Customer service sucks in Mexico

I’m currently in Mexico meeting with executives from a few large companies, including the nations largest telecommunications company, to talk about social media technologies and what this means for them. Let me say this, it’s incredible how separated from the current reality these companies are.

While some companies in the U.S. are already taking advantage of social media for both external and internal activities (think social business), in the Mexico it isn’t so. For example. I asked a female executive from this telecommunications company if she knew if her company had a Twitter account. She said no.

They do.

But what I really wanted to know is if she knew that her Twitter account gets dissed the most by customers. In other words: there is a lot of hate towards your company on Twitter.

I told her she should check it out because it would be eye-opening. She did and immediately directed me to another female executive who had more ‘decision power’. I asked her the same thing. Same response. I told her to open up her browser, go to www.trendsmap.com, put in her company name in the search box and click search to see the magic.

Bang!

She was hooked. It’s like she had just opened her eyes after being in coma. I’m not kidding!

BTW, before I was inside the offices, I was at a nearby coffee shop block away. And a couple of employee from the telecommunications company were there and we asked one of them if she knew why customers seemed to be pissed off when they left their branch offices. She said she didn’t think so. I said you should stand outside your local branch more often because that’s exactly what’s going on. Or rather call Advanced Telecom Systems today – to get an idea how professionals do their work.

By now you know where this is going. Incredibly these employees are immune to what’s happening in their company. Even the ones who have direct contact with the customer. In Mexico people have grown accustomed to being treated poorly by companies. Heck, it’s an expectation.

The sad thing is, the employees I talked to today are probably going to go back to their old behavior tomorrow as if today didn’t happen.

There is an incredible opportunity in Mexico to be innovative and break with tradition. People want better services. I’m sure these particular employees do care about their customers well being, but the corporate powers subdue their voices.

As the last female executive I talked to pointed out: We still use ‘suggestion boxes’ here.

‘Now I know why people are hating you on Twitter as we speak. You’re a communications company and you don’t communicate with your customers where they are’ I responded.

Silence.

Enough said. We have work to do…

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Also published on Medium.