Change the Game!

In another corporate life, we once had a customer named Judy (name changed to protect the innocent). And Judy was…challenging. When Judy first became a customer of my organization, she was our worst nightmare. Why? Because every morning when our technical support call center opened, Judy was the first one calling — every day. Sometimes multiple times per day — weekends and evenings too. She became a recurring topic of staff meetings. And then one day, our director asked: “What are you going to do about Judy? How are you going to change the game?” That second question became one of my favorite questions to use. Our director didn’t give us the answers (thanks Barb!), but simply kept coming back to challenge us: “How are you going to change the game?” (As a trainer I later realized this was her version of the five whys – she wanted more than just the answer – an answer – she wanted us to solve the root issue). My colleagues and I pondered the question – and Judy kept calling.

We did figure it out: we changed the game by calling her, yes, every day. So, every morning we started calling her at the opening bell of our call center. And pretty soon something interesting happened: Judy told us we didn’t need to call every day. We could call her…weekly, that would be enough. Then it became monthly, and eventually Judy told us she would call in when she needed something. In addition to the calls, we also made her a beta tester for the product she used.

The moral of the story:

Customers don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care.

Judy’s root problem was not her system problems – although she wanted those resolved – the reason she called every day was that she didn’t think we were taking her concerns seriously. So like the squeaky wheel that gets the oil, she called us until we did take the issues (and her) seriously.

If you have a customer who’s a thorn in your side, think about how you’ll change the game.

1. Take the issue seriously. There are lots of customers who cry wolf and call repeatedly. Part of Expecting the Best is expecting that the customer is serious. Your job is to serve them and their issue. Taking issues seriously is a first step.


2. Involve the customer. Find ways that you can involve them in the solution. Create a partnership with them – yes it’s your product or service and it’s your responsibility to solve the issue. Create a shared sense of ownership by getting the customer’s skin in the game.


3. Keep them informed. Keep them updated on what you are doing to solve the issue. Regular updates to the customer will prevent them from feeling in the dark and out of touch, which may isolate them and increase upset feelings.

By putting your focus on the customer and their needs, you can deliver a level of service that truly changes the game.

Change the Game!