Perception As Reality: A Customer Service Nightmare

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I have always thought of myself as a likable person.  Amiable, good natured, and funny.  At least that's how I envision myself.  Yet, other people's perceptions can be far different than your own.  During my tenure as a manager I took pride in advancing my employees careers, helping their families when in need, and really taking an interest in their lives as opposed to just being a boss.  I believe that collaborating with people is the key to every one's success.  No one is an island.

Something happened recently in my personal life that reminded me of a similar incident at work years ago.  I was working as a Service Manager and I handled a fleet of drivers.  One particular driver, John,  I took an interest in because I had promoted him from a production loader, to a production supervisor, and finally a service/sales person.  I had brought him up through the ranks in a short period of time, and I thought that his personality would work well in dealing with our customers.  He was funny, amiable, and hard working.  And I was right.  He did well in service and his customers liked him.  Every customer liked him, and I was proud to see him advancing his career.  The future seemed bright for both of us.

As it happens we signed a major national account in the home security industry and they were in need of our products right away.  John and I met with their team and the person who he would be dealing with on a weekly basis, who introduced himself as "the A-hole".  No joke, that is exactly how he described himself and with an emphasis on the word beginning with A.  We dealt with crazy customers all the time, so I didn't think anything of it, I was just trying to get the product to them as quickly as possible.  And we did.  In fact we ending up delivering it late on a Friday night in a driving rainstorm and I was at their facility until 9 pm.  I let John go home by 6 pm because he had a young son and I didn't want to keep him from his family.  We were able to meet the customers expectations and get them their products on time and I was happy.  Hopefully "the A-hole" would be happy as well.

Over the course of each week I would check in with John.

"How's the A-hole doing?  Are they happy with our service?"

"Oh yeah! Great! Great! Very happy."

"Awesome! That's great.  Good job John!"

And this would be our conversation about the account for the next 4 weeks.  No issues, no complaints, at least not about John, and all seemed well.  Until...the bombs started dropping.  Our customer service department started receiving a slew of complaints from John's customers about the level of service they were receiving.  But the complaints weren't about John, they were all centered around ME!  Customers were complaining that I had misplaced their orders for new products, that I was not calling them back, and that I was basically a failure as a manager.  And then my boss called me into his office.
"We've been getting complaints at corporate about you and how you're handling the ABC account."

" I installed the products and John told me that everything has been going well each week."

" Well there's apparently some guy named Richard over there who wants you fired.  Says you don't return his calls, and he even called our CEO about you."

" What!  I've met him exactly once and he introduced himself as the A-hole.  John's been dealing with him ever since the installation.  What are the problems exactly?"

" Wrong orders.  Incorrect applications, and apparently you never return his calls."

" He's never called me.  Not once.  What the heck is going on?"

" I don't know but you better get with John and meet with this guy.  Now that the CEO knows, your career is on the line."

" You're kidding right?"

" No I'm not.  Someone's head is gonna roll here and it's not going to be mine."

I was panicked!  What the heck had happened?  I conferred with my General Manager and we decided the best thing to do was for me to ride along with John for a week to repair all the damage that I had been done to my reputation.  I told John I would be riding with him all next week, and at that point he looked panicked.

"Why are you riding with me?  I told you everything is fine.  My customers love me!"

"Yeah but apparently they hate me, and now my butt is on the line.  I guess that guy Richard called corporate on me."

"Really?  That's weird.  Well okay I guess we'll find out what's going on next week."

He didn't sound all that convinced and when I rode with him first thing Monday morning I found out exactly what was going on when we pulled up to ABC company.  Richard, the A-hole, was waiting for me.

" I gotta bone to pick with you buddy.  In the conference room, both of you right now!"

He shouted at us.  We followed, and it was a little frightening how upset he was from the beginning. As if he had been angry since...I don't know birth maybe? We sat down and he had his assistant with him. He sat opposite us and pointed a bony finger right at me.

"You are an f-ing a-hole and I am going to have your butt fired."

"Okay. I can see your upset and this may sound stupid.  But why am I an a-hole and why do you want me fired."

"Are you f-ing kidding me!  You don't even know!  Oh my god your company is a joke!  This guy here has been busting his butt to get all our orders right and you just sit on your ass doing nothing.  No wonder you suck so badly.", and he was pointing at John.

"He is the best damn driver I've had, great guy, and I have personally heard him leaving you voicemails about issues with our account and to call me and you haven't called me once. Not once!  What is wrong with you?!  Don't you want to keep your job?  You're such a loser!"

And at that point, a little light went off in my head, and a bell...ding, ding, ding. John was blaming all his customers issues on me.  I decided to take the high road.

