Hi there and welcome to this edition of Arizion’s customer service news letter!
 
In this issue you will find:

1) Geeks
2) Customer service – how do you like your publicity?
3) Web design
4) National Customer Service Week + this week’s terminology!
 

1) Geeks

Have you heard of the Geeks? I first came across the service founded by Robert Stevens in America, and it has now been brought to the UK by Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse. It was introduced as a service for people who needed face to face technical support for their IT equipment. The founder recruited IT experts, provided them with cars and motor scooters kitted out in Geek Squad decals and has developed a massive business in the States. In the UK, providers of IT hard and software are constantly looking for ways of adding value to their offering and Carphone Warehouse have opted for a 50/ 50 partnership with the Geek Squad. The DSG group (Currys/ PC Worls) have the Tech Guys, and BT have launched Home IT Advisor.  Although they are designed to be self sufficient profit centres, it gives the impression of added value, a supplementary service for customers, particularly the growing numbers of cash rich, time poor clients. Which brings me to the point of this topic, what are YOU doing to add value to your service, what is the USP that makes you stand out from the crowd? It is often the simplest things that will please your customers most!

2) Customer Service – how do you like your publicity?

When was the last time you saw an article about GREAT customer service, in fact how often does good news appear in the press apart from as an after thought? Perhaps you saw the articles in the weekend press about Edwina Currie in Mothercare, along with Lloyds Bank and the issues with its call centres. With regard to the Edwina situation, clearly there are two sides to the story, but what does a headline like “Edwina Currie thrown out of Mothercare” do to the profile of your brand? Whatever the extenuating circumstances, perhaps it is a reminder that at any one time each member of your staff IS the face of your organisation, and their actions will reflect on every one of their colleagues as well as the organisation. This highlights the need to ensure that Customer Care training is most effective when it is re-visited regularly and really embedded in the culture of your business, rather than “one off” workshops once a year! Consistency is one of the keys to success in service organisations.

3) Web Design

So far I have resisted putting in any articles about my personal experiences regarding customer service, however, I thought I would share this one with you. My website is in great need of updating, so I set about sourcing a good web designer and a “wordsmith” to put across the right messages.

Company number one. Having used another part of their offering and been pleased with the service they had already provided, they seemed like a good bet. Had to contact them on-line and received an auto response along with a tracking number and a promise to contact me, normally within 4 hours. 4 DAYS later, I contacted them again using a different address, and, yes they came back within the hour blaming a technical hitch on the failure to contact me. To add insult to injury, I had another automated response to my original mail a week later closing the call, as they had “not heard from me”!

Company number two. We got together and had a good meeting – people I could do business with –  “we will come back to you in a couple of days”. A WEEK later, dropped them a line, only to get a response saying “can’t believe this has been in my outbox for a week”!

What would your impressions of these companies be? Further more, what procedures and controls have you got in place to make sure that similar situations do not occur in your business?

4) National Customer Service Week + this week’s terminology!

So, we started with customer service, moved on to customer care, followed by the customer experience and are now talking about customer engagement! Whatever you like to call it, as service providers we are looking to ensure that we meet (or exceed) our customer’s needs at EVERY opportunity. The only way we can do this consistently, is to recruit and train the right people, with experience showing that it is worthwhile considering recruiting for attitude and then train people.

To celebrate what these fantastic people we employ achieve, every year in October, National Customer Service Week takes place. This is YOUR opportunity to say thank you to your staff, and also to celebrate, in public, your commitment to providing your customers with consistently great service. It might be worthwhile now, looking in detail at the service you are offering, so that come October you will be able to celebrate, KNOWING that your team are delivering the level of service you THINK they are!

For more details of events, activities and merchandise, go to www.nationalcustomerserviceweek.co.uk

PS: My website is at last under development – more on this next time.

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Have a great week  
 
 
 
Geoff

Geoff Langston