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Top 10 questions about customer service and business
Question 1: Is it true that the client is always right?
Answer: Yes. The customer is always right. The customer's
perception is reality.
Question 2: If the client is always right, does it mean the
service provider is always wrong, even if they have been trained
and well prepared for the job?'
Answer: Training and preparation is essential but it cannot
prepare us for every possible situation. Things will go wrong
sometimes or mistakes will be made. The service provider has to
recognise this. If something goes wrong then it is important to
learn from that mistake. Find out why it has happened. Speak to
the customer and understand their point of view. And then change
the system so that the same problem does not happen again.
There is one other alternative. Each business has to decide what
type of customers it wants to deal with. It cannot possibly hope
to please every type of customer. The business may decide that
it cannot solve a particular customer's problem and decide that
it will risk losing that customer. Poor service businesses lose
customers without ever making this choice.
Question 3: Since the customer must always be put first, why is
it that most organisation charts put the CEO/Chairman/MD on top?
Answer: Most businesses are thinking only of their own
organisation, communication and delegation when constructing an
organisation chart. They think that everything must come from
the CEO or Chairman and draw the chart accordingly.
A business that is truly customer focused will put its customers
first. This means drawing the organisation chart as an inverted
pyramid. Customers go at the top of the chart and underneath
them are the people in the front line. The CEO is at the bottom
of the chart.
When the organisation is looked at in this way it becomes clear
that the role of management is to support the front line people.
Question 4: Does putting the customer first imply complete
capitulation to his/her whims and desires?
Answer: Not capitulation but partnership. If it's a good
customer (one that you value) who asks you to jump then the only
question is, "How high?"
Businesses need to remember that there is a cost involved of not
resolving a customer's problem. When dealing with a problem,
think about the life time value of the customer before making a
decision.
Question 5: Does good customer care cost money?
Answer: Poor customer care costs money. Research shows that poor
customer care is the biggest single reason for customers
changing their supplier.
Good customer care may require a small investment but the
returns can be enormous. Most businesses do not measure how many
customers they lose. If they did, they would be able to
calculate if it was worth making an investment in customer care.
Question 6: How should management go about when deciding what
part of its budget it should allocate to ensure good customer
care/relations?
Answer: All expenditure should be viewed as an investment and
management should consider how to get the best return on the
total investment. Delivering good service means giving the
people who really matter (the front line) the resources that
they need i.e. training, equipment, systems, support and
leadership.
Question 7: What bearing does training have on caring for one's
customers?
Answer: Training is essential. And it shows. Simply investigate
any of the world's greatest businesses and see how much
importance they attach to training. Do you think that you would
be allowed to sweep the streets at Disney without training?
Unfortunately, the education system lets down our students. We
teach our children maths and science and verbal language skills.
But we do little to teach them the language of human
understanding and care.
Question 8: Are customers the same all over the world or do
culture and size of a country make a difference?
Answer: Culture makes huge differences. But care and
understanding has to come from the supplier. Once a culture of
care has been established within a business, that business can
work with any country and any culture. When you truly care you
will understand your customer.
Customers will not tolerate bad service any more from a small
country than they would from a large country. If anything, the
customer's perception might be that a small country should be
able to give better service than a large country. Isn't that
why, as customers, we often prefer to deal with small suppliers
rather than the multi-national giants?
Question 9: It is not unusual for owner/managers to be obsessed
with just making money and refusing to make certain
improvements, such as in training, they do not deem absolutely
necessary and staff to be just concerned with earning their pay
and giving two hoots on how the company performs, especially if
it is a large one. Is there a solution to such situations?
Answer: This is true. Some owners/managers have this attitude.
It is usually very short-sighted and fundamentally wrong. But
unless they are faced with extremely difficult circumstances
they are unlikely to change. It's unfortunate for them and for
their customers. There is a solution to this problem and it
starts with leadership. Show me a leader with vision and I'll
show you great service. There is also a problem in that there
are not enough skilled customer service advisors who really
understand business performance. It's okay to know what makes
for good service but, unless this can be translated into
financial improvement, the business owner is unlikely to change
his or her view.
Question 10: What are the three most important ingredients that
make a great business and why?
Answer: Leadership, communication and systems.
Leadership for the vision, the culture, the willingness to
invest and for maintaining principles.
Communication with the internal customer as well as the external
customer. Without communication how can we ever spread the
vision or respond to our customers. And remember, communication
comes in many forms. A cracked cup may say more about your
business than an international quality achievement.
Systems to make things happen consistently. And when you have
systems that really work you can change the system if something
goes wrong. Systems allow people to perform the majority of a
task subconsciously (just like driving a car) and focus all
their conscious effort on the customer.
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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