How are you delivering customer service?

A Big Lie
The biggest lie today (put about by marketing departments) is that ‘the customer is in charge’
Another Bigger Lie…
… is that ‘customer service is better’…..and if you believe that you will believe anything. It simply isn’t true. Anybody can tell you that most customer service is bad, very bad, actually worse than bad, it’s dreadful.

So why do businesses try to put the customer in charge?
The one and only reason to put the customer in charge is simply costs. Financial costs for the business go down and…..perceived service goes up because customers are doing the work themselves. In a world of imperfect customer service, most customers prefer to help themselves (think IKEA!)

Stop and Think!
It’s amazing that as customer we feel betrayed yet an entire business philosophy is so obviously without substance. The majority of businesses are failing to deliver. The customer is not king and is still waiting to be heard.

Reality sets in
It really is dismal….how often in the past month have you been told by the call centre ‘We are experiencing higher than usual call volumes’ or ‘you are in a queue’? But guess what? These statements are always followed by the most irritating comment, ‘We value your call’.

If they truly value my call why do I always have to wait? If they are experiencing higher than usual call volumes then why can’t the customer expect higher than average staffing levels?

Smell the coffee

Some companies are actually starting to wake up to the fact that customers’ opinions are valuable and that customer ratings need to be looked at and acted upon. They are becoming aware that most customers do not feel ‘in charge’ and they realise that if they stand out from the rest and really do put their customers in charge they can be ahead of the pack.

Real relationships blow away the sizzle of institutional hype

There are now huge opportunities for the independently-minded businesses to stand out from the crowd and step away from mediocrity and instead of forgetting about the customer focus on how to understand them more.

The best-kept secret about customer service?
• Customer service tends to be bad because it really is very hard to do.
• The real (best-kept) secret is to treat the customer like you would like to be treated yourself.
• The really hard part of providing excellent customer service is not the service! The really hard part is everything but the service! The hard part is to do with how the company thinks about what they are doing and how they behave as a consequence.

Most airlines offer bad service (and bad food) because they don’t actually think of themselves as service organisations – they see themselves as machines for generating revenue per seat per mile. Banks don’t see themselves as service organisations – they see themselves as an organisation to generate profits for their investors. Insurance companies don’t see themselves as a service organisation – they see themselves as providing a way for people to protect their families, homes, cars.

So how can it change?
While many people will accept and even tolerate the mediocrity that surrounds us. An opportunity exists to beat your competition and get closer to your customers so you can give them a truly first rate service, fill niches and put them back ‘in charge’.

According to research telemarketing remains an important part of the marketing mix. A new survey conducted by B2B Marketing revealed that 70% of respondents regarding telemarketing as either ‘critical’ or ‘very important’. Just under half of respondents 45% said their use of telemarketing has increased during the last 12 months, compared with less than 10% who said their use of it has decreased.

These statistics are no surprise because it is the only medium that enables true two-way dialogue with target audiences. It is the fastest, most flexible and most information rich approach to generating demand, gathering information and building relationships with prospects, customers and partners.

Telemarketing creates huge and diverse opportunities for businesses to reach out and connect with their customers and prospects – but have also produced challenges. Getting it right is the key and treading the fine line between improving customer experience and using it primarily to benefit a business’s bottom line. While customers are now more demanding than ever…the first step in exceeding their expectations is to know those expectations.