Soft Pedalling Doesn’t Improve Customer Service

By Robert Hall, Support Analyst, Marval

5 things I like almost as much as riding my bike:

1.      Looking at my bike

2.      Talking about my bike

3.      Watching television programs that feature people riding bikes

4.      Websites about bikes

5.      Coffee

There is a T-shirt that has the above text printed on it, and it’s true. Ask most people that ride a bike on a regular basis. Part of it is similar to Yoga, in that you find it is a way to concentrate your mind on the task in hand – pedalling forwards – and so you free your mind from the usual noise that fills our heads.

I regularly cycle 30 miles or more. When I first started, that seemed a huge target to reach. It was easy to get downhearted and not want to finish the ride. But try it and you will find many riders willing to ride with you - and that helps. You feel part of a brotherhood, or sisterhood, of riders that once felt that way too. They have been through that stage and can offer good advice, about keeping your energy levels up, group riding, where to get good clothing or even a different bike.

Soon you will find you can cover twice as many miles, and maybe plan a century, or 100 miles. That’s right, some people baulk at driving that distance, but we cycle one hundred miles. In a day.

It’s about setting a target, to improve your performance in this instance, and keep your focus on it. It’s also about determination to achieve this target. It’s about a process that needs to be followed to get there (you can’t go from 3 miles to 30 without systematic effort and commitment). And about teamwork of course; having your team’s support and backing, knowing they will be around to help if you need them. It’s about knowledge; sharing advice that will help you reach your target more easily and more quickly. Finally, it’s about having access to the right tools that will help you be successful; a good and reliable bike, for example.

When it comes to Customer Service, things are pretty similar. Improving service delivery (or your personal or your team’s performance) is a target. In order to achieve this target, you need vision and determination, and a good process that will help you take the right steps on every occasion. Teamwork is important; Support Analysts are more confident and efficient if they are members of an integrated and collaborative team. Knowledge sharing is crucial, of course, and it really can help accelerate resolution. But most importantly, you need the right tools: smart and reliable technology that will help you get to the finishing line faster.

Processes and technology can help, not only as they help meet the objectives step by step, but mostly because they promote cultural change. Advanced Service Management technology, like Marval MSM, fosters a new mindset; new ways of thinking and working that set the team on the path to success. Technology also helps improve people’s efficiency at work, increasing their overall satisfaction and commitment to the final target. And it can cultivate integration and collaboration among the Service Desk staff, helping people work together towards a common goal: the delivery of a better customer experience.

Let’s wake up and smell the coffee: Soft pedalling won’t help improve customer service. We need processes, great technology and the right mindset.

Coffee. Yes, talk to a group of cyclists and they will know of a coffee stop, maybe even will plan a ride to include a coffee stop. Coffee is nice, cake is nice, what’s not to like? Cyclists know about coffee, and so do Support Analysts who work on busy Service Desks.

Time to get a cuppa.