examine our treatment of service employees, our refusal to vote with our wallets time after time. I examine the social contract in customer service with an eye toward recommending a new way of doing things.

If you are sick of the status quo. If you are tired of “dealing” with customer service. If you want to learn more about customer service. Then here is my invitation. I want to teach you as much as you are willing to learn, and I want you to join me as a Citizen customer service evangelist.  Buy the book, follow me online and join BXGACDEMY.com to go even deeper. See you in the fight.