Blogging 'from within' Sprint

I suppose the subtitle of this post might as well read: "Why I decided to stay anonymous while blogging about Sprint/Nextel". Before I go any further, to answer a question someone asked: no, I do not actually blog from work (at least not on this blog! We do have an internal blog, but more on that later, read on...), as not only would that destroy my desire to remain unnamed, but it would not exactly rank high on the ethical scale, either.  I assume the reason for the question was in regards to the moniker I chose,  "Inside.Sprint.Now". It simply attempts to make reference to me working inside Sprint/Nextel, and also brings in an aspect of the 'NOW' network that most people are familiar with. So nope, no blogging for this particular venue at work; not now, not ever. With that being said, I am part of one of the very few customer facing teams that has unrestricted profiles for accessing anything outside of the corporate firewall. So while I could blog from work, it's not something that I would do. Hope that clears that up (and saves the goons from Corporate Security from wasting their time attempting to search the logs so they could lock ..  question.. hmm, let's go with.. interrogate  me in room for 6 hours (Yea, it's not legal, and we all know it happens, but I suppose that's just another reason to not get terminated, isn't it) - and that's another post for another day!, and in case you're wondering, Sprint does not consider not allowing you to leave as a voilation of any laws or rights. While you will almost always find me commending Sprint/Nextel on pretty much everything, that is the one policy(unwritten, of course, because having it documented would be a security risk, right?) that I disagree with the corporate stance on. At any rate, this all really does relate to the topic for this post, as it gives you a tiny glimpse of what a strange world life inside the Sprint corporation can be like. And while it may seem like I'm harping on Sprint, that's the only policy that I really have any major issue with, and it's an internal thing, and has nothing to do with Customer Service. Other than that one item, which I learned to accept some number of years ago, I have generally nothing but high recommendations for Sprint, and not just because they sign my checks, but because not only are they a good employer, but they have a good quality product. We have a few care/marketing issues that are being ironed out, and overall are set for a solid comeback to the top of the pack, where the industry is concerned.

The person who emailed me the question from above, had read the article on the Consumerist which sounded more like a decree from the Kremlin, than the CEO Corporate Lawyer of a 'multi-glom-o-corp' in the heart of America. In case you missed it: Sprint/Nextel Will Fire Any Employee Caught Participating In Blogs, via Consumerist.com. And while it was technically from legal, its rumblings began in the boardroom, and everyone had a similar say in the decision, for 'nicety' sake, it was decided that legal should deliver the news, which is why you never seen the CEO quoted on it - that way it could allow room for 'spin' in case it backfired (which, of course, it did). Of course this policy is no longer enforced, and instead employees that identify themselfs as such when posting online, are asked to keep our standards in mind when using any type of online or social media service. For the most part that seems to work really well, although you don't seem to find very many active 'Sprint' bloggers - which may very well be the result of blogs and social media sites themselves. If you were a employee that thought about starting a blog, and was not aware of any existing policy on it in either direction, and you googled to see if there were any other Sprint blogs out there... not only would you not find many (if any, at all) but you would see that news story from a couple years back, and I'm willing to believe that 99% of most folks faced with those results, would not desire or seek to blog in any way would could be related to Sprint - which, even if it backfired, you almost have to wonder if they didn't consider this 'aftershock' effect when they leaked emailed the policy to 80,000 mailboxes. Whatever the 'official' policy now allows, the damage has already been done for many would be bloggers from within the sprint enterprise - at least outside the firewall. We do have a semi-social networking/blogging application on the intranet that a lot of us partipate in, which while good, isn't great. Without giving too much away, I'll just say it's certainly no Wordpress. It does provide some level of networking within the organization, though it has a lot to be desired. It's still in the infant stages I suppose you could say, so we'll see where it goes. I have a fairly popular following, it would seem

So, you may wonder, after reading all of that (and that's 0.0001% of the entire picture), why I would want to have a blog that is related to Sprint. It's a valid question, and for the answer I suppose you should be aware of a couple of things(and I hope I don't break any hearts or disappoint anyone that's been on the edge of their seat waiting to see what would become of this blog). Here's only a couple of the reasons that I don't worry about blogging in this arena, despite all the hoopla:

• No product 'leaks' here. Not worth my career, sorry. Visit BoyGenius for that


• I've had access to all this info for years, do you really think I'm suddenly gonna feel like sharing? This isn't AA.


