Customer Service Information

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


    MORE RESOURCES:

    Customer Service
    The Columbian, WA - 8 hours ago
    Prefer applicants with experience working in a cable, telecommunications or related telephone customer service environment as they will be responsible for ...


    Gilbert Hospital Kicks Off New Customer Service SMILE Campaign
    MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
    "We developed this after determining our customer service satisfaction survey scores weren't exactly where we wanted them to be," said Ms. Ritchie, ...


    SEPTA's Improved Customer Service Allows Riders to Discover ...
    MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
    "The SEPTA Customer Service Department was kind, polite, knowledgeable and respectful...helping me to get the answers I needed about re-applying. ...


    Clients Praise SilverSword for Exceptional Customer Service
    MarketWatch - Nov 21, 2008
    The survey assessed overall client satisfaction along with their appraisal of response time, consultant image and customer service. ...


    North American Retailers Underperforming in Customer Service ...
    PR.com (press release), NY - Nov 22, 2008
    OB), the leading provider of multichannel customer service and knowledge management software on-premise or on-demand, today published its 2008 international ...


    Customer service expert is new Rackspace board member
    Bizjournals.com, NC - Nov 21, 2008
    Reichheld is a leading authority on customer loyalty and an author and frequent speaker on the subject. A Harvard graduate, Reichheld founded Bain’s Loyalty ...


    Best Syndication

    High Customer Service Ratings Draw Customers to CallCentric
    Best Syndication, CA - 23 hours ago
    One of the most important things to consider when choosing a VoIP provider is having great customer service and simplicity. CallCentric is careful to offer ...


    Cayman Net News

    Local LIME Wins Customer Service Award
    Cayman Net News, Cayman Islands - 11 hours ago
    Previous awards events were hosted by the Cayman Islands and Panama, but this is the first time that Caribbean businesses won awards for customer service. ...


    Customer service week celebrated at Le Meridien
    Malta Independent Online, Malta - 9 hours ago
    Le Meridien St Julian’s Hotel & Spa celebrated its sixth annual Customer Service Week with some visible high points and unforgettable moments for its ...


    Study Finds Companies Lacking in E-mail Customer Service
    TMCnet - Nov 20, 2008
    For others, it isn’t as easy to compete on price – but they may be able to get the edge they need with proper customer service. To study the retail sector’s ...

    Customer-Service - Google News

    home | site map
    © 2008