The customer said, “If you don’t listen to me, I’ll tell everyone else!”

Even in 2017, it feels like Customer Service is not in the top priority list at several businesses. All it requires to understand customer woes, is to step into their shoes for one business transaction. And yet, companies still struggle to get it right.
The customer is not an interruption in our work, he is the purpose of it — Mahatma Gandhi.
Customer dissatisfaction is not a phenomena that has emerged in recent years, but it has certainly got a stronger voice now. Globalization, Digitization and Social Media are the three prime factors that have empowered the consumer. Millennials don’t know of a time before the advent of the smartphone and expect a personalized experience in everything they do. Patience is a virtue carefully spent. A bad internet connection, a long check out queue, unclean coffee shop restrooms and any lengthy bureaucratic process that feels remotely unnecessary — any of these could irritate a customer. And when something bad happens, news spreads fast in the form of a viral social media post.
Patience is a virtue carefully spent. A bad internet connection, a long check out queue, unclean coffee shop restrooms and any lengthy bureaucratic process that feels remotely unnecessary — any of these could irritate a customer.
People are increasingly using Facebook and Twitter to reach out to companies, publicly asking tough questions. When a local grocery store did not follow my instructions for the second time in a row, I took to Twitter to complain. They were not only quick to apologize but also sent me a gift card with the refund.
Customer Service plays a huge part in consumer choices. I’m willing to drive an extra mile to the grocery store that has a more vibrant ambiance or pay more for car insurance just because the other provider does not have a user friendly website. Better Customer Service can explain the phenomenal rise of T-mobile in recent years. Not only has T-mobile improved their cellular infrastructure and product offerings but also improved their social media presence and created a customer-first atmosphere in every customer interaction. When my phone was out for repair and I walked into a T-mobile store to buy a cheap phone to use in the interim period, the store manager was more than happy to lend me an iPhone as a loaner! Such interactions probably cost very little to T-mobile, but go a long way in retaining customers, who spread the happy news! More recently, I stopped shopping at a local Safeway just because parking issues coupled with long checkout lines were wasting my precious evening time. At the same time I am eager to drive another two miles in traffic just because the Whole Foods has an EV charger that I could use!
Another sector waiting to be disrupted are car dealerships. Filled with pushy car salesman, unwanted phone calls and texts, badly written emails with low resolution images of cars and websites with a not so great UI, a revolution in this industry seems long overdue. After going through the tiring experience of checking out cars at dealerships, when you eventually decide to buy that car, the simple paperwork takes hours! Compare this with the Tesla car buying experience as seen in the video below.
Agreed, that the Tesla is a lot more expensive. But that is not stopping customers from expecting the same treatment at other dealerships.
Here’s a list of questions to get you started thinking about customer service:
1. Are you missing out on any interaction opportunities with customers?
List all possible points of interaction with your customer and compare this with your competitors’ list. Forming partnerships with instagram or snapchat celebrities is the new way to reach out to millennials. If your customers are on a social media platform and you are not, that’s a lost opportunity.
2. Do all customer service representatives across all forms of interaction with the customer offer one cohesive view of your business?
I have never understood this about ATT — there are things you can do online but not in the store! I have been to ATT stores and they’ve called customer care for me! As a customer the system just appears broken!
3. Does your company culture speak ‘customer first’?
Businesses cannot think about good customer service as an add-on feature. It has to be a fundamental principle guiding business decisions at every step. Nordstrom is a great example of a company that has done this.
4. How well do you know your customers?
Not too long ago when I was in Maui and enquiring about the Luau, the hotel manager saw the vanishing glow on my face. Just as I was thinking — ‘roasted pig, really! I’m a vegetarian’ — he got out the menu and strategically pointed out all the vegetarian food they had to offer. Within five minutes, I was swiping my credit card!
5. What are your customers saying about you?
The ‘brand’ is more about what people are saying about you, than what you want the brand to be. Businesses should be agile enough to quickly incorporate feedback from customers and strive to continuously improve the customer experience.
Businesses need to enhance the customer experience at every interaction opportunity, be it online, via phone or in person. Getting away with not playing nice, is no longer an option.
Feel free to ask me questions and share your feedback, I’d love to hear your thoughts! And if you liked the article, please do share and recommend!
