[1[2author
Another off-topic post*, this one about communication with a corporation. This corporation currently has a campaign entitled, "We're listening." It is intended, I suppose to convince the customers that they are listening.
As it happened, I had a little problem with one of their accounting procedures, and so I was taken in by the slogan, and tried to tell them about the problem. Here is the conversation, stripped down to its essence.
[3chase-customer [2author I am having difficulty because of one of your accounting procedures. (Description of procedure.)]]
[3chase [2charlotte We understand your frustration. Here is how it works. (How the procedure is supposed to work.)]]
[3chase-customer [2author I don't feel listened to. I would be very happy if your procedure worked the way you describe it. But it actually works like this. (Description of procedure.)]]
[3chase [2josue We understand your frustration. Here is how it works. (How the procedure is supposed to work.)]]
[3chase-customer [2author You aren't listening. I would be very happy if your procedure worked the way [2charlotte] and [2josue] describe it. But it actually works like this. (Description of procedure.) I will have to minimize my use of your service.]]
[3chase [2mark We appreciate your business. We would have loved nothing better than to satisfy you with our replies. We are sorry you are going to minimize your use of our service, and hope you will reconsider. If you have any further questions, please contact us.]]
The ball is in my court again, but I think that I will just retire from the field. I have lost this volley. The corporation has lost some business. How could it have the slogan, "we're listening," while not listening? Of course, I wasn't listening either, in the sense of believing what they said. I prefer to believe what I see them actually doing.
For the record, the accounting procedure actually works the way I described it (to a customer's disadvantage) and not the way the corporation describes it (which would be to the customer's advantage).
Neither side has truly communicated to the other. Nothing will change, and the customer confusion will continue. Neither side changed its position. This is confusion without compromise.
* Inspired by Myrna's post-the-first and post-the-second about another corporation which didn't communicate well.
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