"You've been giving all the new orders to John right. And he's been leaving voicemails for me to call you?"
I asked, knowing full well I had never received any voicemails or new orders from John for the account. 

"Right!  Do I have to repeat myself.  And he's been giving the orders to you.  Isn't that right John."

"Uh yeah.  I guess so.", John answered but not convincingly. He was looking down at the table.

"And apparently you haven't been placing any of the damn orders!  Why?  Can you explain that Mr. Idiot Service Manager!  Why haven't you been placing the orders?! Or checking your voicemail?!"

"No I can't, but I can explain to you that this is all my fault and I will take full responsibility and fix any issues that you have.  Richard, I want to correct this situation and so I will be here the next 2 weeks to resolve the issues."

"Good.  You had better fix it. Why does he have to give you the orders anyways?  Why can't he just order them on his own?"

"He can, but I don't know if John is aware that he has the authority to place orders.  That's a training issue on my part and I will work to get it corrected.", I said this knowing full well John was well aware he could place orders for the account at any time.

"Well that's good, then we won't have to route the orders through your sorry ass!  We can take the f-up straight out of the equation.  I can't believe your even out here, I thought they would have fired you after I spoke to your CEO."

"Well I thank the CEO and yourself for allowing me to change your perception of our service."

" Your service, not our service.  This guy's doing a great job. Don't you lump him in with your sorry ass.  And my perception of YOU at this point is that YOU suck. ", and again he pointed at me while John was now silent.

"I will get this corrected within two weeks or I'm sure they will fire my ass.  Thanks for the opportunity."

" Don't thank me just fix it. Perceive my reality.  And the reality is... I am pissed.  Are you getting that?"

"Absolutely."

"Good.", and then he looked at John who had his head down and said, "And don't you dare give me another driver.  This guy is doing great.  You're the f-up. Now get out of here."

"Will do.  No changes. Thank you.", and I offered my hand for him to shake which he did, while he glared at me like he wanted to fight.  I smiled, turned, and walked off with John and my ears burning with anger. I had been "thrown under the bus", by a guy I had been working hard to promote for years. I was shocked, confused, and hurt.  As we walked John kept his head down.

"Sorry about that.  There were just so many orders. I got overwhelmed.", he said.

"Don't say anything.  I don't want to hear it.  I just want to fix this #$% and move on.  Am I going to run into this at some of your other accounts that are complaining?"

"Probably."

"Well then I'll just have to deal with it.  It's more important they like you than me. Just don't do it again please."

"I won't."

All week, I listened as each customer told me what a bad job I was doing and how John deserved a better boss than me, and how the company should fire me immediately.  I took note of each issue, set out to resolve them, and documented each one.  Their perception was that John was great and I was not, and their perception had become my reality.  If I didn't fix the problems, then their perception would persist and eventually I would be demoted or fired. 

For the next 2 months I worked diligently with John and each customer to repair the damage that had been done and to alter their perceptions.  I fixed all of their problems, changed my reality, and then I fixed John too.  But that's a story for another post.

If you work with customers you must remember that whatever they perceive is now your reality.  Whether it is right or wrong doesn't matter.  Alter their perception and you can change reality. And possibly your career in the process.

Have a great day!

Leadership 11.0

As a successful manager I thought I could write about leadership pretty easily. I also considered that I'm more than qualified than most people to address this topic, since I have done incredibly well in every management or leadership position in which I was placed. Wow!  That sounded really arrogant.

But people don't want to read that crap.  "Oh I'm so great just do what I do! Or try what I did because I'm so smart. " It seems terribly egocentric and extremely annoying.

People also don't want to read "I studied for 8 years and I have my PhD, listen to me, even though I've never ran a business.", which is mostly academic and almost condescending. In addition, it doesn't carry a lot of credibility in the business world.  Theories are great but people need concrete examples of how things work.

For this post, I spoke to many friends in management positions, very high management positions, as in CEO's, senior VP's, newer VP's, and I didn't include friends at Bank of America where it seems everyone is a VP.  I am never one to candy coat my message, which would probably bring me more followers, but I speak candidly and truthfully about the business world.  My message is twisted, honest, and pragmatic.  So if your looking for unicorns and rainbows and you want to know how to solve the world's problems, please read a different post. No one has all the answers.

However, I offer real life examples of what works and what doesn't and so listed below are 11 attributes of good leaders, which I gleaned from hours talking to business acquaintances.  I hope this helps those of you who are in leadership positions to understand your role and how much you can either help or hinder people's lives and careers. And for those of you who aren't in leadership roles, I would urge you to find a leader with these qualities and follow them along your career path.

