The death of customer servie
The other day a reporter call to interview me on the "Death of
Customer Service". My first reaction was to deny that charge
and claim that customer service is very much alive and well.
But upon further thought of the service I've received over the
past few months and what others have related to me about
their experiences, I had to admit that the quality and level of
service has decreased. Upon further thought I realized that it
has been on a decline for quite a while. I finally admitted to the reporter that yes, I have to agree that
customer service is not doing as well as I'd like to think it is.
Of course his next question was, "Why is that?" I believe there are 4 basic reasons for the demise of
customer service.
The booming economy of the 90's created an
atmosphere where management took the stance that if one
customer didn't like what they were doing, there were plenty
lined up behind him/her that had their credit card ready to be
processed. Why go the extra mile for someone who was so
easily replaceable? This attitude is still pervasive which
adds up to poor customer service.
Poor hiring practices are what I believe to be another
reason why customer service is so poor. Unemployment
ahs been so low that finding new employees has been a
major challenge for companies. They hired marginal
people, people with poor attitudes, people with poor work
ethics, and people who don't care. Put these employees in
a position where they interact with customers and you have
a formula for poor customer service.
Lack of training of these marginal employees is another
problem. Managers have the philosophy that since the
employee won't last that long in the position, why put the
time, money and effort into training them. Of course the lack
of training leads to low morale, confusion on the part of the
employee and costly mistakes. The employee doesn't last
in the position because they don't feel supported by
management, then management feels justified for the lack
of training they give. This all adds up to poor customer
service.
Profit driven decisions of management as the criteria for
solving all problems is another reason for the death of
customer service. Rather than do the 'right' thing, decisions
are weighted by what it will cost the company. Scheduling is
planned by what it costs in dollars rather than what it costs
in poor service. Customer complaints are judged by the
impact on the bottom line rather than on the impact on
customer satisfaction. This short-term thinking gives out the
clear message to employees that the company's needs are
more important than the customer's. This justifies the
attitude of employees of not caring about the customer
which again adds up to the delivery of poor customer
service.
Margo Chevers, author of the book STOP the BS (bad
service), has been providing sales and customer service
seminars and consulting to a diverse cross-section of
industries for the past 15 years. For information about
Margo Chevers' speaking or training schedule call (800)
858-0797 or Margo@MargoChevers.com
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