Paying customers for a return visit - an incentive to getting it right the first time

When I consider a statement, such as “Providing positive reinforcement helps create the right atmosphere for providing great customer experiences,” it irks me to think that basic good manners often do not feature in the basics of customer service delivery. Surely, giving praise where it is due and noting good work for its worth, should be part of the basics?

And it has nothing to do with training or skills development of customer service workers (and management).

Is it not, after all, common courtesy to say please and thank you, to ask before taking, as well as acknowledging a great idea, AND attribute the positive outcome from the idea to its originator?

With this, of course, comes the intent when exhibiting good manners - it is not just about being civil, or even correct, it is about saying what you mean and meaning what you say.

However, to create good customer service, teamwork is a necessity and should be encouraged within business, while performance standards, on the other hand, should acknowledge teamwork and not just focus on individual performance.

Personal experiences over the Christmas week have highlighted a lack of basic good manners, and where I have encountered good manners, it has made the lack elsewhere so much more obvious.

In helping my adult son search for a bicycle, we started with price comparisons. Apart from the price shock (there are some mean machines with hefty price tags), there were several ‘generic’ stores that did not have any knowledgeable support staff available to assist and when finally found, they seemed to be doing us a favour, rather than what they are paid to do – provide customer service.

In this category, Game just takes the cake, but consumers seem to have, over time, adjusted to Game’s seeming ‘self-help without guidance’ system, and when they really need help, off they go, looking for a staff member, often to be sent back “to wait for someone”. Perhaps the organisation will one day have to consider the negative impact of customers’ willingness to loudly share bad experiences in the store, while waiting for service in the aisles, or while queuing at checkout points and even once they’re hopping on their smart-phones to complain online.

Of course, staff from other companies simply floored us with their excellent assistance, like the lady at Cyclesphere, who told us what we would certainly NOT be doing, while offering an alternative that turned out to end our search. And it was all done with a smile, a thank you for considering them in our shopping and most of all, allowing us to feel we had received service and that a referral would be a matter of fact.

Trying to get a better deal on data bundles led me to the Vodacom shop in Windermere Centre, where the staff remembered me from previous visits, immediately assisted me in applying for a better deal and, as the process took a day or two, gave me a call back to advise on the next step.

Unfortunately, on my return, the manager (who had been off sick at the time of my visit) could not assist, blamed his staff for not doing their work properly, and then used ‘having been sick’ as an excuse for poor communication with his staff. Naturally, I had to return at another time, when the staff member who had helped me before, was available, and his usual courteous and helpful self proved to be customer service in action. I suppose the saying “third time lucky” could be applied, yet I wonder whether, in cases like these, having the company pay the customer’s costs for a return visit, would be the best incentive to ‘get it right the first time’.

There’s a lot to be learned from personally servicing customers, such as what the customers prefer or what delivery processes are effective or may need improvement, and customer service workers will only achieve this through basic good manners. In my book, a friendly and helpful attitude constitutes good manners, not just a mere please and thank you, and good service, I believe, is grounded in good manners.

Being able to effectively communicate the features and benefits of a company’s products or services should also not be the sole responsibility of staff in specific sectors either. From the owner, to directors and from the cleaning and maintenance staff, to the mailroom staff, each one sets an example for other employees on how to treat customers and if all apply the same due diligence and good manners, good customer service will result.

The Industry’s Voice

When monitoring any kind of industry, a variety of reports are generated, ranging from overviews, to project details, meeting-actioned memos, emails, chats…all of these, in some form or the other, reflect the status of the industry in operation…in writing. Black on white, if not in actual ink, my personal choice is Ariel, and 10pt allows for more descriptive concept stating…I’m sure you understand and get the picture.

Personally, I write about service in operation, the industry’s voice, in all its facets and on all the different levels. The industry is huge…service consists of so many ideas, with so many interlinked levels on which these ideas are expressed. People who are recording, creating, and publishing content operate all the tentacles of this ‘information-web’, all of them offering service, in dealing with each other.

Which, for editing purposes, in writing about the monitoring process and its findings, involves many hours of sourcing, scanning, reading, analyses and publishing of best-in-practice content that represents a view of, and into, global and local markets.

Regardless of the type, or format of interaction, when it happens, service is an observable action yet, it cannot be measured, as it is not only intangible, it is also too varied. Thankfully, many people are specifically writing about the service process, giving me/us a look at their perception of service, as part of their position within a specific business sector, perhaps as part of being an educator, or as a researcher, etc… and, they know their topic, in general, if not specific. They also have experience in actual operations…on a variety of fronts, on interlinked levels and find themselves in the habit of jotting things down.

These ‘personal and weblogs’ writings speak loudly to those who monitor the industry’s content, as it soundboards the service industry, reflecting patterns of use, re-use, and eventual regurgitation of recycled topics, such as when the occasional, exceptional and insightful contributions, become an over-posted / quoted / extracted press release, sort of topical, kind of relevant etc.

Nevertheless, the accessible mix is exhaustive, to say the least. Mining and using this ‘database’ of information to create content is already stretching many companies tightly, as management try and either stay ahead and on top of what’s being written by contributing, or they employ / outsource full-time, content writers.

In the process of monitoring an industry’s voice

A picture emerges when one identifies topics of interest to the consumer, gathers all the writings on what service is, where it can be found, how the whole journey is discoverable, the technology that enables the customer to experience service (good / bad / irrelevant), recordings of someone’s thoughts

It is a magnificent process when you get busy with and in it…this monitoring. Moreover, to have the skills and ability, inclination, time, and passion, to actually write about it, as it happens…is no mean feat. Everyone who takes pen to paper (finger to keyboard) and assumes the responsibility of passing on information about service, contributes to building its picture by educating, sharing insights and new knowledge is to be applauded.

It is important though, to remember that service and customers/consumers/users are ‘joined at the hip’, in a manner of speaking. It does not matter which industry or sector of operations you are affiliated to through your employment, nor is it about any monetary value we can directly attribute to service (remember it is insubstantial / indefinable / indescribable / intangible).

Simply put, service, for everyone, and experienced by everyone, occurs at each point of interaction between us. As much as it is public, service, as experienced by consumers and providers, in my opinion, exists between every one, on all levels. The picture that has emerged, after almost six months of monitoring and research, is that of a bubbling, creative, innovative process, reflected in both ‘good and bad’ interactions that we are creating AND as a Wordsmith, for me the bonus is that we’re writing it down, informing and educating consumers, call centres and solutions providers.

What is your bonus?