For almost all major companies who outsource customer
service, “Bill explanation” in one form or another is a top call driver to
their centers. (For those that just want to know where Memento comes into play, see #4).
How do you get this
pivotal service right?
1. Listen very carefully to the customer and
ask questions
There are generally only a few reasons the customer needs
their bill explained: unexpected charge, or first bill, or new customer on an
existing account (i.e., hubby calls in to make a payment when it’s usually
wife’s job, or vice versa). Your reps will answer the same questions over and
over. For most bills, I would say about 75%, a standard scripted explanation
will be sufficient.
However, the remaining 25% will age you before your time and
make you face your own mortality, because they are so challenging to
understand, let alone script.
This is why it’s key to listen to all the information coming
from the customer, ask targeted questions (list below) and pay attention to what the customer says at
all stages of the game.
Generally, customers
are the worst source of information about their own account—I mean, they’re
calling you for information, right? If they knew, they wouldn’t be on the phone
with you! But in the case of the double bill, the missing bill, or the bill
that keeps coming in the wrong name, they usually have valuable information.
-
Targeted
questions to ask (nicely!!!)
o
Have you had this issue before? If so, and if it
was resolved, what was the resolution?
o
When did you first notice this issue?
o
What is the outcome that you would like to see
here? (This may help with people who rant, ask questions, rant, go on a
tangent, and then rant some more.)
o
Before I explain this, would you like me to
refer you to our Self Help page (or other resources they could use to resolve
the issues alone)?
2. Use active listening to paraphrase the
concern before commencing with the explanation
With outsourced agents who speak English as a second
language, it’s a fact that nuances can be missed. With billing questions,
especially tangled events like a promise for a % off that never happened, it’s
very important to double check with the customer before “solving” the issue.
-
Paraphrase1:
“So, you’re seeing a charge for $41.95 over
and above your normal charge of $21.99, and you’re wondering what happened
there?”
-
Paraphrase
after catching the miss from paraphrase 1: “Oh, your entire bill is $41.95. Okay, so there’s an additional $19.96
that we need to find somewhere.”
3. Match the speed, pacing, and comprehension
level of your customer
I’m sure I don’t need to explain this advice in detail, but
let me fill it out a bit by suggesting how
you can determine the comprehension level of your customer.
-
Vocabulary. One of the easiest ways to determine
the “reading level” of your customer- do they use industry jargon (such as
“billing cycle”)? Do they seem familiar with billing practices at all? (It
happens that we do get callers who’ve never seen an e-bill or even a
checkbook!)
-
Question frequency- are they asking a lot of
questions or are they just giving you verbal nods? A lot of questions usually
means they aren’t following your level of conversation and it’s time to take it
down a notch.
-
Type of question- pointed or targeted, or “huh?
What?”
-
Verbalizations other than full words. “Uh, eh,
oooh, mmm” etc. Listen to these to tell if the customer is understanding you or
is lost
-
Total silence. You’ve usually lost them.
-
The structure of their explanation upon calling:
o
Example A
(low structure): “Uh, yeah, um, about my bill? Okay, what happened is, I
signed up for $29.99. And that was like, last year, or whatever. And now I’m
seeing, I dunno, about $60.00 or something! So, uh, yeah.”
o
Example B
(high structure): “Hi, Lorinda, you can help me by telling me what this
charge is in the amount of $61.97 on my bill of June 1. My account number is…”
4. Explain it as if you were telling a story:
beginning, middle& end.
This is the biggest
single mistake agents make: they start with the issue, not with the origin of the issue. Factoring in
challenges with grammar and sometimes cultural expectations (“Don’t give bad or
upsetting news directly, it’s better to talk around the issue and let the
listener draw their own conclusions.”) and you have a vague, muddled,
hard-to-understand bill explanation.
Most agents start with “Okay,
so if we take 295 and minus out this month’s bill for 49.95, we have 250
dollars, right? So then we go back to August, and we see that there is a charge
for 25.99, right? Okay, well that is 10% of 250 dollars.” WHERE DID THE 250 come from???
It is VERY HARD to think backwards for most people. It’s
like watching the film Memento. Memento is a really cool film, but its
limited audience and cult status are in place for a reason: it’s a brain buster.
Don’t try to challenge the intellect of your customers by
making them think in reverse. Tell the story in the order that it happened, *starting with the origin of the issue*.
-
The steps in telling your bill story:
o
The precipitating event- the domino effect-the current
state:
“Okay, back on July 7, we were expecting to
receive your old cable box. That was the end of the 30 day cable box receipt
grace period. Since we did not receive the old cable box, a charge for 259.00
was generated. (The precipitating event)
This charge then appeared on your August bill. Since you mentioned that you
sent in a check from your vacation home for the usual amount of your bill, the
additional 259.00 did not get paid in that cycle, leading to a finance charge
of 10%, of 25.99. (The domino effect)
So your September bill is now…” (The
current state).
5. Follow up with a test close and actually
answer any concerns that you receive
After you’ve explained the source of the questioned items on
the bill, (or solved whatever other concerns they may have), make sure that you
ask “Is there anything else we could help you with today?” Sometimes customers
don’t want to interrupt a very clearly earnest and trying very hard agent, but
they couldn’t capture the explanation. This is their chance to ask again, or
ask for more information. It’s also your last chance to have First Call
Resolution, or to ensure that they won’t call back a few hours later on the
same issue, because you didn’t really explain it well the first time.
6. Guide them to resources where they can find
answers on their own or through a community if they would like
Personally, I would suggest doing this after a good, solid
“solve” and really at no other time—not before, not after a half assed solve,
and certainly not after a no-solve! (Unless company mandates it, in which
case….all I can do is shake my head). After a solid solve has been achieved,
the customer is in the glow of happiness—you fixed their problem!
Now is the time to offer the vaunted value- add! Now is the
time to ask them to “join the conversation” at #cablebillsmakemetingleinside.
Now is the time to gently ease that baby bird of a customer out of the nest of
the call center and into the welcoming arms of the community! Fly, baby
customer! Fly!
