...“ MAKE THE QUICK PARTS QUICK AND THE SLOW PARTS MEANINGFUL.” THIS IS WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN A CUSTOMER SERVICE INTERACTION.
• Customer satisfaction( CSAT) gives you a general idea of customer sentiment, but it often fails to illuminate actionable insight or correlate to loyalty.
• Cost per contact is generally the pinnacle of " efficiency " thinking: if not balanced with other data points. But it only validates the cost to support customers. Critically, it lacks perspective on the broader benefits and impacts of supporting customers well.
The bottom line is that if we focus too much on customer happiness or too much on efficiency, we end up missing the mark.
We know that both are extremely important. On the efficiency side, there is so much research showing how the concept of ease of business / reduction of effort / simplicity for the customer results in increased loyalty. Not to mention the cost reduction to the business.
And as we think about customer“ happiness,” this is where the business gets to show off its competitive differentiators and build sticky relationships.
It’ s all about finding balance and focusing on the right value generators at the right time.
WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE
Here is the big shift:“ Make the quick parts quick and the slow parts meaningful.”
This is what success looks like in a customer service interaction. It’ s not about doing everything fast. It’ s about being strategic with the time you have to maximize value.
When recently building a brand-new quality program from the ground up, I had a bit of a revelation. There are essentially two core“ success” types in a customer service interaction.
1. The“ quick” parts: gathering ticket history, validating identity, accessing company information, navigating tools, executing a back-end process, etc.
2. The“ slow” parts: establishing rapport, understanding the context behind an inquiry, being proactive to reduce future friction, and fostering long-term partnership.
Both of these attributes of a service interaction are essential and strategic. It requires a highly capable service worker with the right skills and the right mentality to unlock both.
When it comes to finding and hiring these exceptional individuals, I focus on finding the ones who are“ pre-activated” to care deeply about the unique mission of the organization. Skills can be trained and knowledge fostered, but motivation is what leads to exceptional experiences.
But it’ s not all on the agent( not even close). This type of interaction is the result of a service leader with both vision and experience design skill. Balance interactions are hand-crafted through supporting functions, exceptional coaching / training, and most of all a“ servant challenger” culture.
The quality program and performance management function are especially critical. If these don’ t back up the“ quick parts quick, slow parts meaningful” principle, it will only generate frustration and confusion.
A VALUE-DRIVEN QUALITY MANAGEMENT( QM) APPROACH
Back to the question of how we measure success. This begins with a quality scorecard that reinforces the right type of behavior tied to one of our two strategic value generators. Let’ s look at some sample questions:
Quality Scorecard Part 1,“ Quick Parts Quick”
• Was the primary issue resolved effectively?
• Did the agent effectively leverage verified knowledge to guide the interaction?
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
...“ MAKE THE QUICK PARTS QUICK AND THE SLOW PARTS MEANINGFUL.” THIS IS WHAT SUCCESS LOOKS LIKE IN A CUSTOMER SERVICE INTERACTION.
• Was the interaction properly documented in a clear and concise manner?
• Did the customer spend unnecessary time during the interaction waiting for next steps?
These and similar questions will make it very clear if you honored the customer’ s time and made it easy to do business with you. When we look at things like the Simplicity Index, the value is obvious( beyond just cost savings).
Quality Scorecard Part 2,“ Slow Parts Meaningful”
• Did the agent set a friendly, patient, and helpful tone at the beginning of the interaction?
• Did the agent go beyond practical resolution to address the thoughts and feelings the customer was experiencing?
• Did the agent offer proactive assistance beyond issue resolution?
• Did the agent effectively demonstrate a tone of partnership and gratitude at the close of the interaction?
As a service leader, it is important to make it easy for agents to understand this shift in thinking. They should not be rushing through an interaction.
Make a list together of the stages of a typical customer interaction that are the“ quick parts.” Then do the same thing together with the“ slow parts.”
CONTINUED ON PAGE 20
NOVEMBER 2025 17