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Fix the System, Not
the People
Eighty percent of customers’ problems are caused by
bad systems, not by bad people.
—John Goodman
Vice Chairman of TARP, Inc.
Your people can only be as good as your system allows them
to be. So ask yourself how much of the complexity and hassle
you can siphon out of your system. The simpler, faster, and
easier you can make it for your customers—and your employ-
ees—the more willing and skilled they’ll become at making
use of it.
America Online found out just how much damage a
poorly designed service system can do to a reputation for cus-
tomer service in summer 2006. The problem began when AOL
customer Vincent Ferrari of the Bronx, New York, called the
company with a simple request to cancel his membership. But
rather than ...