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May 22, 2008 -- Verizon's customer care czar speaks

Verizon recently earned plaudits on Clark's show for hiring a "Customer Care Czar" named Tom Maguire. It's somewhat odd that there's a job such as Maguire's, but the reality is that as companies get bigger they sometimes lose their customer service skills.

Maguire is the man charged with reversing that trend at Verizon. In a rare interview on the show, Clark gave him some airtime today to tell his story.

The czar said he frequently helps employees deal with bureaucratic obstacles that stand in the way of good customer service. He also helps shepherd disgruntled customers through the escalation process when they call an executive directly.

Maguire points to the implementation of net promoter scores as one of the ways the company is putting the emphasis back on the customer. This is a fancy way of saying that Verizon hires a third-party group to call up customers after they've spoken to a rep and ask them to rate the service they received. The customer's feedback then goes to the rep responsible for helping that person. It's a way to build a "you touch it, you own it" mentality among employees, Maguire says.

Finally, he vowed the company will try to ensure that customers won't get sales pitches for other services when they call up to resolve an issue. He's also working to ensure that outsourced reps located overseas are well-trained and articulate.

Looking to the future, Maguire says he'd like to eliminate the multiple numbers you have to call if you have problems with several different Verizon services.


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