"I'll be here waiting." – me to the customer service agent

The news if full of negative customer service stories. It's crept into the small talk in my meetings too. Horrific stories of car buying, or contractors not returning calls, or big box retailers treating someone badly. Listening to everyone I'm sensing a theme.
When a vendor gets reactive it pisses the customer off.
In the past I've mentioned one of my early mentors, Mr.Carl. He was always quick with a witticism and when it came to customer service he said, "Gregory, return the customer's call before you have to."
I knew what he meant because in that business being a sales rep meant getting stuck between the customer, our company, and our vendors. We were always waiting on someone. A customer would ask a question, I'd have to relay that question to a colleague, and they'd have to get an answer from a vendor. We were always waiting for someone to tell us something.
Mr. Carl was advising me to call the customer back, even when I didn't have an answer. I needed to call them before they called me. Taken further, he would say the customer should never call me asking for anything because a true pro would anticipate any and all problems. Later I heard someone explain known wait feels shorter than an unknown wait. Disney figured this out. The sign telling you "it's a 90-minute wait from this point" kept people in line and happy-ish. Disney's signs answered a question before it was asked. They were returning the customer's call before they had to. If the car dealer, the contractor, and the big box retailer focused on being proactive I'm guessing my friends would have something else to talk about.
While we wait for them, we can do something. Start with questions like this: Are your people being reactive to customers? What needs to happen for them to get a step ahead of problems? How will you know if they're being proactive?
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