Thursday, November 03, 2016

Good Service is Good Business

Having worked in service industries all my life I hold customers in the highest of esteem, yet many of the organisations that I am a customer of seem to treat me with near contempt.

During the past 12 months I have had clashes with a variety of large organisations. They all have very polite and caring staff but are unable to make a decision based on my predicament.

In most cases they could have solved my problem at virtually no cost to themselves by simply being flexible on tiny matters of policy.  If they had done so, not only would they have retained me as a customer but I would, most likely, have become an advocate.

On every occasion they retort with the response; "I can't do that".  The real answer is that they could, they are either not allowed or they don't know how.  But what kind of a policy is it that leaves your customer fuming?

As a result of my background I am well aware that the cost of acquiring new customers is many times that of retaining existing ones.  My frustration is therefore based on the fact that not only could they solve my problem easily by simply being a bit more flexible, but that it would also be good for their business!

If you work for a company that has a so-called 'customer services' department, ask yourself whether the staff who work there are empowered to provide customer service, or simply to answer questions on company policies.

1 comment:

  1. It gets worse with computerized "support" systems. I have had a problem with my advertising account at Facebook since April. I had two replies by real people during the process, the rest have been robot replies that show no understanding of what the issue is or what my previous submission means. The problem is still unresolved, I have no human contact information and I'm trying to give them money for a service!

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