Customer Obsession Flashcards
Tell me about a time you had to deal with a difficult customer
Situation:
I had shipped a Java batch change that would withhold amounts from benefits issued to our client’s vendors if the vendors owed any money to the federal government.
Task:
The batch was not supposed to withhold any payment from the vendor that we were dealing with. Although, we did not withhold any payment and correctly issued the entire amount to the vendor, the program did not update one of the columns in a table correctly. There was a report generation program that relied on the data my batch populated and displayed the total amount that was withheld on a day. On that day, we were not supposed to withhold any amount but since table data was incorrect, report showed that we withheld payments for 4/2000 issuances.
Action:
Our client, the state government was disappointed because they were supposed to send that report to auditors to make sure money was issued correctly. So, they sent an email criticizing our firm for not avoiding the error. We did not know about this bug and our Java batch was supposed to run on the same night we got the email. So, imagine how disappointed they would be if they saw that we had messed up yet another report the following morning. To make sure that did not happen, I prepared quick data fix queries to fix the data discrepancy before client even looked at the report so that when they looked at the report, the data was correct.
Result:
This small but quick action saved the reputation of the firm and our trust with the client did not deteriorate further. We fixed the bug and shipped the fix the same day and that day was resolved.
Tell me about a time you made something much simpler for customers
Situation:
We had developed a web portal through which state citizens could apply for COVID related financial assistance. We were going live in 2 days but our client, a state government made a late request to develop the portal in Spanish as well.
Task:
Our task was already daunting as we would have to write new code, unstabilise a stable build and ship the change to prod in 2 days. We developed the portal in Spanish but when I was doing an end-to-end testing, I noticed that some of the translations in a page that my fellow developer had written had incorrect translations because some text on the translated document she received was incorrect.
Action:
We reached out to our client for correct translations but we did not hear back. Since this was a critical portal and we were expecting a good number Spanish speaking applicants, we could not afford to have incorrect translations. So, I called one of the leads in another team since I knew he was a native Spanish speaker for correct translations.
Result:
Ideally, we should have gotten the correct translations from our client itself. But since delay would lead to either a lot of confusion because of incorrectly translated document or our change being shipped late, the decision that we took was a correct one and client appreciated our proactivity and the citizens viewed correct translations.
Which company has the best customer service and why?
Situation:
I would say Gold’s Gym, Camp Hill. That’s the gym I work out at. Before I joined Gold’s gym, I thought it was only for buff dudes and girls drinking water in sets and reps like that video of Arnold going undercover in Gold’s gym asking people to drink water in repetitions. But, even for someone not so buff, I found Gold’s gym to be welcoming.
Action:
For instance, some businesses try to avoid pronouncing my name because it sounds foreign. But, every time I meet a new front desk staff, when I check in, they see my name on the screen and greet me by my name. Then, they remember my name and greet me when I see them around the gym.
Result:
As Dale Carnegie says, a person’s name is to that person, the sweetest, most important sound in any language, seeing the way Gold’s gym front desk staff treats me makes me feel welcome.
Tell me about a time you said no to a customer request and why
Situation:
There are two layers of customers in this story. First, is Deloitte’s client, a state government that was actually paying Deloitte to build and maintain their system. Second, is the end users, i.e the state citizens that relied on our system to get benefits. I said no our client’s request.
Task:
Our client’s manager wanted an ad hoc benefit distribution report and had requested the report through a business analyst preferably by eod. Since it was coming from a client’s manager, we prioritize tasks like that to make our clients happy. But, on that day, I was triaging production tickets for our team and noticed that a person had not received fuel related benefits and could not afford heating. So, I was debugging why that was happening.
Action:
By the time I found out what the issue was, it was 6 o’ clock and since the report was not a simple report with a few joins, it would take me at least 4 hours to prepare the report through SQL. So, I did not work on the report and instead I started preparing data fixes for the benefits issue.
Result:
I am sure my decision made our client dissatisfied and the business analyst frustrated as they did not get the report they wanted.
But, the person I was trying to help did receive the benefits after next issuance batch run. Although I did not get any recognition from person or from a manager for the simple production ticket I triaged, I knew what I did was the right thing to do.
