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It was a usual day for Jenny Koebrugge, a Customer Service Consultant at Rabobank, a consumer and commercial bank in the Netherlands. She had become accustomed to the steady stream of calls from customers. Most were typical banking or services-related questions — old-hat for Jenny, who has nearly 28 years of experience. But one call that day took her by surprise.
Most customers Jenny spoke with were pleasant, some were prickly, and a few were emotional. But on this day, Jenny took a call from a young woman in distress. She was calling to check on the status of a credit card application. Unfortunately, Jenny had to tell her the news: The application had been lost in the shuffle and hadn’t been reviewed yet. This news brought the customer to tears. As she wept, the customer explained that she was a single mother of two young children, and they were just days away from flying from The Netherlands to Rome for their first holiday together. The credit card was necessary to secure a rental car for their trip.
Jenny placed herself in her customer’s shoes. She imagined herself — with two young children traveling in another country with no means of transportation. Jenny went to work.
She assured the customer that she’d look into it further and come up with a solution. First, Jenny attempted to rent a car on the customer’s behalf, but that didn’t work. Then she tried to have the rental car company invoice Rabobank directly for the rental car; that didn’t work either.
“I just imagined all the plans she had made for this holiday and all the anxiety she was experiencing, and I felt compelled to help her,” said Jenny. “We had to make this right for her.“
Jenny had another idea. Four hours later, she called the customer back and informed her of the plan. Sometimes the simplest ideas are the best ideas — and this idea was very simple. Jenny told the customer to simply use a taxi and pay them directly. Then Rabobank would reimburse the customer for all the taxi fees.
The customer erupted into tears again, but this time they were tears of joy. She was overwhelmed with Jenny’s generous plan. Not only would she get the transportation she needed, but Rabobank would pay for it. Jenny concluded that Rabobank had made the error, so the bank would correct the situation by paying. Problem solved; customer overwhelmed.
“Jenny has a good heart and knows what to do and what risks to take to satisfy a customer. She listens well and can hear the question behind the question,” said Rixt Elzinga, Team Coach – Private Customers at Rabobank and Jenny’s manager. “She shows empathy and has her own ideas about how to resolve issues for customers, so she is always exploring new ways to make customers happy.”
Empathy is a key ingredient in every CX Hero story. Another ingredient is the willingness to find a workaround that favors the customer. It’s not about breaking the rules; it’s about creating new processes and finding solutions to help others. And that’s exactly what Jenny did for her customer.
The Genesys Heroes program celebrates agents, just like Jenny Koebrugge, who go the extra mile for their customers. Nominate your company and customer service representatives today for the Genesys Heroes program.
