Contact Center Pipeline November 2025 | Page 26

The major point here is that most reps do not have assured input. It can be a very simple mechanism: at Toyota, we established a simple email box with messages directed to the department root cause analyst where CSRs could direct a short description with a case number. The Toyota reps were also told quarterly what had been done with their input, so they sounded much more confident when saying the incident had been reported.

Step 2: Estimate customers lost if they abandon or struggle to escalate We have found that up to 50 % of customers with failed escalations are lost. Moreover, one out of five non-complaining( 20 %) are lost if they encounter a problem but don’ t complain. If the customer complains and gets a poor response, the damage grows to at least 30 %. Yes, one out of three customers is at risk.

A failed escalation results in more damage, up to 50 % reduction in loyalty, while negative WOM doubled, which we saw in one case. Yes, one out of two customers is lost. Not only did the company have a bad product, but the struggle showed it didn’ t care( also see BOX).

Escalation

Escalation out of AI is where most rage occurs. Ideally, AI should identify when escalation is appropriate and offer it before the customer starts looking – what I call“ Psychic Pizza” – here is the pizza you were about to order. Text and speech analytics should be able to tell when a customer is dissatisfied.

But most companies hide the 800 number, or if available, have long wait times, and have no transfer of data describing the customers’ recent interactions. This is the corporate equivalent of a bratty kid covering their ears and yelling back at a parent or sibling,“ Na, na, na, I can’ t hear you!”

Struggle and anger cause customers’ blood to drain from their brain and go to their muscles( fight or flight). Even loyal, lucid customers become somewhat irrational when faced with multiple aspects of struggle.

If further escalation to a supervisor is needed, the wait and access are often worse. At one car rental company in the late evening, I was told by a preferred CSR that no supervisors would be available for three hours, when a new shift came on. The rep also was demoralized when I pointed out that there might be an altercation with dozens of waiting customers, resulting in the police being called to the airport before that time.

The solution to escalation rage requires quantifying its costs.

Step 1: Establish value of customers Quantify conservative value of each customer i. e., one to three years of revenue. I usually ask Finance for the number and cut it in half. The calculation still works and when you present your business case to management, you get criticized by Finance for being too conservative. Perfect!

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We hear, read about, and experience it all the time. A company delivers poor products and / or bad service, these flaws are exposed, customers become enraged, and then the PR flaks spit out boilerplate blatantly insincere apologies and promises they clearly never intend to keep, and it’ s back to business as usual.

So, why don’ t companies care about bad results?

Management has three rationalizations for why they can ignore them.

1. Most results are good; this goes back to middle school when an 85 % correct on a test( equivalent to 85 % CSAT in a company) was a B and you’ re no worse than most others and better than some competitors. But 15 % dissatisfied creates a huge revenue hemorrhage. Leaders now require at least 95 % top-two boxes satisfaction on a five-point scale or 90 % 9s and 10s on a 10-point NPS Scale.

2. They don’ t extrapolate the percentage to the marketplace in terms of both non-complainants( usually 10-20X as many customers) or the negative word of mouth produced. But each negative outcome is at least four prospects hearing a negative recommendation.

3. The ratings are not converted to revenue at risk per month of inaction- 50 customers a month doesn’ t seem like much out of thousands- but $ 300,000 per month is worth worrying about. See my paper on the math details with an example we published with KraftHeinz in CustomerThink.