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The art of customer service

A.Z.M. Saifuddin
***Customer service can be defined as an art. The attitude towards customer service is the primary determinant of the quality of service that a company delivers. If the management thinks that customers are a nuisance, who always want something for nothing, that attitude will permeate the company, and service will be lousy. The best kind of customer service is when management enables employees to put the customer in control.***
A few days back, I went to a shop in Singapore. As I entered it, a salesperson greeted me like a guest. I was amazed to experience the comfort a salesperson can ensure to arrive at the right decision. She tried to understand what would suit my friend best. A very impor-tant question comes to my mind, "Is customer service an art?"
Proliferation of media, growth in telecommunication, mushrooming financial institutions, and mobility of people across the world have opened our eyes to the development of the modern world. People are exposed to the changing businessworld.
In our trade-dependent country we have seen a phenomenal growth in the service industry.
To take it to next level and package it with a professional touch "customer service" has become a key factor, but we see a lack of this particular aspect in the professional field.
Customer service can be defined as an art. The attitude towards customer service is the primary determinant of the quality of service that a company delivers. If the management thinks that customers are a nuisance, who always want something for nothing, that attitude will permeate the company, and service will be lousy.
The best kind of customer service is when management enables employees to put the customer in control. This requires two leaps of faith: first, that management trusts customers not take advantage of the situation; second, that man-
agement trusts employees with this empowerment. If we can make these leaps, then the quality of customer service will zoom; if not, there is nothing more frustrating than companies copping the attitude that something is "against company policy."
A company that takes responsibility for its shortcomings is likely to provide great customer service for two reasons. First, it's acknowledged that it's the company's fault and the company's responsibility to fix. Second, customers won't go through the aggravating process of getting us to accept blame -- if we got to the airport on time and checked our baggage; it's hard to see how it's our fault that it got sent to the wrong continent.
"Pointing the finger" is the flip side of taking responsibility.
As computer owners we all know that when a program doesn't work vendors often resort to finger pointing: "It's Apple's system software." "It's Microsoft's special way of doing things." "It's the way Adobe created PDF."
A great customer service company doesn't point the finger -- it figures out what the solution is, regardless of whose fault the problem is, and makes the customer happy. There is a saying: "You're either part of the problem or part of the solution."
We have also experienced that great customer service companies don't shoot the messenger. When it comes to customer service, it could be a customer, an employee, a vendor, or a consultant who's doing the pointing. The goal is not to silence the messenger, but to fix the problem that the messenger brought so that other customers don't have a bad experience.
One of the most common justifications for anti-service is "what if everyone did this?" For example, what if everyone bought a new wardrobe when we lost their luggage? The point is: Don't assume that the worst case is going to be the common
case. There will be complainers, yes, but generally people are reasonable. If we put in a policy to take care of the worst case, it will antagonise and insult the bulk of our customers.
To put it mildly, customer service is not a job for everyone. The ideal customer service person derives great satisfaction by helping people and solving problems. This cannot be said of every job candidate. It's the company's responsibility to hire the right kind of people for this job because it can be a bad experience for the employee and the customer when you hire folks without a service orientation. In our country, we need to seriously look into this. Customer service is yet to be understood by us properly.
The goal of customer service should be delighting customers. For example, the signs in the lines at Theme Park that tell us how long we have to wait from each point are purposely overstated. When we get to the ride in less time, we are delighted. Imagine if the signs were understated --we'd be angry because theme park lied to us.
It is also very important to integrate customer service into
the mainstream. Let's see: sales make the big money. Marketing does the fun stuff. Engineers, well, we leave them alone in their dark caves. Accounting cuts the paychecks. And support? They do the dirty work of talking to pissed-off customers when nothing else works.
Herein lies the problem: customer service has as much to do with a company’s reputation as sales, marketing, engineering, and finance. So integrate customer service into the mainstream of the company and do not consider it a profit-sucking necessary evil. A customer service hero deserves all the accolades that a sales, marketing, or engineering one does.
Suppose a part breaks in the gizmo that a customer bought from us. First, take responsibility: "I'm sorry that it broke." Second, don't point the finger -- that is. don't say: "We buy that pan from a supplier." Third, put the customer in control: "When would you like the replacement by?" Fourth, promise to deliver Send it at no additional charge via a faster shipping method than necessary. That's the way to create effective customer service.
A.Z.M Sa fuddin is the CEO of Paper Rhyme.