How's your Customer Service Culture? 26.02.2010

Recently I needed to get some ink cartridges from Dick Smith electronics. I bought 4 cartridges and returned to the office. I then realised that I was missing one cartridge and it was important that I had it as I needed to print some things to send off first thing in the morning before my flight. I reached Dick smith at 5 minutes before closing time to find that they had the doors closed. I noticed there were some customers inside the store so I gently knocked. A tall gentleman eventually came to the door as he let the other customers out. I said ‘I just need to get one ink cartridge, is that okay.’ To which he replied ‘sorry mate, we are closed.’ I replied ‘I thought that you were open till 5pm today.’ He said ‘ its 5 past 5 on my watch’ and then slammed the door in my face.

Wow! I stood there for a few moments in shock. I then asked a man walking by what time he made it – he said 2 minutes to 5pm.

Later that afternoon I sent a quick email to Dick Smith head office so they might avoid losing future customers due to poor service. They thanked me for my email and said they would contact me within the week. Three weeks later and they still have yet to contact me.

There we have 2 small examples of poor service: One - not caring about the customer; Two - not keeping a promise. In the scheme of things, it might not seem like much. I certainly haven't lost any sleep over it. But, how many customers have they lost due to less than ideal service?

So now we come to your business. Do the people put in charge of dealing with customers really care about meeting customer needs? Do your front line staff only ever make promises that they can keep?

We all know that it is much easier keeping an existing customer than it is in gaining a new one. Yet, so many businesses are guilty of having a customer service culture that does not retain quality customers.Ask yourself this: Would you put allow your worst customer service agent to deal with your best, most profitable client? If the answer is no, then there is room for improvement. What's to say that your worst customer service agent hasn't already lost you the most profitable client - the sad thing is, you most likely wouldn't even be aware of it.

So what can you do about it?

A service culture starts at the top. Leaders must deliver on promises - not most of the time, but all of the time. Near enough is not good enough when it comes to delivering exceptional service. There must be a strong recruitment process; a suitable customer training program and a strong way of tracking customer feedback. Without proper tracking, it is easy to see how customer service 'black holes' occur.

Every day customers are confronted with a myriad of options. By having a world-class customer culture, you put yourself in the best position to retain loyal customers. More often than not, they will tell their friends about you too!

All the best,

Blake Beattie