I Am Not In My Flat: Customer Service As A Revenue Driver?

Hello Hello,

The uncertainty of a wait generates significantly more anxiety than the actual duration of the wait itself.

I am currently writing this from London, rather than my flat.

I am 60 days overdue for a residency permit decision that carried a strict 90-day rule under EU law.

Beyond the personal frustration of being on 89 out of 90 Schengen days and needing to leave, this is a masterclass in how not to handle a customer journey with the lack of communication and the administrative black hole I seem to be stuck in.

Rory Sutherland and Christopher Graves have noted that the uncertainty of a wait generates significantly more anxiety than the actual duration of the wait itself. Uber are used as an example where they give you how long it will take for the taxi to arrive, allowing a sense of ease that you know what the hell is going on.

Early in my career, I was managing a dry goods team at Waitrose and what was instilled was that customer service wasn't just a desk at the front of the store but also included keeping shelves stocked so a customer could actually complete their shop. Making the experience a good one (or at the very least not a bad one).

There are many ways in which people aren’t made to feel welcome, and feel they are always breaking some ‘unwritten rules’ and feel shame and demoralised because of it. Even the fear of doing something wrong causes a significant impact on the enjoyment of the experience.

If I had a choice, I’d never deal with these permit authorities again. But your audience does have a choice not to come back to your events.

Before you send out that next mass email, have a think: is this message genuinely for someone, or is it just noise in the inbox that rightly can be ignored?

I Am Not In My Flat: Customer Service As A Revenue Driver?