How a personality test designed to pick astronauts is improving customer support

http://www.fastcompany.com/1706766/how-a-system-designed-to-weed-out-nasa-astronauts-is-taking-the-pain-out-of-customer-support-call

by tobtoh • 16 years ago

22 3 16 years ago

fastcompany.com

zazi• 16 years ago

Heck, if this really works, I would take a personality profile test for free to save me from the pain of annoying customer service reps and save companies the hassle of trying to figure out my personality type. Go ahead.. stereotype me..

johnwatson11218• 16 years ago

yes I was thinking the same thing. If there was some way for my interactions with previous companies to be exported and packaged up for my future calls/emails I would be on board. I think this could dovetail with voluntary disclosure of information on my part to improve the quality of advertisements that I experience on tv and radio - or whatever it is called in a few years.

One issue is that there would be things I wouldn't want in my profile (think credit reporting for examples). Also if I have any say in it I might put in things that I wish were true but may not be (good listener / attention to detail).

wccrawford• 16 years ago

I suspect there's quite a bit of overlap in the types. I am definitely not a 'workaholic' according to the usual definition of the term, but I -do- prefer to just get the facts and finish the call as quickly as possible. I'm not there to make a friend, I'm there to solve a problem.

This was actually true no matter which side of the conversation I was on. And some callers definitely appreciated that when I was solving their problems.

However, I did have enough sense to know when to just let a customer rant and deal with their emotions as the problem, instead of the actual initial problem they had.

Also, my current company used to do personality tests before hiring someone so that they could get the right attitude in the company. They stopped doing that a while back, but that initial seed of pleasant attitudes has persisted since those initial people are now doing the hiring. It has worked out really, really well for employees and clients alike.

How a personality test designed to pick astronauts is improving customer support

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