Pleasing the Customer Should Be Job One
As the director of the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, Leslie Byrne has been listening to people with many agendas: from business and industry, regulatory agencies, trade associations and consumer groups.
But she learns the most about her constituency by working the office Helpline. “It is instant polling,” she said. “I can tell what’s going on across the nation in terms of complaints--which companies are doing a good job of pleasing customers and which aren’t.”
And she has some advice: In today’s heated global marketplace, good customer service is the way to stand out. And don’t think that a toll-free “customer hotline” with a nightmare maze of Muzak-linked computer-generated choices equals customer service.
“Too many people think of customer service voice mail as Dante’s Third Ring of Hell,” said Byrne, who has earned praise for her take-charge approach since President Clinton appointed her in August to an office that had been under siege. Pleasing the customer should be a deliberate marketing strategy, said Byrne, who built a reputation for consumer advocacy in the Virginia House of Delegates and U.S. Congress before moving into her office across from the White House.
“It’s not that the customer is always right, but that the customer has to be treated with respect and dignity.” This favorite Byrne motif was the essence of her address that kicked off a recent “Customer First” national conference in Los Angeles.
Customer service, she told the audience of transit leaders, has been a major issue for the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs since the 1970s, when it completed a landmark study of consumer complaint handling in America. “The study found that, far from being a pain in the neck as too many managers regarded customer complaints, they are a marvelous source of crucial management information,” she said.
A 1986 update of the study showed that major companies that had upgraded their customer service departments enjoyed such positive results that many businesses began to jump on the bandwagon. And while today’s proliferation of toll-free numbers appears to be a golden age for service, the feedback into her office suggests broad problems.
“It’s clear that there are companies and agencies aggressively advertising their excellent customer service and guaranteeing their customers’ satisfaction, who simply aren’t doing it.” As a result, she said, the public is increasingly cynical about getting any help when they dial 800 numbers.
She offered a checklist of ways to please hotline customers, including: Telling callers, if they have to hold, how long it will be and suggesting a better time to call; not dumping callers into an incomprehensible menu of choices; and getting back to the customer by a specific time.
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In an interview after her address, Byrne elaborated on her message. “A lot of companies are doing better, but an amazing amount don’t do anything in the way of redressing complaints,” she said. Noting that American businesses pay millions of dollars for market analysts to come in and tell them what customers think, she suggested this: “Put a CEO on the company hotline. He will find out what customers think and he will find it out fast.’
Since it’s been more than 10 years since her office rated companies for service, she’s considering an update, which would recognize companies with outstanding service, such as Southwest Airlines, Saturn and Nordstrom. “When you talk to businesspeople, those are the ones they say they admire--they are the gold standard of customer service.”
The agency will also single out companies that claim to offer good service but don’t, she said. “One of the top nominees right now would be America Online,” she said, alluding to the uproar over its jammed lines.
The Consumer Affairs office opened its Helpline ([800] 664-4435) in 1995. Billed as “the only national consumer complaint information and referral service,” the line handled 180,000 calls last year. Its hours, which are limited to 7 to 11 a.m. PST, shortchange people on the West coast, Byrne said, and she hopes to change that.
“We only have a staff of 15 and we all work the Helpline,” she said. What they try to do is help the consumer sort through the alphabet soup of government agencies and reach the proper office for complaint remedy.
The Helpline is only a small part of her new job, which carries the title of special assistant to the president. Her office, which provides feedback to both the White House and Capitol Hill on consumer laws, was “almost zeroed out” by a Republican Congress, she said, but its $1.5-million budget (“lunch money on Capitol Hill”) was saved by the administration.
In addition to the Helpline, the office plays a large educational role, working with consumer groups at the state and local levels. Pastor Herrera Jr., director of L.A. County’s Department of Consumer Affairs, says it’s a good resource. “They help us to expand our view of many issues, such as identity fraud,” he said.
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Although the office had only an acting director for the past two years, it made headlines in the 1970s and ‘80s with such activist directors as Esther Peterson and Virginia Knauer laying groundwork on issues ranging from food nutrition labeling to ATM user protections.
Byrne is already making an impact. Ken McEldowney, director of Consumer Action in San Francisco, likes her activism. “I am impressed with her grasp of consumer issues and her desire to make her office play a major role in Washington for the first time in years,” said McEldowney, who divides his time between San Francisco and Washington.
Byrne served in the Virginia House from 1985 to 1992; her legislative efforts included a patients’ bill of rights, tax relief for the elderly and some environmental legislation. “I guess my epitaph will read ‘Cover-Truck Lady’ because I’m the one who forced Virginia to cover the loads on backs of trucks, after 25 years of unsuccessful attempts.”
Elected to Congress in 1992 and defeated in the GOP sweep of 1994, she helped pass the childhood immunization bill and expanded use of IRA savings for first-time home purchases and college costs.
Politics was a second career. Byrne grew up in Utah in an “apolitical family” and met Larry Byrne (now assistant administrator for the federal Agency for International Development) at the University of Utah; they married and moved to Washington in 1972.
It was through their two children that Byrne got involved in public life. “First it was their schools, then the environmental movement, then other consumer issues.” She finds this a pattern for many women in public life. “They look at politics as a progression of making their communities better.”
In some ways she likes her new job better than being a legislator. There’s no fund-raising required, and she gets to work on issues she feels strongly about. “Somebody teased me the other day that I have the perfect job because I get to stick my nose in everybody’s business, and that may be true.”
For the future she sees traditional consumer protection breaking new ground. An upcoming speech will deal with helping welfare recipients learn good consumer practices as they move from welfare to work. A March conference on electronic commerce and consumer protection in the global marketplace is another priority.
“I think privacy will be the consumer topic of the next decade, with CDs and the Internet and the overlapping of data. The idea that your life can be exposed with a couple of keystrokes is a real issue.”
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Where to Call for Help Here In addition to the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs, California consumers can get help closer to home, including:
* California Department of Consumer Affairs, (800) 952-5210. One-stop shopping for complaints or questions about the 180 agencies and industries the department regulates.
* Los Angeles County Department of Consumer Affairs, (213) 974-1452. Help is provided concerning unsatisfactory goods or services.
* Los Angeles City Office Information, (213) 485-2121. Answers questions regarding the maze of city offices and their services. All services are staffed, at least part time, with counselors and offer recorded information as well.
