On a recent trip to the States I was keen to find out about their level of customer service across as many areas as I could observe. Overall the standards were excellent. I will post more of my observations over the coming weeks, but lesson number one was unfortunately a negative one.
It is extremely important that whoever represents your business at the front line is ‘on message’ and displays a positive, enthusiastic and professional approach. The very first person we met representing the United States was at immigration control (the extra bit you have to go through with your visa, where they take a picture of you and take your fingerprints.) The guy there clearly had some issues. He was surly, didn’t make eye contact at all and didn’t smile – or even offer any positive phrasing such as “have a nice stay” or whatever.
Now you could argue that this matters less in his role, but if this was a commercial organisation, you could quite understand why someone wouldn’t want to go back. It doesn’t matter how good the quality of your products or services is, and how clever your marketing and sales activity is if the person interacting with your customers doesn’t present a positive, cheerful attitude.
So regularly check by calling into your own company or asking your customers what they think to ensure you offer exceptional customer service. It doesn’t matter whether you are in Birmingham, Cambridge, Milton Keynes, Leicester, Northampton, Solihull, Lichfield or Peterborough – you are dealing with human beings and they like a bit of personal contact.
Our customer service training covers this and a host of other top tips on communication with customers.
I totally agree with the sentiment in this blog post. I have to say (and I’m not American) that their Customer Service standards are very high. Many ither countries too are acutely aware that their income relies on tourism and they have to engage their customers and provide the best experience early on. It is annoying when you receive poor levels of customer service as this often doesn’t cost anything and the lack of it can spoil a visit to somewhere that has clearly had the money spent on the aesthetic side. I recently came across some information on the Benefits of Customer Service Training