I don’t want to schedule an appointment when there is someone at the counter!

Specialization of staff is something that sounds great. But sometimes it really sucks for the user.

Let me tell you a little story. I wanted to open a new bank account. I was pleased to see that my bank was open during the lunch time. Great. So I leave work and go to the bank. I arrive there, and there are no customers in the bank. Great, They will serve me much faster. Three staff members are waiting for customers. I go to one of the team members and explain that

“I would like to open a bank account.”
“Oh for that you have to take an appointment.”

I didn’t understand why I had to make an appointment. Opening a bank account is mostly an administrative task. I have to fill some papers, show my passport and sign stuff. Then because it’s a bank, I will have to wait until it’s done. So why do I have to make an appointment?

“Our counselor can help you select the solution which is more appropriate to your needs.”

Here again, I don’t get it. I just want to open a regular bank account as I did another time and I could do it at the counter. I don’t need advice; I know what I want.

Finally, I got an appointment for one week later. I got pissed. Why do I have to schedule an appointment when I see there is staff available? Why does my bank want me to wait to do business with them?

Specialization on basic tasks is stupid.

Let’s be serious for a minute. Making someone wait one week to do business with you when the customer is decided to do it and know what he wants is suicide. If the client doesn’t love your brand, he will just flee and go somewhere else. There are basic tasks like preparing documents which any staff member needs to be able to do.

The employee could have told me:

“I’m a junior so I can help you do already today all the paper work. But my manager will have to call you later to complete it. Would that be ok for you?”.

By doing so the time I spent coming to the bank wouldn’t have been a total waste of time. I would have even appreciated the effort that the person has done. I would have understood that she tried to make my life easier. I would have known that she lives in the complex administrative world.

An appointment is not helping me. It’s postponing the customer experience.

Instead of offering an appointment you can already fix a part of the issue. The staff can already do some preparation work. It makes the customer feel that the process has already started. Postponing the situation is painful as the client was ready to do the action now. So let him experience something now.