Customer service succeeds when it accomplishes what the organization sets out to accomplish. If your customer service department is currently failing, remind yourself that the system you put in place is perfectly designed for the results you’re currently getting.

You want to create a significant competitive advantage by engaging with customers in a way that others can’t or won’t. So consider what your competitive advantage might be. With customer service it might mean that you don’t train your people to give standardized answers but cut right to the chase. Remember that many people have already researched online at your website a possible solution to their problem. So perhaps the first question your service rep may ask is, “Have you looked online at our site for a solution?" If yes, then skip all the standard questions.

Most people are limited on time just like you so don’t waste their time when they call in. I've found it interesting that some customer service training programs have over-emphasized empathizing! In other words—they’re too polite! Listen, your customer wants a solution. They don’t want you to wax long and eloquent about how terrible this must be for you, how sorry they are about your situation, that they will look into this, etc. etc. Strike a balance between politeness and getting to the point.

On a recent chat experience with Sprint, the customer service rep kept constantly apologizing but I wasn’t getting an answer even though I had clearly outlined the problem. What should have taken 2-3 minutes to solve turned into a 10-15 minute chat session. While that person was trying to be professional and I was trying to maintain my cool, both of us were unnecessarily wasting time. The rep probably had a stack of people in the queue waiting to have their problems solved and I was looking for a quick fix so I could get on with my life.

I said it before and I'll say it again: Be flexible. Build systems that are efficient AND effective. Keep talking with your customer service reps about the issues they are dealing with and make constant changes to your system so you can ultimately serve your customers.