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Customer service: fact or fantasy?
By G. Spencer Stahle
March 23, 2005 | Does this sound familiar?
You have a cart full of groceries, you place them ever
so meticulously on the belt and you walk up to the checker.
He or she says nothing to you as you stand there watching
them throw, cram and mutilate your groceries. The only
words of the transaction are "$38.72." Your change is
dropped into your hand and your receipt is thrown into
a sack.
More often then not this seems to be standard operating
procedure for most retail stores. Their slogans and
ads all center on customer service, however you would
be hard pressed to find their slogans in action.
Customer service, as defined by mywiseowl.com
refers to a set of behaviors that a business undertakes
during its interactions with its customers. Based on
most of my interactions as of late, most business have
a warped set of behaviors, or they just don't care.
There have been many articles written in the last several
years regarding the general decline in customer service.
This decline is reaching epidemic prepositions. If you
search on "Customer Service" in Google Groups, there
are over 3,300,000 hits. People with both good and bad
customer service stories to tell. The bad seem to be
winning.
This apparent apathy towards customer service is not
just in retail but is spreading to other areas including
institutions of learning, state and government agencies
and corporations. More and more businesses are realizing
that there are two types of customer service. External
customer service is what we are all familiar with, however,
potentially more important is internal customer service,
or the customer service that is provided to employees.
Considering that a business's employees are the ones
interacting with the public, they are the face of the
company. It they are treated badly, they in turn will
pass that onto the customers.
"Customer
service is what its all about. Both for our customers
and our employees. Find a way to make them happy, that's
the key," said Marj Willson, a manager for a Fortune
100 company that specializes in outsourced customer
service.
"Customer
service is all about respect," said Kim Scrivens of
Dorman Farrell,LLC, an Ohio based financial firm. "As
I speak with customers I try and convey that they are
important and that I am here for them."
The days of full service gas stations may be gone, but
the need for customer service will always be there.
If you do not believe you are receiving good service,
let someone know. Likewise, take the time to let people
know when you have received great service.
A final thought, the "Golden Rule" may also apply. If
you want good customer service, give it first.
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