Author: Brittany Hodak
How many times have you written off an entire company based on your interactions with ONE employee? Don’t make the choice Xfinity made… A few weeks ago I got a call out of the blue that left me so shocked I have to share the story. Let’s get into it… We’ve all been […]
How many times have you written off an entire company based on your interactions with ONE employee? Don’t make the choice Xfinity made…
A few weeks ago I got a call out of the blue that left me so shocked I have to share the story.
Let’s get into it…
We’ve all been in situations where we said certain vendors were so difficult to work with because that one person was rude or was slow to respond to an email. In today’s experience economy, every employee is a living representation of your brand and has the power to shape its reputation.
A few weeks ago, I received a phone call from an Xfinity telesales agent named Charles. Normally, I wouldn’t have picked up the call, but it came from the same area code as mine and I thought it might have been important (they got me ).
I have Xfinity gigabit-speed internet and am satisfied with it, but Charles was determined to upsell me on the X1 Box, which I don’t need because all of my TVs are Amazon Fire devices. I politely declined the offer twice and explained to Charles that I did not need an X1 box. He was IRATE; he yelled at me and said that I obviously didn’t understand how valuable it was and that I must be afraid of change. Then, he hung up on me. Ouch!
Ironically, at the start of our conversation he said the call was being recorded for training purposes, so I tweeted at Xfinity Support and gave them Charles’s phone number so they could listen to the recording ASAP. A nice man named Robert apologized and told me that he would look into it, but that telesales is handled by an independent third party so there wasn’t much they could do.
An! Independent! Third! Party!
When I answered the phone, did Charles say, “Hi, I’m calling as an independent third-party salesperson working on commission to upsell you something?” Nope. He said, “Hi, I’m Charles, I’m calling from Xfinity to review an important item on your account.”
Guess what? Every employee — and every “independent third party” having conversations on behalf of your brand — is a representative of your company!
It doesn’t matter to customers if the telesales agent doesn’t technically work for your company. Or if it’s Dave’s third day in his role. Or if Suzie had zero involvement in creating the store’s return policy. Any employee can be responsible for the first (and maybe last!) impression someone forms about your brand. Whether it’s your corporate employees, the agents on the frontlines, or third-party vendors, you’ve got to ensure that everyone is representing your brand in the right way.
If your employees and contractors are apathetic about your brand, your customers will be, too.
If you choose to outsource your customer-facing positions (something I am NOT a proponent of), then you must find partners who understand your company’s mission and have the same dedication to customer centricity. While I understand that Charles isn’t an accurate reflection of all of the employees at Xfinity, our interaction still diluted my perception of the brand. If they don’t care enough to properly screen and train customer-facing sales agents, then do they really care about me as a customer?
Xfinity regained some points thanks to Robert quickly addressing my inquiry on Twitter, but I can’t help but wonder how many Charleses there are for every Robert?
Think about ALL of the people that work with your company, both directly and indirectly. If I randomly drew a name from a hat, would you feel comfortable with any of these individuals representing your brand?
If the answer is no, shoot me a message so we can talk about how to change that.
“It takes months to find a customer… seconds to lose one.”
-Vince Lombardi
Have a great week and I’ll talk to you next Tuesday!
Article published originally on LinkedIn and written by Brittany Hodak
Contact Us at WeSpeak Global and follow us on Twitter
Author Profile
The articles, video and images embedded on these pages are from various speakers and talent.
These remain the property of its owner and are not affiliated with or endorsed by WeSpeak Global.
Today I tried to count how many minutes of the last two decades I spent holding my breath being Comfortably Uncomfortable. Decade one of freediving competitively where I would train several five minute breath-holds a week with a maximum of just over six minutes every other days. Hundreds of dives down to 20 then 30 […]
This The Incredible Desert Elephants expedition was the first in a series of five Beyond Expeditions with Jacques Marais and Peter van Kets. The idea was to mountain bike the edge of the incredible Namib Desert from Serra Cafema on the Angolan border to Swakopmund along the coast of Namibia. In this episode, we take […]
WeSpeak Global: Revolutionizing the World of Speaker Bureaus In today’s fast-paced and interconnected world, the power of effective communication cannot be overstated. Whether it’s inspiring a team, educating an audience, or driving change, skilled speakers have the ability to captivate and motivate others. Recognizing this potential, WeSpeak Global has emerged as a prominent international speaker […]
We are only as unified as our loneliest team or Disconnected Worker community members. No one is immune to feeling lonely at work—not even the outgoing top sales associate, the customer success representative that brings her dog into the office, or the charming vice president who always declines every happy hour invitation due to “overcommitments.” Entry-level […]
The Status Quo of Crisis Preparedness Puts You at a Disadvantage—and It’s Time For That To Change. Over the last couple of years, I’ve found myself increasingly frustrated with my industry, the crisis management profession. To put my frustration simply, the status quo of crisis preparedness and crisis management no longer suffices and, as a […]
To Lead Yourself First when Elizabeth Hurley was in college in Chicago, she worked as a waitress at my favorite pizza place in the world, Giordano’s, slinging deep-dish pizzas — and also taking great care of customers and making lots of conversation. Her ease in connecting with customers prompted many people to suggest that Elizabeth […]
Let’s imagine for a moment that you are a gardener. Do any of the actions below seem like a good idea and Why Being Too Helpful Is A Bad Habit For Leaders? Planting a seed and then digging it back up from time to time to check its progress Forcing open a flower bud […]
Let’s talk about being fake in the workplace… Why Fake it till you make it” mindset will boomerang / backfire and “Fake it till you make it” mindset in the workplace – why it doesn’t work Stepping up doesn’t mean “fake it” By Lizette Volkwyn, Master Coach, published author and Human Lie Detector Have […]
Our Mission
© All rights reserved 2025. Created using VOXEL THEME