Truthful - I am always shocked when I find a leader who lies to their team.  And I am not referring to little white lies such as, "Oh that tie looks good on you", when it really looks awful.  Or "That's a great picture. Your kid is very cute.", when the child looks like a smaller version of Ron Pearlman in "Hell Boy". I mean lies with serious implications, like how the leader feels about an employee and the status of their working relationship. Or even worse whether or not the employee is about to be laid off.  Leaders should be truthful...especially when your career depends upon it. 

Resilient - Good leaders are tough...like an old piece of beef jerky.  It's take a while to chew threw them, they don't go down too easily, and they can be spicy at times.  If you have a good manager she/he will weather both the good times and the bad, but be especially resilient during the bad times.  A leader cannot wither when the winds of corporate blow hard.  They must stand tall.

Unbiased - A lot of managers have a difficult time being unbiased.  It's only natural to like some employees better than others because they're doing a great job.  However a true leader, must not show bias when it comes to standards or discipline.  I had an employee once who was absolutely awesome, but during a contest, he piled on a lot of  products which were never delivered to his biggest customer,  who wasn't perusing the invoices.  Subsequently, my employee won $5,000, but when the customer found out and demanded a refund, I had to fire him. He had cheated the customer, the company, and worst of all...himself.  

Spirited - Leaders are passionate people.  They have a wealth of spirit which gets people enthusiastic to work with them.  I don't mean they're cheerleaders like the girls in "Bring It On".  They don't have spirit sticks or jazz hands.  They aren't blustery or extroverted like Steve Balmer, but they have spirit and passion for their work.  Does Bill Gates strike you as someone who has passion or is spirited?  To me he seems about as passionate as a block of wood. Yet he must have a wealth of spirit and passion because he fought off every challenge offered to Microsoft and he got Balmer to follow him.  You can't do that without being spirited.  Who do you think taught Steve Balmer to dance?

Taxing- Leaders are taxing on their employees.  Again, I'm not referring to what is taken out of an employees pay check every week, but rather taxing as in demanding.  Leaders get the best out of their people, and if they have to be taxing at times, so be it.  I would rather work or be lead by someone who makes me the best I can be, rather than be coddled and never reach my full potential.  A perfect example is the basketball star Michael Jordan.  He was a taxing and demanding on his teammates but his teams won championships. He got the best out of every one of his teammates.  Seriously, who else could win an NBA Championship with Bill Cartwright or Luc Longley?  And I'm sure 90% of you are asking yourself, "who the hell is Luc Longley?"

Worthy - Great leaders are people who are worthy of being followed.  What exactly does that mean?  Well people will follow someone who is genuine, sincere, authentic, and worth risking their career or lives over.  People will not follow someone who has only their own interest in mind, or who is not sincere in their efforts or genuine in their commitments.  To be a good leader you must be authentic and worthy enough to have followers. Leaders are worthy...unlike Wayne and Garth who are not worthy.

Open Minded - Steve Jobs has been quoted A LOT.  It seems that he's the spokesperson for a generation, and rightfully so, but my favorite quotes from him have nothing to do with technology.  I think his mass appeal is how open minded he was about everything.  He didn't see limits on ANYTHING, and that's why he was a great leader.  Unfortunately the only limit on Steve Jobs was time...

Reliable - Leaders must be reliable and they must be loyal.  Otherwise they wouldn't be worth following.  People need to trust that the decisions they make will be consistent and that their leader will act with the best interest of the company and the employee in mind.  If you cannot rely upon your manager or boss to advance your career, than who can you rely upon?

Trusting - A great leader relies upon his or her people to get things done.  They realize they cannot do it themselves.  A poor leader is one who tries to do everything, including their employees jobs.  Big mistake! A leader must trust that he/she has trained people correctly, and they will make the appropriate choices for everyone to be successful.

Humane - Despite being taxing and demanding, a good leader must also be humane.  They must understand that not all people or employees are the same, and also allow for people to live their lives, rather than devoting their lives to work.  When my dad passed away, I requested time off, but my boss at the time cut me short. "You don't even have to ask, take all the time you need, and it won't cut into your vacation pay."  I was shocked, but grateful.  Legally, he didn't have to do anything, but I was so appreciative of his empathy that I followed his career path for the next 5 years and we both benefited from his leadership.

Yawp - If you're wondering what yawp is, I can tell you it is not a gastrointestinal bodily function.  However, it sounds like it could be?  In the words of Walt Whitman, "I sound my barbaric yawp over the roofs of the world." I interpret this song of Whitman's as vision, focus, or voice.  It is what every great leader has, and some in more reserve than others.  Yet for a leader to be followed he or she must have a voice, a vision, a barbaric yawp to incite people to follow. 

If you read this post and you are managing people, I hope it helps you and those you are leading. I think I spelled it out pretty clearly. 

Have a great day!