If I had to commission a soundtrack to my family’s experiences of customer service in this country over the past twelve months, I’d be on the ‘phone to Morrissey. Wordless exchanges, downcast expressions and listless responses – all wrapped up in a shroud of indifference. After 3, everybody … ‘And heaven knows I’m miserable now.’
There’s a curious contradiction here between the pre-eminence customer service appears to hold in business these days (name me one business that hasn’t set customer service as a priority in 2005) and my actual experiences.
I visited a petrol station recently. There were five people in the queue ahead of me, each wanting to pay for petrol but only one surly-looking woman serving. Indifference circled in the shop like a wasp with a grudge.
The other server was engaged in sandwich re-arrangement with a surprising level of diligence. She’s re-ordering them to ensure the ones approaching the sell-by-date are at the front, when we all know that the first, almost instinctive reaction of a shopper is to reach to the back for the freshest one.
It hadn’t occurred to either of them that we’d be happier if they were both serving. But, on the other hand, none of us had the courage to point out the problem. Result? A stalemate, with the emphasis on ‘stale’ (I had the sandwich).
So how did we get here?
Businesses have simply failed to evolve. A trip to Titus Salt’s famous mill in Saltaire offers some intriguing insights. His focus was simple. Engage a workforce (in his case by providing both accommodation and spiritual encouragement) and train them to enact a process designed to produce a product. Humans as robots.
But now, with the services industry accounting for something like 80% of GDP, the production line is less important than the human factor.
In my work, I know that simply satisfying customers has no real impact on their readiness to spread the word about your business. You have to get the human elements right if you want to bring the money in. And chief among those elements are reassurance, ownership and courtesy, all strangely absent from that petrol station.
First Direct knows that people only deliver great customer service when they feel good about their work – and their commitment to this approach has produced incredible advocacy levels, where up to 80% of new customers have joined up on a recommendation from a friend.
And that just doesn’t happen by itself. It requires a fundamental shift from the detached control and command of Titus Salt’s day, to a new approach where employees are regularly briefed on business priorities, asked for their feedback and given the support, encouragement and recognition to make their service extra special.
And, until this happens, I’ll be whistling Mr Morrissey’s refrain.
Mark Bradley is a director at Customer Service Network, author and business speaker. His book Inconvenience Stores: One Year in UK Customer Service details the adventures of one family as they experience 12 months of the joys of UK retail. Published by Ardra Press, price £9.95, it can be ordered through www.ardrapress.com or by visiting www.inconveniencestores.com
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