Postcard from Bishkek

In the States, January 17th is Customer Service Day.

It’s billed as a day to reflect on the most important asset of any business – its customers; after all, as I am often heard to say, “without customers there is no business!”.  It is the income received from customers that  pays the bills and the salaries and helps to fund future development of the business.

If customers get the impression that they are neither welcome nor valued, then they will take one, or more, of several steps which could have devastating results for the company:

• The first is simply buying less;
• The second is not buying at all … but they could do more:
• • They could take something from the company, (steal), perhaps by way of “compensation”, or as a “punishment … or simply because they feel that’s “what the company deserves”;
  • They could tell others and damage the company’s reputation, dissuading potential customers from placing their business there.

On the other hand, there are plenty of statistics suggesting that it costs six to seven times as much to acquire a new customer than to retain a current customer.  The Loyalty Effect, (published in 1966), states that, it can cost 5–10 times more to acquire a new customer than retain an existing one and that “a 5% improvement in customer retention rates will yield between a 25 to 100% increase in profits across a wide range of industries”.

In other words – good customer relations is good business practice.

 

Customers are people not statistics. Although it would be nice if their decisions were always based on logic, emotions often play an important if not vital role and they make judgments based on their experiences. Thoughtful touches make a world of difference.  Their perception of the business or company may well change considerably based on their experiences and interactions with the organization.

It’s not just a question of what happens at the point of sale, however, although that is important.  Customer service involves all interactions between the client and the organization: before, during and after a sale.  For example:

• Being available and giving the right and reliable information, assistance in planning and selection;
• Being responsive to requests, polite and helpful;
• Being helpful and efficient in dealing with issues and complaints as and when they arise … perhaps help in installation or maintenance of whatever has been bought or assistance with upgrading and disposal of a product; not forgetting responding to feedback.

It’s also not just an issue for the “front of house” staff, those who come into direct contact with the client, it is something that affects everyone.  It should be a core of the business.

No one should tell a client, for example, “it’s not my job” or “there’s nothing I can do” , (even if that’s true); there are other ways of saying it such as, “I’m sorry, I don’t know, but let me try to find someone who can help you.”)

 

One of the adages that  I often hear as a slogan is “service with a smile” … and although I admit that a smile is important, (after all, it costs nothing other than a little effort on the part of the person smiling) … personally I think “it all depends” … after all, it has to be genuine.

For example,  I find nothing more annoying than a beaming face and a chanted phrase such as, “Have a nice day!”, which are clearly just part of a routine or script … leaving the impression that that they are just “going through the motions” and once I am out of sight a grimace will return to replace the beaming smile.  It makes for humour on television sitcoms like Fawlty Towers, but is not good for business.

The grimace, (if it happens), might not have anything to do with me, (the customer), it may be because the member of staff is ill or has just an argument with their supervisor, or the children, or whatever … but I don’t know that … all I know is that I was being treated like a sheep, one of a crowd, not as an individual and valued client.

 

In the various newsletters to which I subscribe, there are often articles about the need to “exceed the customer’s expectations” … sometimes referred to as providing a “Wow experience“.   That is sometimes likened to “going the extra mile” for customers.

It’s not difficult to provide this … one of the things I often say as a guide to how to relate to customers is: “put yourself into the customer’s shoes … what would you want to happen if you were them?”

 

I’m not sure that I agree, but some people have argued that the quality and level of customer service has decreased in recent years.  To quote just one example: “More often times than not, the service is not good. The service is generally mediocre at best and on a few occasions, it is downright awful. It seems it is getting more and more on the awful side of things.”

This is sometimes linked to:

• Rising demands and expectations that customers have … what was once, perhaps, something that provided a “Wow experience” is now expected as the norm … and so it is harder to “go the extra mile”.
• The cynical view is that it is because there is less interest in the workforce in providing customer satisfaction – they are in work simply to receive their salary and have no interest or incentive to provide customer satisfaction.
• Likewise, it is sometimes attributed to a lack of support or understanding at the executive and middle management levels of a company … perhaps because they are too focused on the “bottom line”.

 

As an aside: Being a former teacher, I can’t help drawing a parallel with the world of education.  There was a time when schooling was “teacher centered“; teachers were expected to know their subject and be able to communicate it.  They decided what, when and how to introduce topics on the curriculum. When I was going through training college, the work of Jean Piaget was all the rage, and his approach was different … focusing on how children learned, (which led to the descriptor, “child centered“).  This approach took into account the student’s own contribution to the learning process … their needs and interests.  Perhaps the best way of considering this was the Chinese proverb used as a motto for the Nuffield Mathematics Project:

I hear and I forget;
I see and I remember,
I do and I understand.

In the parallel world of business … the older approach is represented by the focus on the bottom line – which is all important … whereas the emphasis of the new approach is “Customer Orientated”.

 

 

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