Re-imagining Customer Service

In my world (same planet, different view than the guy standing next to me) I've found the best customer service experience can be seen and experienced through a Disney Theme Park.  Most notably the one in my backyard: Disneyland.

Responding to your points:

Humans in general like variety. And while training them to use technology, or to find select individuals in a crowd is a good supplement to what we find now, there is a creature comfort of knowing what your starting point is, and your "go to" location in order to deal with tickets or customer service.  I think a physical box office needs to exist for that reason. It gives patrons a point of reference knowing that they can always go THERE when all else fails. Adding web, mobile, and floating customer service is an added benefit for those who don't want to wait in a line.  Disneyland seems to do this well.  If you want to buy tickets, you can do it from home, from your mobile device, or in person, also... you can buy them at the local grocery store.  If you have questions or complaints and don't want to wait in the box office line or call... they have a CITY HALL you can go to for additional help. On top of that, ANY employee working in that location has been trained to offer the utmost in customer service - not just front line employees... ALL employees.

Here at Center Theatre Group (while a completely separate thought from Disneyland) we've developed our customer service along the same lines. We have the traditional box office, a phone room, mobile ticketing, web ticketing, and different outlets that sell our tickets - just like most Tessitura Clients.  However, at select productions and at performance time, we've implemented a Concierge Team that is there to help with production specific questions, engage in dialogue to get a temperature on how a show is being received by the audience as well as to add an additional layer of education/thoughts to the production, and to help offer suggestions on after-show drinks, transportation options, etc.

The model of customer service I EXTREMELY HATE (yeah, all caps, because i'm a fan of them, but am frustrated every time I go into a physical store for help) is the Apple's approach of no cash registers.  While they DO have on line ordering, mobile ordering, and in-store purchasing, to find that one or two persons in the store that hold the iPad to check you in is a hunt in a very big store, and as they are always busy you're waiting a good long while for that person to get you started through their customer service process. Once you get checked in, then you're waiting for another employee to assist you.  So that leaves me standing there in front of the check in person waiting for someone to come... very awkward when there are a lot of people in the store. While I'm trained to expect this as a customer, it is not something I'm comfortable with, or am happy to go through. it's terrible. I know they aren't a cultural institution, but it is a model that deals with customer service.

In my world (same planet, different view than the guy standing next to me) I've found the best customer service experience can be seen and experienced through a Disney Theme Park.  Most notably the one in my backyard: Disneyland.

Responding to your points:

Humans in general like variety. And while training them to use technology, or to find select individuals in a crowd is a good supplement to what we find now, there is a creature comfort of knowing what your starting point is, and your "go to" location in order to deal with tickets or customer service.  I think a physical box office needs to exist for that reason. It gives patrons a point of reference knowing that they can always go THERE when all else fails. Adding web, mobile, and floating customer service is an added benefit for those who don't want to wait in a line.  Disneyland seems to do this well.  If you want to buy tickets, you can do it from home, from your mobile device, or in person, also... you can buy them at the local grocery store.  If you have questions or complaints and don't want to wait in the box office line or call... they have a CITY HALL you can go to for additional help. On top of that, ANY employee working in that location has been trained to offer the utmost in customer service - not just front line employees... ALL employees.

Here at Center Theatre Group (while a completely separate thought from Disneyland) we've developed our customer service along the same lines. We have the traditional box office, a phone room, mobile ticketing, web ticketing, and different outlets that sell our tickets - just like most Tessitura Clients.  However, at select productions and at performance time, we've implemented a Concierge Team that is there to help with production specific questions, engage in dialogue to get a temperature on how a show is being received by the audience as well as to add an additional layer of education/thoughts to the production, and to help offer suggestions on after-show drinks, transportation options, etc.

The model of customer service I EXTREMELY HATE (yeah, all caps, because i'm a fan of them, but am frustrated every time I go into a physical store for help) is the Apple's approach of no cash registers.  While they DO have on line ordering, mobile ordering, and in-store purchasing, to find that one or two persons in the store that hold the iPad to check you in is a hunt in a very big store, and as they are always busy you're waiting a good long while for that person to get you started through their customer service process. Once you get checked in, then you're waiting for another employee to assist you.  So that leaves me standing there in front of the check in person waiting for someone to come... very awkward when there are a lot of people in the store. While I'm trained to expect this as a customer, it is not something I'm comfortable with, or am happy to go through. it's terrible. I know they aren't a cultural institution, but it is a model that deals with customer service.