Do you believe there is a correlation between the service you receive as a consumer and your loyalty to the supplier? Please explain your answer

Yes there is. There's a "but." All things being equal I go for convenience - what's the easiest or cheapest. That is if all things are equal.

 

I will go out of my way to spend money and work with people who are interested, who care, who offer me more value, who pay real attention to my needs, who create an atmosphere or environment that I find inviting. I evaluate service on the different dimensions that I teach. Great service is a multi-faceting thing.

 

In your opinion, which industry sectors provide great service and which ones are poor? Please do not name individual companies just sectors.

The airlines stink. One airline stands out in many ways, but there service could be better - as could others The rest I won't even mention - they lost it years ago.

 

I think some online retailers have a lot going for the and a few of the catalog companies too. I don't know if there is any other "Sector" that comes to mind.

 

Telecommunications is getting worse with consolidation, Healthcare is pretty dismal. I'll have to think hard on this one. I think there are some individual stars here or there, but over all service - despite all the hype it gets, hasn't gotten a whole lot better.

 

Can you recall a really good experience recently - where you were WOW'd by the service you received? Please explain in as much details as you would like.

 

Actually - I can tell you about a good recovery experience. A retail company dished up some really bad service a few months ago. I talked about it on my blog - they saw it there and their recovery was out of this world. Really great stuff. What I have not done is follow up to see what they have done to make sure that kind of experience won't happen to another customer again. What would knock my socks off is if they checked back with me again to tell me how they had corrected the root problem so it wouldn't happen again. That would be a wow.

 

Talking about bad experiences, where do companies go wrong with the service they provide? Give examples to illustrate your response

I don't think companies teach people what a customer is worth. If employees really got the connection between my coming back again and their paycheck, I know they would pay more attention. I think leadership does a really lousy job of elevating service in the organization. Service people are poorly paid - in general - it's seen as entry level and not a career job. These are the people that touch the customers on a routine basis - they should be the best trained - and the happiest - people in the company. It's a joy to talk to someone who loves their job. Last year I interviewed some of the customer service people at a catalog company. I was writing an article and called people who delivered service as well as executive level people. The people I spoke to there loved the company - and the products. Their employee discount was so good they could afford to buy and own many - if not all - the products in the catalog. They also had all kinds of product samples and colors they could get their hands on and took a big interest in helping the customer. No "upselling" needed there - it happens naturally as an outgrowth of someone who loves the product and raves about their employee experience. I want to do business with people like that!

 

Have you noticed any differences in service from people from different cultures? Please explain.

 

Yes. We all come to an experience with our history. In lieu of being trained continually in the company culture and how the company wants us to represent it, we revert to what we brought to the party. Different cultures have different attitudes towards service and customers. I won't generalize here, but I will say that it's critical to know what kind of customer experience you'd like your company to be known for and be sure to hire and train in alignment with that. Otherwise, you get what you get.

 

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding the use of technology in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

 

Never never never ever give a customer more than 7 choices on a phone menu. Of you can keep it to three - that's better!

 

Enough already with these voice recognition systems that companies THINK are adequate for getting the customer to the right place. I spent hours and precious hours last month trying to accomplish something slightly unusual with my telephone company last month and the only word that comes to mind is NIGHTMARE. I wanted to send them a bill. My valuable (and billable) time trying to get through to the right person - while the automated system just kept sending me down the wrong path. It's hideous in my opinion to do that to a customer. (Why not switch, you might be wondering? I found my last experience with a different phone company just about as aggravating!)

 

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding staff in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

 

Make sure that staff gets trained, inspired, motivated, recognized and rewarded on a regular basis.

 

If you had to give just 1 tip regarding business processes in relation to improving customer service, what would your tip be?

Make them as simple as possible. Go outside your own company and be a customer. Eliminate all frustration. Make processes seamless for the customer.

 

In your opinion, how should contact centers measure the level of service they give?

 

With customer feedback and with first call resolution.

 

Lastly, can you share with us one of the worst customer service experiences you have experienced recently.

 

I needed to buy a computer and started the process (which ended up taking WEEKS to sort out) at a big box retailer. Their process was so broken and so stupid that even their staff members agreed that it was the dumbest they've ever seen. (I understand they are going through all kinds of improvement operations now and looking fix all their service gaps.) Compounding my frustration, I then went to one of the internet retailers known for good service. They screwed up the order too, (how hard is it to install xp?) and so at one time I ended up with three laptops all of them NOT what I ordered. YIKES!

 

Source:http://www.contactcenterworld.com/view/contact-center-executive-interview/Customer-Service---Two-Words,-Big-Consquences..asp