"I Don't Deal with Customers -- I'm in Management"

This week I called Adcom Universal, a company that creates maps of a particular community, sells advertising in the map and then supposedly provides the maps for free to advertisers and community organizations. I called them because I had made the mistake of placing an ad with them in a map that they marketed to me as "used by the real estate offices in town with all of their customers." The price was right and I'm always interested in communicating our presence as a church to those new to town.

I wouldn't have made the mistake if I had simply done my homework and visited their website. On it, you can clearly see the kind of maps they produce. While I don't want to malign their product, it is clear that it is not what I would have wanted to advertise in. Further, it turns out that the map was not commissioned by any real estate offices in town and is not necessarily used heavily by any of them. I of course found this out AFTER the fact.

I very wisely placed the ad and then a few weeks later they sent me several complimentary copies. When the maps showed up, I was floored. The publication was one color (which they hadn't communicated to me and I supplied a full color ad -- which looked pretty bad converted to one color) and the ad was unsatisfactory on a number of other counts. Add this to the general quality of the publication, and I was pretty disappointed.

So I called them. When the nice lady answered the phone, I told her that I was disappointed in the maps, was an advertiser, and wanted to speak to someone in management about it. I did this because I was going to ask for my money back and I wanted someone with some authority in the power structure of the company to hear the disappointment level of one of their clients. I also did this because typically the customer service person that answers the phone does not have the authority to give refunds and has to get approval by someone in management in order to do so.

At first I was told that there was no one in management I could speak to. Then when I persisted, I was placed on hold for around 5-6 minutes before reaching someone in management. I began to explain my frustration and disappointment with their publication and with the treatment of my ad. After getting through most of my story, the person on the line said, "So why did you ask to speak with me?"

Dumbfounded, I replied, "You're in management, right?"

To which she responded in the affirmative. I then queried, "So what do you does management do in your company?"

She responded, "We manage customer service." She then put me back on hold and transfered me back to customer service. You can imagine the rest -- I re-explained my complaint, was put back on hold while customer service checked to see what they could do....you know the drill.

I was reminded of how easy it is to get compartmentalized. We all do it. We create whole structures based on compartmentalization and division. In so many ways it is what has made the engine of our economy possible. The division of labor has made us able to conceive, engineer and build the most incredible things by breaking it down into chunks.

But this division of labor also cripples us when it comes to dealing with simple things if we perceive that they do not fall into our department. Some of that is managements fault if they don't give authority to their employees/customer service people. Some of that is the individuals fault when it comes to passing the buck on difficult issues.

I'm reminded of what so many great leadership minds say over and over again -- they look for solution people.

I want to be a solution person. Remind me of that, the next time I try to transfer you back to customer service.