Improving Customer service

[DimeBag]

http://www.therx.com/nm/templates/article.asp?articleid=2966&zoneid=1

Great article and 100% true, with five years in the offshore business I find it very frustrating that in more cases than not that an increase in pay means you have moved to another office. Robots are more useful than customer oriented clerks, and experienced clerks are often refered to as "over paid" at as little as six dollars an hour.
There is one book though that I know of, and although I have never worked for them mybookie.com seems to be one of the first books that seems to value its employees as highly as it does their customers. Its amazing the way that they treat them(my girlfriend works there). Their party was awesome and everyone loves the owners and they have a sense of family that I have never seen in a succesful sportsbook.
Anyways I lost my point but I just want to say it is a great article, true and to the point. If you are a sportsbook owner and wonder why your clerks hate their jobs, and your customers think your clerks suck(go ahead,ask them one day) then maybe you should take a closer look at how you are treating the people that make you money. Do you pump them up, or do you only see them when you are beating them down for the one mistake that they made that month. Positive reinforcement anyone? Incentives? Raises? When boy, when are you going to get your **** together?

Dime

 

[JudgeWapner]

Dime,good post.

 

[Katwoman]

Great article and great post...

What can you expect from a book where the best department in the company (only 8 clerks) asks for a raise, and all they get is a lame $50 raise per month? And some of those clerks have been working in that same company for over 3 years, and that was the first time ever they received a raise.

That same company decided to hire a supervisor from another department with no experience... only to send him back to where he came from because he couldn't deal with all the job, they had their best clerk (the one that had been doing a supervisor's job for over a year) leave because of that, then hired another supervisor that left in less than a month because he got a better job offer.

That same company fired his customer service manager, that had been working with them since day one because of a small stupid mistake.

That same company decided not to make a x-mas party for their employees, because the owner decided it was "too expensive".

With all that, how do you expect to hear a friendly voice on the other side of the line? When the clerk on the other side doesn't know what the hell is going on in the company, when you see that 1/3 of the CS department is leaving, and the other 1/3 is getting fired... working in a place where you don't evenhave a x-mas party and have your aguinaldo paid the last day you can pay it by law...

I worked at this amazing place where they cooked a whole thanks giving lunch for the whole customer service staff... everything you could expect, turkey, stuffing, salad... the whole 9 yards, everything paid by the owner. Left overs? take'em home... Great place to work, I loved it there.

Some sportsbook owners should stop screaming at their clerks and start listening to what they have to say

 

[Dante]

WOW kat....VERY awesome post......many good points....Merry Xmas to you by the way my friend!

 

[DimeBag]

hmmm

Kat
Sounds like a certain book I know of in Zapote, oh wait, sounds like almost every postup book I know of.

Dime

 

[JudgeWapner]

As an employer, respect for your employees goes a long way.

 

[Katwoman]

Dante, and I could go on and on... very merry x-mas to you my friend!

Judge you hit it right on the nail's head. I mean, customer service clerks represent your company, and if they don't like the place where they work, don't respect the owner and the owner doesn't respect them... what image could that people be giving about your company?

 

[DimeBag]

yeah but

Yeah but your missing the point Kat, good customer service does not only pertain to people who work in a "customer service department", customer service begins with every call answered. Usually an office will put the good workers in CS and the non-english speaking applicants in wagering. So the books have a bunch of monkeys taking bets who cant event give out a line without saying da New Jork Jankees and Mississippi Estate, give me a break, do you think clients appreciate that? There is a big need for wagering clerks that have good english and strong customer service skills,....in the end who does the customer talk to more anyways? I mean, Im not just talking just talking smack about the locals, I think its amazing how well they have grasped english as a second language, but this isnt school so a C- doesnt cut it. If your answering the phones then you should speak the language..If you have experience and treat the customers well, you should be rewarded accordingly. If you suck at both you shouldnt get a low pay, you shouldnt even get in the door. wow I sound bitter...but it is a frustrating situation. Sorry if anyone here resembles these remarks.

 

[WildBill]

Great feedback people. I have heard this a number of times while down in CR and it is funny how it is so cut and dried. The people at the top either act like the people that work for them are the heroes of the operation or that the people working for them should kiss their feet daily for giving them the chance to walk through the doors. I have heard from a few people of situations that go beyond ridiculous to plain and outright criminality, I don't care what country you are working in.

No doubt about it though, I could see right through it there and in all the business situations I have seen in my career. When people are treated fairly and with respect, they show genuine care for their jobs and their bosses. The bosses at places where they treat people like dirt get this obvious ass-kissing and often times revel in it. Even more telling is the sense you get in good places where people don't sweat the money so much. People that are paid fairly don't go asking for raises out of the blue. They don't leave for other jobs without even leaving so much as a few days notice. And they don't encourage others to do things negative for the business. I would think for some owners avoiding these things would be worth a couple hundred dollars an employee a month extra. Not to mention if books got rid of this anti-productive behavior, they probably wouldn't need to be so highly staffed in the first place.

 

[DimeBag]

Cs

I would like to challenge The RX to make an inquiry to all the members(gamblers) to rate the sportsbooks that they use, both CS and wagering clerks should be graded on friendliness, communication, and effeciency. Then someone(i would volunteer) could investigate the pay scale and work conditions of each book to see how much a buck or two and some kind words affect the performance of the workers. What do you say?

Dime

 

[WildBill]

Not a terrible idea, but to tell you the truth I rarely deal with CS or clerks. I suspect a lot of people do too. Sad, but true, but we tend to notice the bad and the trivial problems and it nags us. Good service and good quality are things we only tend to notice over longer periods of time. The lightbulb goes off and we say "hey, you know XXX book really does treat me well." For these reasons I don't know if such a survey would give a good idea of what goes on. Really the issue is on the other side, to make sure virtually all customers eventually get to one of those lightbulb moments, or else face problems.

Still I think if it was run as you suggested it woudl definitely skew upwards to the best clerks. Even though a lot of books are chintzy, reality is the better clerks tend to rise to the top and find their way to better paying books. It takes time and a little luck, but the best generally know how to write a ticket to a better spot. May not be the best spot they really deserve, but it will sure beat those cheap shops.

 

[Katwoman]

you guys are right there... I've heard people doing interviews saying things like "his/her english is just ok, we'll send him/her to wagering"... or "has a great english but is SO stupid that we are sending him/her to wagering".

And whenever a clerk gets "good" they send him inmediately to customer service and the other way around, if they are not good enough to be working in CS they are sent over to wagering... so some books are stuck with horrible wagering staff, and a fairly good CS staff, at least that's what I've seen