When Is A Genius Not A Genius: Why Companies Fail
I have been an Apple user since the very first Mac fell off the Apple tree. Everything I use is Apple brand. So one can imagine my surprise and hurt when I bought the new iPhone 6 Plus and a keyboard glitch made it nearly impossible to access contacts to make a phone call, text, email or anything related to the contact list.
I spent three hours on the phone with a lovely lady at Apple who couldn’t figure out the problem, then went to the renowned Apple store Genius Bar. And, while the gentleman was courteous, neither he nor any of his colleagues could figure out the problem. He reported they’ve had other consumers complain of the same issue. “It must an operating system issue”, he said. “What do I in the meantime” I ask. “Well, I guess wait for the next update,” he responded.
With my new nonworking phone in hand I hop back on the subway and go back to my office where I tearfully relayed my experience to my savvy Millennial assistant who said, “let me look at the phone.” She fixed the phone in 10 seconds. I was speechless. The genius failed to see that my gmail and iCloud contacts were both syncing to my phone, making the contact list too large for it to work properly. I know Google is a competitor, but if a large number of your customers use a competitor’s product with your product, your employees should know how to trouble shoot.
My plea to Apple and to all companies who are rushing to market with the latest and greatest in order to grab market share: TRAIN YOUR EMPLOYEES
1) Ongoing classes –classroom or web based – either instructor led or self-led. These classes must include serious testing at the end of each section where the “student” cannot progress further without strong knowledge of the material.
2) Keep track of customer complaints so the tech experts can be up-to-date with responses and help the customer. Make the customer complaints part of the training.
3) Consider replicating customer experiences in a workshop format, whether it’s at company sales conferences, or other events where there are possibly thousands of your tech experts convening. These should be instructor led workshops where everyone goes on camera and must trouble shoot a customer complaint. Those on camera training sessions should be played back and critiqued. Examples of stellar display of both knowledge and EQ by the company employee would be posted on the company’s Intranet. This will stimulate employees to want to perform well so that their video is posted on the website. They will be incented to learn material.
Bottom Line
Products have to work, even though customers are often seduced to buy because of snappy marketing and sleek product design. In years past unhappy consumers would immediately tell at least five friends about their miserable experience. Nowadays, with Social Media, we tell millions with one click.
Any crafty ways you have found to train your employees? Tweet at me @BergonPoint
Get more exciting communication tips in Loud and Clear by Karen Berg. Read more here: https://tinyurl.com/wm2tod4