Poor Customer Service = Deal Breaker

One of the first signs of a sinking ship in businessstaff, they might as well hire people to schedule
is poor customer service. To magnify this fact,appointments with more important staff
when customers are not satisfied with the levelmembers in the sales and marketing areas of the
of service they receive after the sale, poorlycompany, or directly with the CEO. Failure to
handled relations can reverse all the effort andachieve and maintain good customer relations will
expense invested in advertising, sales, marketing,guarantee loss of income. If an executive is not
product development and company image building.willing to put the responsibility of steering the
This scenario is playing out every day in bothcompany's future into the hands of a clerk, they
large and small businesses across the country. Ifshould not be assigning the task of customer
you think businesses understand the importanceservice to unskilled workers.
of serving their customers, just take some timeOne of the significant advantages of creating a
to do a little research. When companies hiresmall business is the ability to focus on the
people to perform these duties, the payorganization's hunger for growth. The smaller,
associated with customer service jobs is oftenmore flexible organization allows employees to
less than what they are willing to pay for goodinvest more of themselves in building intimate
clerical or reception help.relationships with the people they serve. The level
Many large firms have rushed into implementingof vitality that remains associated with these
completely automated systems for handlingrelationships will determine how large the company
customer issues. In dealing with these types ofwill become, and how long it will be able to last.
systems, I have not found a single person whoUnless customers develop a deep reliance on the
tells me they enjoy the experience of wadingproducts and services of a particular business,
through touch tone menus to find answers tothey will part with what a company has to offer,
their needs. The reason why a businessand stay away from doing future business with
implements an automated phone answeringthe organization when their tolerance for
system is to channel the large volume ofdisappointment is finally reached. Failures of big
frequently encountered issues through thebusinesses to meet projected growth in earnings
automated process in order to devote moreand sales goals can often be tied directly to their
resources to less frequently asked questions.loss of ability to dance with the one who brought
Even though these systems seem to managethem to where they are today.
such traffic, there are untold numbers of peopleRecent red flags pointing to a crisis in customer
who become so frustrated by the experience,service is a trend toward off shore outsourcing
they stop trying before they obtain theof support and customer service functions. Many
information they were seeking, rendering thecompany executives appear to be totally blind to
solution inadequate. For every customer whothe negative impact of these practices on the
turns away in disgust over the level of servicefuture of their business. In pursuing the expansion
they receive, there is an opening for someoneinto global markets, it makes good sense to enlist
else to capture their business. When a low paid,the services of indigenous service representatives
unenthusiastic service representative answers ato handle the needs of customers who are buying
call, the end results can be equally devastating toproducts and services in those foreign markets.
the future relationship with a customer. UsingThis practice allows a company to capture
automation to divert the flow of frequentlyresponses that are sensitive to the culture,
encountered problems does not solve the lack ofperspectives, and needs of the customers who
understanding and communication that causes thebuy American made goods. However, when
problems to occur in the first place. Instead ofAmerican based customers are not handled with
funneling the issue down some automated sinkthe same level of respect for their own culture
hole, it would help to have someone who is ableand needs, a serious threat to customer
to find methods to eliminate the reasons whyrelationships arises. Whether or not the majority
people are dealing with these troubles in the firstof business leaders listen to the public, the
place.negative impact is enormous when an American
People do not generally interpret their importancecitizen who speaks fluent English is being served in
to your business from the perspective of howtheir own country by a foreign service
much money they represent in profit. Eachrepresentative. Many companies readily recognize
person approaches their interaction from thethe benefit of offering the courtesy of bilingual
perspective that they are the only customer youservices to a large Hispanic customer base in
will ever have. Even the best of systems willAmerica, while adopting policies that insult and
occasionally disappoint the expectations of isolatedalienate the other sectors of our local economy.
individuals, but when the numbers of disgruntledSomewhere in the scheme of things, American
customers swell into a significant group, thebusiness has lost sight of how people here expect
phenomenon can rapidly reverse the fortunes ofto be treated as valued customers. The wake up
a company in a very short interval. If a companycall is in the hands of American consumers and
is not willing to invest an appropriate level oftheir patronage.
resources to properly training customer service