Do you frequently hear that customers are unhappy about something, and sometimes they are downright frustrated? You've been given an indicator of what is going on in the organization. The customers aren't getting what they thought they paid for, and the employees are actually blocking access to what the customer wants.
Let's look at it from the customer's view: You've just bought a new XYZ that is critical to your business operation. You get it back to the office, and can't make it work as advertised. You call customer support, with the hope that it is something that can be quickly fixed. After waiting on the phone for 30-40 minutes you finally get a live person who immediately says, "Oh sure. Everyone makes that mistake. All you have to do is ......[stand on your left foot while pushing the button with the right index finger]. No problem. Thanks for calling...click."
You didn't even have the chance to tell him that you aren't one of those everyday customers. You are actually quite knowledgeable and already tried that, but it didn't work. So, since he didn't listen, you've got to make that call again. Another 30-40 minutes waiting and finally get someone else whose immediate response is....[exactly the same as the last time] but you are trying to get him to listen before he cuts you off like the last one. You finally get him to stop and listen, but his response is, "You're using it wrong. It wasn't meant to do that, at least that way. When you are using it that way you have to stand on the right foot while pushing the button with the left index finger. Geeeeee!!! .....click."
And after you try it on the left foot it starts working. In the meantime you and your business were off-line for how long, at how much cost?
What did it cost you to buy that product that was supposed to save you money? And chances are that there will be another 20-30 calls for other issues. In the meantime it's costing you tons of time and money while you are trying to fix their product, and, in some cases, because your business is dependent upon having the product working, the entire business is down.
So, what's the answer to this? Although many customer service reps, managers, and business owners think this is a technical problem that can be fixed by fixing the technical issue, please listen carefully, it is not. It is a management problem. It is up to management to fix the fact that the person directly in contact with the customer is more concerned in proving that the product really does work and the customer is too stupid to know it instead of helping the customer get what he really wants. The employees must be informed, maybe trained, to understand their real job is to help the customer and that requires listening to him thoroughly. Otherwise they are probably answering the wrong question.
Sometimes there really is a good technical reason to stand on the left foot instead of the right when pushing the button. And if a customer doesn't know how or when to do that, isn't the problem with the instructions, not the customer.
Keep good records on what customers are calling about. Even if an employee has what he thinks is a justifiable answer, if that question just keeps coming up over and over, it is time to find out what the real base cause is.
Most customer service people are actually trying to do a good job for their boss, but they don't understand what the goals of their job really are. So they are doing a good job delivering the wrong service. Most feel that their job is to protect the boss, the company, and maybe their own job, from that "stupid customer". That makes it a losing situation for the customer.
If they change their perspective to, "My job is to help the customer get what he wants. I'm the expert on company policy, the technical issues, and I'll use those tools to help the customer get what he really wants, which usually is a product that works".
Make sure that the employees in direct contact with a customer have a vision of their job that is clearly defined as: Your job, if you decide to take it, is to make sure that each customer gets what he wants. You are the expert in company policy, and possibly even technical issues of the product, so use those tools to facilitate, smooth out, getting the customer what he wants.
Many times the responsibility of the employee is not to find a technical reason (standing on the left foot while.....). The employees should be trained to think beyond the fact that some technical aspect of a product is or is not broken. He should be asking the customer why he is struggling, it could be in the instructions, it could be customers are buying it to do something that it wasn't intended to do (marketing, advertising, are saying the wrong thing, or not saying it clearly enough).
Frequently the employees need to be trained to think out of the box, and help the customer in ways that are not quite as obvious. The employees can better help a customer if they have the skills to probe and find what is the real cause that is well beyond a technical "it's broken" response from a customer.