Good customer service is a two-way street

We run into all sorts of problems in our daily lives. Some things we bring upon ourselves, while others can stem from matters that are completely beyond our control. If you’ve ever subscribed to a service in the past and have something go wrong with it, odds are, you would have made a dreaded call to their customer service representative. A call that would probably end in a frustrated huff.

It’s OK to be angry. Especially if it’s a service you depend on, like your mobile network, internet line or whatever else you would need to function properly in life. The thing that we tend to forget when we start yelling into our phones is that, on the other end of the line, there is a living, breathing human being like you and I listening to it.

And most times, what went wrong has nothing to do with them at all.

Now, I’ve never been to a call centre before. In my head, I’ve got an image of what I think call centres look like and it kind of looks like a server room but instead of servers you have rows and rows of desks with people in them. Everyone is working in sync like a manufacturing line, bathed in lighting conditions that are just shy of well-lit. There are no windows or clocks so the reps can’t tell what time of day it is, much like a casino.

But, when Maxis took us on a tour of their new call centre in the heart of Bandar Sunway, I was stunned. Shocked, really. The workspace looked nothing like what was in my head. Instead, it looked a lot like something you’d find in one of Google’s offices.

The desks were clinically white and generous in size so the space doesn’t feel overly cramped. There were no cubicles or walls compartmentalising the staff. Everything was well lit and there were enormous windows everywhere so everyone would always know what’s going on outside.

What also surprised me was how stocked the place was with games and creature comforts. They have a foosball table, a ping pong table, snack dispensers and a cool-looking sleeping corner for staff to take a nap in. They even have walls with skateboards, guitars and entire drum kits tacked to them that the reps could take and use. Everything was so colourful and bright and happy.

I also had the opportunity to chat with some of the reps working in the centre and the nice thing was that they were just as colourful as the office itself. They seem to come from all walks of life, each with their own story of how they ended up there and how each of them finds a different kind of satisfaction in the job.

Spend some time with these reps and it becomes pretty obvious how difficult this job can become. On your average working day, these reps get about 100 calls each day with each call lasting about 5-7 minutes, sometimes more. One rep even tells me that she was on the phone with a customer for two whole hours.

It becomes even more challenging when you look at the type of customers they have to deal with, ranging from tech savvy to completely tech-illiterate.

Sure they tell me that there aren’t many deliberately mean customers that they can remember, but if you’re getting that many calls a day every single day, there are bound to be toxic interactions that end up sticking with you.

But, the same can be said for the number of positive interactions these reps encounter too. It’s lovely to see their eyes light up when they recount stories of nice customers and people who showed kindness and civility over the phone.

Sometimes when something you rely on goes down, it’s easy to lose your cool. I’m as guilty (if not more) of this as any one of you guys but we have to remember that on the inside, we’re all still human and it’s good to show that sometimes. Besides, showing some kindness could go a long way in expediting the process of finding a solution to your problem.

I think Maxis did a pretty solid job on their end in keeping their customer service reps’ spirits and performance up with a nice workspace and cool environment. I don’t know if other call centres are like this, but if they are, kudos to the people who actually care about keeping their employees happy and in good spirits.

But, that’s only half the job. The other half is down to us, the customers. Let’s not lose track of our humanity just because we got caught up in the heat of the moment. Together, it’s easier to build a more constructive and effective problem-solution interaction between customer and customer service rep.

Who knows, in the future, calling customer service might not be something people dread anymore. Then again, perhaps the best way to ensure satisfaction throughout is to have a solid product/service that doesn’t (or at the very least, rarely) goes wrong. No problems, no need to call customer service. Everyone is happy.