The problem with customer service in the UK

The problem with customer service in the UK

Why are so many organisations in the UK so bad at delivering customer service?

The experiences we receive are so varied it is scary, apologies to the companies that do it well and also to the rare individuals within the poor organisations that actually do a great job, but the sad fact is that the good work you do is so quickly undone by the poor majority.

Firstly let’s start with the two words in the title:”customer” and “Service”

Here are some definitions of customer service I came across on the internet:

"Customer service is the ability to provide a service or product in the way that it has been promised"

"Customer service is about treating others as you would like to be treated yourself"

"Customer service is an organization's ability to supply their customers' wants and needs"

"Customer Service is a phrase that is used to describe the process of taking care of our customers in a positive manner"

"Customer Service is any contact between a customer and a company, that causes a negative or positive perception by a customer"

"Customer service is a process for providing competitive advantage and adding benefits in order to maximize the total value to the customer"

"Customer Service is the commitment to providing value added services to external and internal customers, including attitude knowledge, technical support and quality of service in a timely manner"

"Customer service is a proactive attitude that can be summed up as: I care and I can do."

Objectives of Customer Care

• create a culture of customer focus

• creating rapport and building loyalty

• achieving customer satisfaction

The problem is that in so many cases none of the above actually happens!

So why are we so bad at customer service or customer care?

To so many consumers, customer service in the UK seems to be delivered by people who:

a) don’t particularly enjoying dealing with people

b) have no interest in helping customers

c) have no people skills to handle complaints and manage customers

d) don’t really care one way or the other how the customer feels

e) sarcasm and unhelpful behaviour are common in most customer service environments

Why do we get it so wrong?

If we have an unhappy customer we should be trying to solve their problem and manage the problem in a dynamic, positive and helpful manner, even if the customer isn’t right or is angry this should still be the goal – surely?

If you have an unhappy customer what’s the worst thing we can do? Yes that’s right alienate them further by being rude and unhelpful, and the end result… an even more unhappy customer.

What people just don’t get is that things happen, things go wrong and guess what customers don’t mind, what they do mind is when the company doesn’t make it right and make them feel valued.

Throughout my career I have seen my fair share of mistakes and customer mess ups (I have even made a couple myself – after all I am only human), but I’ve also always found that if you sort out the problem and make the customer happy again and keep the customer happy they not only remain customers, they also recommend you based on your customer service, it didn’t matter that it went wrong because you fixed it and made them happy.

So the question I ask is it really that difficult to get it right when it comes to delighting our customers?

© Real Selling 2010