Monthly Archives: July 2013

Bad service is not far behind…

Only a day after my good service is everywhere experience and post, I had a day of bad service experiences – mainly across companies in one particular industry/market.  I’ll leave it to the reader to guess where…

Mobile mast

Service doesn’t need to be not good and it can easy to do it properly, but it does require some thinking about and a strategic view on what service is all about.

Bad service

In this day and age, giving bad or poor service is really inexcusable.  It says so much about the person and company giving it.

There are a few simple points to take service to next (and better) level:

(1) Empower the guys providing the service – let them make some of the decisions as they see fit.  They’re the ones sorting out issues and queries on the front line.

(2) Give everyone training in good service – it’s a culture shift and mindset change.  And requires an investment to do it properly and making sure people know what is expected and what good looks like.

(3) Define good service or even better, excellent service.  Reach out to the teams providing the service and find out from them what feedback they’ve had from customers and what changes they suggest.

(4) Listen, listen and listen again, before you say anything.  This is so important.  Too often these days people want to tell their story or their version or side.  Listen first though.  The more you listen, the more you can understand and be better informed to make the right decision.

Decision

And smile – it makes a big difference to the person you’re speaking to.  Again as per the last post, start thinking in all the interactions you have with other people, “How can I help this person?”.

Good service is everywhere…

Yesterday was a day of receiving consistently good service – from a variety of different people, in different places and different situations.  And a very pleasant day as a result.

Excellent service

Good or exceptional service isn’t rocket science but it does require a change in mindset.  Some of the key things yesterday that made a difference to the experiences are:

Smile

(1) People were smiling and coming across that they were generally interested, and they listened.  Even on the phone this makes a huge difference.  It’s about empathy and taking the time to fully understand the query at hand.

(2) They were all looking to see how they could help me.  This is something I read a great article about recently, where you should be thinking in any interaction with anyone else, “How can I help you?”.  Not how can they help me, or what do I want, but what can I do for the other person.

(3) Everyone was going the extra mile – without prompting or being asked for something else.  They were all looking to see what else they could do.

(4) They all knew what they were talking about and the services or products they offered or sold, and were passionate about them.

(5) And lastly they were all empowered to make decisions and do the job, and trusted to do so.

This last one is key and a lot of companies and businesses don’t do this and add process upon process around what should be a simple decision, for no real benefit or commercial reason.

Good service is so important in all businesses and so often overlooked or forgotten. It really was a great experience yesterday seeing it done so well and how it should be.

How important is good service to you as a provider and how do you ensure it is delivered?

And as the great Yoda himself said…

Yoda

 

High street shops are fighting back

The emporium strikes back

Nothing like a Star Wars-esq headline to catch my eye…

“The emporium strikes back”

Following very neatly on from my last post – way back in April – I found a great article this week, talking about the growing “threat” from online retailers and what the more traditional high street shops (our bricks and mortar friends) are doing to come back.

Things like bundle deals, profiling great accessories, personalised high street shopping and shopping as an experience much like Apple do now are all coming.

The one thing that’s sure, is that for the customer and consumer, the shopping experience of the future is going to be very different from today!