• My paycheck is nice. In fact, It's rather large for what I actually do. I think I'll keep it that way. It'd take me way too many years to get to the same position at any other company, and even longer for them to forget about me so I could spend my days assisting in the care of a portion of our customers, or set my voicemail box to forward to my house for days on end with no one knowing. 


• I love sprint, we have great service and a quality product. 


• Helping right prior service 'woes' is my specialty


• I find that blogging is best when the author not only knows the arena well, but isn't afraid to tell both the good and the bad, when either need to be talked about. That's me. 100%.


• Oh, and the Corporate Security and the goons that 'monitor' sites looking for slips and leaks.. well, I have coffee with them a few mornings a week - and while they have no idea that I blog, if they did, they would never let it be known. So yea.. I don't have any worries there.

Oh yea, and there's that other little thing that I forgot to mention in the list above. Maybe you've heard of it.. it's this great little thing called:

The First Amendment.

Yep, I went and brought the 1st amendment into it - but quite frankly, I'm allowed to blog about anything I choose, and if that topic happens to be Sprint/Nextel, so be it. So yea, I think that pretty much sums it up. Oh, and the anonymous part? I figure that's probably best for now, just to keep it simple and my life a little less stressful. Those in the know probably would not have a hard time putting a face to the moniker, but there's no need to attach a name to my blog, as I feel I can put more depth and real-life experiences into the blog if I don't have to worry about anyone stressing because I said something the didn't like, or that wasn't run by the legal team first. So in a nutshell, that's a little insight into why I decided to blog the way I am.

This post wasn't really customer-service related, but I did feel it was necessary to include early in the life of the blog, just so we're all on the same page. Now, on to the more interesting stuff soon! If you have ideas or questions for me, leave a comment or email: inside.sprint.now@gmail.com !

An Open Letter to my fellow Sprint Agents

An Open Letter to my fellow Sprint Agents, Worldwide:

I realize that you have an ever decreasing and limited amount of time to interact with each customer, and the fact that it's a phone conversation make it no less challenging; I'm well aware. However if you are going to make a promise to a customer, please... please... please... for the sake of my sanity, and your own job security (or soon to be lack-thereof), please follow through on  your promise. I personally do not care if it takes you the rest of the day or your supervisor's lunch hour. If you promise, you need to have to deliver.  Do not promise the customer something, notate the account accordingly, then end the call and assume your job is complete because you want to lower your call handle time, or it's time for your next break. It is NOT done until you have followed through on whatever (probably too extravagent) promise you made, and most likely even do a callback to confirm with the customer that the resolution is complete. 

 

What you may, or may not, know - is that each and every time you document a promise to a customer in their account, and that customer calls back to find out why we haven't lived up to their expections, two things happen: (1)We have to live up to that promise, often at a considerable cost to the company, and our own team/bonus bottom line; and (2)Your lovely name and ID number along with the promise you failed to live up to, AND the dollor amout it cost the company to make good on, all get forwarded to a back office team that spend their day dealing with customers and unfulfilled promises (among many other things). And while it's not an instantaneous thing, your information is logged into the database and then on the (daily?weekly?monthly?) report that gets sent to your site manager your name is made prominent on the list list of issues to be 'dealt with'.

Yep, you did notice that one of the security guards was not at post when you came down the elevator to have your smoke break, right? You guessed it, that'd because they're busy awaiting your return to your cube so that you can be walked out (the long way around, I might add; a short parade, of sorts) of the building and escorted to your car. I do hope you enjoy your extended vacation, of sorts, just as much as I will enjoy cleaning up your messes that have yet to surface.

In closing, PLEASE deliver on your promises. If you're telling a customer something just to get them off your phone, then I personally will assist that customer in telling you something, and the only thing that will be getting off anything will be you getting off the bus at the unemployment line, it's that simple, and we take it that seriously. In the past week I've had no less than five promises made to customers (and documented in their accounts, I might add) that no sane person would have ever made, and nor did their curcumstances warrant such crazy promised. If it was customer satisfaction scores you were seeking, then you were successful, because anyone would be thrilled with some of the offers and discounts you promised, and I'm sure at the time they were surveyed they were still overjoyed at the thought of their newfound 'friendly' rep with a pockful of gold at the end of the rainbow. You may have gotten your CSAT scores from them, and they may have gotten what you promised, but was your job really worth it? This IS Sprint, you know your actions are all logged. So quit being stupid before you're caught, and save your job, and me some headaches.

 

--From Somewhere deep within Sprint Customer Care.