Customer Service: Choice or Change?

Jocelyn Broderick

Does the customer actually count?

Nothing frustrates me more than bad customer service. After two years of trying to get a rebate on an unused cancelled ADSL line, it happened. Elation! I also changed the service, booked a time for installation and breathed a sigh of relief. Bomb drop! They arrived 4 and a half hours late with the wrong product, are invoicing me for a different more expensive service and the line is dead. How long will it take me to wake up? It’s time to change service providers. Clearly for them the customer doesn’t count. 

Choice and Change

It seems most customers these days aren’t that tolerant. We live in an age of choice and change. Customer loyalty has become a thing of the past. There’s always something newer, faster, better. People move with what works for them: where the price is good, the product is good, and they feel valued and heard. The deciding factor and the differentiator comes down to the kind of care they get, and the kind of service you provide. We’re spoilt for choice. If you don’t cut it, someone else will – better, faster – and with a splash of bitters on the side.

 Your team needs to remain ahead of the game

Just delivering leaves you running behind the pack, trying to play catch up. The only way to remain relevant in this tough, economic climate is to invest in the people who come face to face with your customer. Customer Service training is absolutely pivotal. If your internal and external customer is not being satisfied, your customer will go somewhere else. Bottom line. 

Most of the time your team are not vaguely aware of their impact – and that usually includes you. You have to invest in training your team in ways to retain your customers.

Know yourself

At the end of the day business comes down to people and relationships. That’s what really seals the deal. Your customer will leave you if it is only process that is important to you. What better than highly experiential training that focusses on the individual; opens your eyes to your own behaviours, teaches you how to own your impact, and do better. Its eye-opening stuff. It’s time for you to remove the blinkers or, before you blink again, your customer will have moved on. The choice is yours to change. 

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