Uri Unplugged

I have just received my U.S. citizenship! Congratulations (to me), and God bless us all…

My wife and I were invited to visit the INS office in Newark, NJ at 8:00 am. According to the invitation, the entire process was scheduled for approximately 2 hours. We arrived at 7:45 just to be on the safe side, and by 8:00, we were already called by an agent. Surprisingly enough (considering the fact that this agent must see 10-20 individuals like us every day), the INS agent was extremely nice, and it immediately disarmed any tension I had prior to the interview. The interview/test took about 20 minutes or so and by 8:25 my wife and I were both outside. At this point, we thought we’d be out of the INS office in no time and were ecstatic with the overall process thus far…

That was the end of efficiency and the beginning of bureaucracy!

Soon after, we were instructed to come back to the same office at 11:00 and submit a form that basically claims we haven’t committed any crimes, dealt with drugs, or joined the communist party since the interview!!!

Then we were told to wait for the ‘oath ceremony’ that begins at 1:30. At 12:30, we decided to grab a quick lunch in the cafeteria and returned at 1:00 to learn that the oath ceremony had just started (for no apparent reason, INS decided to start the ceremony early). Since the ceremony was already in progress, we were not allowed to join, and were told to keep waiting as we would be called back for the next oath ceremony. We called a supervisor and asked her to be a little more specific and got pretty much the same story. We then spoke to the manager of this location, who was very rude and basically threatened to escort us out of the building or to reschedule our oath ceremony in 6 months… At that point, we decided to bite our tongues and play their game. At 3:00, they decided to conduct another ceremony (usually there are only two – at 1:30 and 5:00) and we were done by 3:30.

Obviously, this is not a typical example. Nevertheless, I think that there are a few lessons learned from this experience:

1. Set expectations correctly. If we had been informed upfront that the process would take the full day, we would have made the appropriate arrangements (kids, you know) to be there the whole day.
2. Communicate accurately what’s next. People expect to know what, when, and how things will happen. Why not share your plan with them?
3. Stick with the plan. If you told someone you’d do something at a certain time, make sure that you fulfill your promise.
4. Treat people with respect. We all like to be treated as human beings. Sometimes we have the tendency to forget this when we provide services. It’s not just another case you’re handling, it’s a person.
5. Acknowledge your faults. Exceptions do happen. When you have one, acknowledge it, communicate it and make sure you re-align yourself with your customer with a new acceptable plan. This is something most of us can understand and tolerate.

Obviously, this phenomenon is much wider in scope and extends beyond the inabilities of any specific organization. This is especially true in an era where most service organizations try to cut costs and implement more and more automation, IVR, off-shoring and anything else that serves the purpose of cutting or keeping costs down.

We, at RADirect take a different approach with our service practices and enable (actually encourage) our customers to have access to knowledgeable, resourceful and accountable individuals. We offset the additional costs by charging reasonable fees for the services we provide, and have found more and more customers that are willing to pay a small premium for these services.

This has proven very successful for us. Our business has had very strong average growth since inception, an excellent ratio of repeat business and many referrals from existing customers - all good metrics for a healthy business.

Do you choose your service providers based primarily on costs or are you willing to pay a little extra for quality and service? I’d love to hear your thoughts on this topic.