Customer Service Calls as Opportunity Calls: How changing your perception of customer service calls can yield better results

For months I’ve been dealing with this billing issue with Sprint. They would charge me for individual text messages, even though I pay for unlimited text messaging service. Every month I would call their customer service and they would credit me what they’ve overcharged, only to discover the same problem again the following month. This went along for 4 months.

Finally, agitated from the routine calls to Sprint, I asked directly for the supervisor. I was put on hold for a few minute before I was greeted by the supervisor. I explained to her about my billing problem I’d been having. She listened to my problem without interrupting. She further went on to explain to me why this was happening every month. And finally, she corrected the problem.

Needless to say, I was relieved when the bill came in correct the next month.

For months I’ve considered leaving Sprint for another carrier. That call to the supervisor was the last chance I gave Sprint. Thankfully, she delivered. Since then I haven’t thought about leaving Sprint.

So I started to think: Was my complaint simply just a complaint? I believe it’s more than that. Essentially I gave them a chance to keep me as a customer.

Then I had a thought. What if I can get my customer service reps to view complaint calls as opportunity? An opportunity to restore the customer’s confidence back into the company. This promotes a positive working environment and it gives the reps a sense of accomplishment when they capitalize on the opportunity. This translates into better service output.

Learn to approach each customer service call as an opportunity instead of a complaint; you would be amazed how much impact this can have.