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A Guide For Customer Service Training Tools
Let's face it, good customer service can make or break a company. Even if the product is top-notch, if the sales representatives don't have great customer service skills, it doesn't matter. Customer service should be a number one priority to any...Continue

Check Yourself for Outstanding Customer Service
How many times have you heard something similar to this in a customer service situation? Customer: “Why don’t you just do it this way, and it will take care of the situation.” Customer Service Person: “I understand what you are saying, but we can to do it...Continue

Customer Service - A Lost Art?
Is customer service a lost art? Before you answer that question, take a moment and think about the last few times you have gone shopping or out to dinner. Okay, now that you have really thought about it, is your answer any different? Why is it that...Continue

Customer Service - why some people just shouldn't own shops
I had a call last week from a friend of mine who is an advertising agent and copywriter. He gave me a referral to the owner of a franchised coffee shop who had called him seeking help with advertising and marketing. My friend said that he thought that the...Continue

Show Your Customers You Care
I recently went to a major computer/electronics store to buy an expensive software package. I felt good that I was able to find the software at a substantial discount. But by the time I was through paying for my purchase I never wanted to come back to the...Continue

What the Taco Bell Manager Taught Me About Customer Retention
I didn't plan to get a marketing lesson. I really just wanted a steak chalupa! But as I went through the Taco Bell ordering line, my day took an interesting twist. I've always been one to give compliments when they were due. So, after receiving repeatedly...Continue

 

Why hasn't customer service improved despite the profusion of databases and technology?

Let's not get confused here.

Databases and technology are tools that we can use in our businesses. There has been a lot of emphasis on Customer Relationship Management recently which is very much about using this technology. But what has this got to do with customer service? Absolutely nothing. Not unless the people running that business are motivated and passionate enough to use that information in the right way.

I see fabulous examples of customer service from all over the world. And the amazing thing is that, in most cases, it comes from businesses that have no technology. Little shops and restaurants, taxi drivers, libraries, one person businesses. They have found a way to dazzle and delight their customers that has nothing whatsoever to do with technology.

And yet the larger businesses put so much emphasis on technology. "Let's profile our customers. Let's monitor their spending patterns. Let's change the layout of our shop so that they spend more. Let's give them reward points."

This is not customer service. This is a misguided attempt to increase sales without understanding that customer service is about dealing with people. We buy from people we like. We want to fall in love with the businesses that we buy from. And love doesn't come from databases.

My research into literally hundreds of businesses has identified a number of key elements that I believe combine to create a great service experience. They are like pieces of a jigsaw; the more that you can assemble the clearer the picture becomes. But let me tell you about just three of them. The three that I think are the most important.

The first is communication. How do we communicate with our customers? And I don't mean email or letter or telephone. What I mean is, do we really make an effort to get on side with our customer? Do we look at things from our customers point of view? Do we understand all the things that our customer is feeling, seeing, hearing, tasting and smelling? Do we communicate in ways that our customer understands? And do we listen? Really listen?

The second is systems. I don't mean computer or technology systems. Just simple systems. How do we do things? How we treat our customers? Think about all the businesses that you have ever worked in. Did any one of them ever say to you on your very first day, "This is how we treat our customers here"? More likely they probably said, "This is how you take the money. This is how you chase up payments. This is how you operate the computer". Most employees do what they think is expected of them.

The third element is leadership. There is a direct correlation between strength of leadership and the amount of extra effort that people put into serving customers. Great leaders understand their internal customers - their employees. They understand what motivates them, what inspires them, what pleasure they can get from giving great service.

Great leaders also understand what huge benefits customer loyalty brings. The very best customer service businesses don't need to advertise. They don't lose customers and they get huge numbers of referrals.

Business leaders in the UK need to wake up to the fact that the best technology will not replace simple human understanding. The greatest database will not replace some basic customer service training. I worry that UK leaders are simply too reserved and too conservative to ever fully grasp this issue. We dismiss as "too American" anything that appears to break the rules. "Have a nice day" might not be for us. But understanding how to make our customers smile would be a huge step forward.



About the author:

Derek Williams is creator of The WOW! Awards™ an International Professional Speaker and Chief Executive for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Europe.

For more information about Derek Williams visit www.MrWow.co.uk. For The WOW! Awards (including access to a FREE customer service newsletter) visit www.TheWowAwards.com
 
 
 
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