The other day a reporter call to interview me on the “Death
of Customer Service”. My first reaction was to deny that
charge and claim that customer service is very much alive and
well. But upon further thought of the service I’ve received
over the past few months and what others have related to me
about their experiences, I had to admit that the quality and
level of service has decreased. Upon further thought I
realized that it has been on a decline for quite a while.
I finally admitted to the reporter that yes, I have to
agree that customer service is not doing as well as I’d like
to think it is. Of course his next question was, “Why is
that?”
I believe there are 4 basic reasons for the demise of
customer service.
The booming economy of the 90’s created an atmosphere
where management took the stance that if one customer didn’t
like what they were doing, there were plenty lined up behind
him/her that had their credit card ready to be processed.
Why go the extra mile for someone who was so easily
replaceable? This attitude is still pervasive which adds up
to poor customer service.
Poor hiring practices are what I believe to be another
reason why customer service is so poor. Unemployment ahs
been so low that finding new employees has been a major
challenge for companies. They hired marginal people, people
with poor attitudes, people with poor work ethics, and
people who don’t care. Put these employees in a position
where they interact with customers and you have a formula
for poor customer service.
Lack of training of these marginal employees is another
problem. Managers have the philosophy that since the
employee won’t last that long in the position, why put the
time, money and effort into training them. Of course the
lack of training leads to low morale, confusion on the part
of the employee and costly mistakes. The employee doesn’t
last in the position because they don’t feel supported by
management, then management feels justified for the lack of
training they give. This all adds up to poor customer
service.
Profit driven decisions of management as the criteria
for solving all problems is another reason for the death of
customer service. Rather than do the ‘right’ thing,
decisions are weighted by what it will cost the company.
Scheduling is planned by what it costs in dollars rather
than what it costs in poor service. Customer complaints are
judged by the impact on the bottom line rather than on the
impact on customer satisfaction. This short-term thinking
gives out the clear message to employees that the company’s
needs are more important than the customer’s. This justifies
the attitude of employees of not caring about the customer
which again adds up to the delivery of poor customer
service.
Margo Chevers, author
of the book STOP the BS (bad service), has been providing
sales and customer service seminars and consulting to a
diverse cross-section of industries for the past 15 years. For
information about Margo Chevers’ speaking or training schedule
call (800) 858-0797 or
Margo@MargoChevers.com
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