…And We’ll Gladly Take It Back, No Questions Asked

Think about this from the perspective of the selling company. The customer just bought it. Now they want to bring it back. Of course, the folks in Customer Service will take it back as they should, quickly and courteously — but gladly? And why wouldn’t they ask questions — such as why are they bringing it back? After all that went into making or assembling or sourcing this product, wouldn’t everyone affiliated with the seller be extremely curious about why the customer doesn’t want it after all? 

Maybe it’s because the people charged with the responsibility of taking things back and refunding money — Customer Service — didn’t have an investment in selling it in the first place, and they’re not sufficiently connected with the people who did.

It cost the company a lot of money to get this product into the customer’s hands. And it’s going to cost a lot more to take it back and process the refund. A lot of people in the organization worked hard to make this sale. What went wrong? Did the customer change his mind? Did the product fail to perform as advertised? Did it fail to meet the customer’s expectations? What were those expectations? How will the people who work there know what to do to make it better next time?

It’s not fair to pick on Customer Service. Their role is to process returns and refunds and to do it well. But in the bigger picture, the purpose of the company is to make and sell products — and keep them sold!

Separation of functions is necessary for organization and control purposes. But everyone in every department should know and recognize the overriding purpose of the company. And they can. Here’s how:

• Have regular stakeholder meetings, where everyone is represented at the table — sales, customer service, operations, admin, financial, legal, accounting — everyone.
• Prepare a flow of products and services and dollars to show each stage.
• Prepare a table with the concerns of every stakeholder for every stage — product conception and design, building, assembling, sourcing, selling, servicing, processing revenue, processing returns and refunds, paying salaries and benefits, calculating profitability — everything.
• Let every person at the table see the big picture and know what it feels like to “stand in the shoes”of people in each department.

By getting everyone familiar with the roles of every part of the organization, everyone will be better able to do their jobs consistent with the roles of everyone else, and with the mission of the company.