| Customer service is the holy grail of most service and | | | | in the very best way - by coming alongside them and |
| product organisations. Yet there are three basics that | | | | working together, utilising their special skills and |
| are vital to go further - to delight your customers... | | | | squeezing the very best from them. Yet, in a way in |
| The radio show I was listening to was debating the | | | | which the employee loves the work. It is fun, fulfilling |
| reasons for rude and offhand customer service. I had | | | | and their environment is conducive to enjoyment. |
| to share with them the three simple reasons for poor | | | | Recruit sharp managers, especially those who have |
| customer service (interestingly, they let the phone ring | | | | the very best 'people' skills. |
| out and cut me off after a while, so not so special | | | | 3. Finally - customer service is about focus. Your |
| customer service at their end!). | | | | freshly recruited 'people' people, well supported from |
| So here are just three simple reasons - none of which | | | | above, need to be freed up to look after the |
| are the fault of the person giving the customer service! | | | | customers they want to give great service to. |
| So then, three simple reasons - and solutions... | | | | Organisations are much more demanding, to meet the |
| | | | requirements of shareholders profit needs, and use |
| 1. Firstly - the wrong people are recruited for | | | | multi-tasking to drive productivity. Focusing on three |
| customer-facing roles. Retail (my background), is tough | | | | tasks at once means they can't give their total focus |
| - some customers are tough and it is not as attractive | | | | to delighting customers by building great relationships |
| a proposition to some people as an easier number in | | | | with every one of them. There is a place for |
| an office. So recruiters panic and take what they can | | | | multitasking, but other jobs must very clearly come |
| get - often the wrong people to face customers. | | | | second to customers. Personally, I think multitasking is |
| Recruit 'people' people for your customer-facing work. | | | | actually less productive, but that's me. Give your |
| 2. Secondly - management quality is frequently poor. | | | | customer-facing people the complete freedom to |
| Here, often again due to poor recruiting (because there | | | | focus on customers. |
| is a big shortage of good managers in the UK), the | | | | I never heard whether my comments got aired, though |
| wrong people get recruited into management - they | | | | they did ring me back, the signal got lost. All that free |
| are not 'people'people either. Managers need to deliver | | | | advice, lost forever - except to reader here, of course! |
| results, sure, but they also need to use their employees | | | | |