Response Time: Vol. 25
In our latest “Response Time” interview, we ask Lucía Achigar, Support Team Lead at Bunker DB, about the most valuable thing that working in customer service has taught them, which movie robot they'd choose as their AI sidekick, and more.
You satisfy your customers, but can you satisfy our curiosity?
With Lucía Achigar, Support Team Lead at Bunker DB.
Please tell us a little bit about your company and what you do there.
Bunker DB is a martech company, born in Uruguay almost 10 years ago and now present in most Latin American countries. We promote intelligent, simple, and fully automated marketing solutions. I’ve been working here for eight years, nowadays as Support Team Lead.
What word or phrase in customer service jargon should be retired?
I think we should definitely retire old-fashioned clichés, especially the ones that appear to value the customer and their inconvenience, but are just a means to gain time or are simply put there by protocols. We should start having real conversations with customers, not following processes, protocols, or handbooks.
What’s the most valuable thing that working in customer service has taught you?
Throughout the years, I’ve learned that people really value when you use your brain. I mean, not everything can be solved by following a couple of steps; sometimes you need to make use of the different tools you have at hand to achieve what the customer needs.
Describe the essence of great customer service using only three words.
Empathy, resourcefulness, collaboration.
Which movie robot would you choose as your AI sidekick and why?
Baymax! Although its purpose is to take care of general health, I think its input would be amazing to manage angry customers and find creative solutions.
What can you do that a bot will never be able to replicate?
We can think of creative solutions, making use of available features to solve problems we hadn’t thought of before.
What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever said/done to a customer?
In a conversation a couple of years ago, we weren’t able to offer an answer right away, so I began my message with “I’m afraid,” and it got sent before I could finish the sentence!
“We should think about whatever problem the customer brings to us as if it were our own”
Do you identify more with the title “customer support,” “customer service,” “customer success,” or “customer experience,” and why?
Our team identifies with “customer success.” Support is a part of that, and it aligns with the overall company vision. Bunker DB is a tool to make your work in marketing better, more intelligent, simpler. In short, we want to see our customers succeed.
What’s the one piece of advice you would give to your peers in the customer service industry?
To be empathetic, meaning just a little more than understanding our customer’s issue. We should think about whatever problem the customer brings to us as if it were our own – with the tools I have, how would I go about solving it?
What’s your greatest productivity hack?
Double monitors and good music.
If customer service was an Olympic sport, what would be the main event?
Sprint racing to keep SLAs in check.
What’s the best thing a customer has ever said to you?
Not that long ago, a customer expressed that they wished they worked with us.
What do you wish people knew about working in customer service?
We really, really care, and we feel awful when we can’t help.
If you wrote a book about your experiences in customer service, what would the title be?
“The customer service paradox: Advocating for a product we only get complaints about.”
What’s the strangest thing a customer has asked you?
Not once, but twice, people got in touch with us to try recovering their personal social media accounts.
What’s your most-used emoji in customer chats?
🙌🏽
Conversation closed… for now 😏