The news is full of stories about large companies that are struggling to maintain their positions at the top of the tree. I’m thinking particularly of a large electronics retail group whose name, frankly, has never been synonymous with customer service. They have always competed on price, and I have, on more than one occasion, bought something from one of their pushy salespeople just to get rid of them. Then, of course, I go away dissatisfied with my customer experience, grumble to a few friends, use the story as a negative example in training courses, and then sometimes go back because they are cheap!
I believe that in an age where many of us have less money to spend, or at least, have been convinced of the need to ‘tighten our belts’, companies that put customer service at the bottom of their ‘internal agenda’ will suffer. One company I recently heard of would reward its employees handsomely for achieving financial targets, but was only prepared to spend £100 a month across the U.K. to reward one example of excellent customer service. In other words, their staff were being financially rewarded for ensuring that customers only did business with them once, and anyone who was seen delivering great customer service had to go into a pot with a number of other colleagues to compete for a trophy that was awarded to one person in the U.K. every month, and cost £100.
Companies that have a true Customer Service Culture will survive the recession, because they will be building relationships with customers now that will bear fruit when the economic situation improves.
Thank you to Dragon’s Lair for the use of their picture