- Customer satisfaction in the UK is just over 70%
- Staff need to be enthused about good customer service
- Many businesses find service excellence elusive, impacting reputation
- Good and bad customer service has an emotional impact
Customer satisfaction in the UK is just over 70% but the UK Customer Satisfaction Index 2009 shows that many customers' needs are still not being met. We may mull over customer satisfaction indices, listen to tales of horrendous service, or just rely on our own experiences of the wide-ranging levels of service that exist, but things just don’t seem to get significantly better for customers. And that is in spite of the rising mountain of evidence showing that the customer experience is the prime determinant of business success and that customers’ expectations are not only increasing, but that those expectations are actually turning into demands.
Investing in your people is often the solution, but don’t we already know how to deliver customer service? Isn’t it just that many employees are not sufficiently motivated to do the things for customers that will delight and excite them? Customer service training does contribute to the solution, but the complete answer is often more about behaviour and attitude. The question becomes: what can customer service leaders and managers do that will really make the difference in motivating employees to behave in the right way? Very often they know what to do, but they need to become enthused and excited about customers. A spark is required in order to turn that organisational customer service strategy - the vision - into a reality.
