How do you react when a problem is put in front of you? Do you think of the problem or think about the solution?
Let me start with a short story about my recent experience with a customer service desk. Initially, I had a tough time to explain the problem and try to get hold of someone who could help me.
Even though I am a "premium account" according to my telecom provider, I did not get much preferential treatment from the first level representative. It was like talking to deaf ears... the guy would just simply not understand my problem and requirement as to which services I wanted to add to my plan.
Through the conversation, I asked him questions about the services and he could not get past the problem of how to get the services activated. He finally gave up and said that it is something that you will have to call our Technical help desk for.
Well, after a round of calls with the technical help desk (who as you would have guessed did not have an answer either), I had to call back to the general help desk.
This time, however, I was a bit clever. Before the first level service rep. could ask why I was calling, I immediately asked to talk to one of the senior team members.
The person who came online, seemed to have a completely different approach to my problem. He was able to answer all my questions regarding the service and also suggest solutions to the problems that I highlighted. He finally got the problem of activation resolved right on the call.
I was obviously very satisfied with the second round with the general help desk. I was happy and gave him a positive feedback before hanging up and enjoying the new plan on my mobile.
So two different people from the same organisation faced with the same problem had two completely different approaches. The first one focused on only the problem and his operations manual to tell him what are the scripted next steps. The other however, went away from the ops manual to find a solution that will work for me.
How many of us really look at a problem with the approach to break it down to find a solution. Further more, how many of us look at a problem within the limits defined for us (in this case the ops manual).
I feel that the individual's approach to solving any problem will have a direct impact on how he/she interacts with the customer. In the case that a person's approach is focused on finding more issues/obstacles in solving the problem at hand... he will never be able to find the solution the customer is looking for.
You need a person who will focus on the solution, trying to find something without being restricted by the problem. You need a person to be solution oriented... to ask himself, "How can I do it?" rather than be stuck with, "Here is the problem, please fix it."
I know you all would have faced a time where your problems were not addressed to satisfaction... was the person on the other side, Problem Oriented or Solution Oriented?
A Solution Oriented person will invariably find a resolution to your problem... making you one satisfied customer...
What has been your experience?
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