CTL In CS ‒ The Missing Piece

Whenever a boss of mine went to a particular Chinese restaurant, the welcoming staff seated him with a flourish at ‘his favourite table’ and brought out a special box with ivory chopsticks, his name beautifully engraved on them. “Your chopsticks sir!” You can be sure; this is where all his guests were entertained.

Hearing the words of a recent Vance Joy song, “When I’m in the room with you, the missing piece is found,” it occurred to me, that every business must find the ‘missing piece’, as this hotel had done –genuine customer service.

Customer service is understood differently by different people, and very often they miss the jungle for the shrubs (avoiding the cliché!). To help teams understand, I have often given them real life examples. Here they are.

Entering a men’s store in Toronto while looking for a jacket, the sales person sauntered over and in a quiet discussion had soon sized me up and understood my style and colour preferences. Then, out of the hundreds of coats displayed, he carefully picked out one. I tried it on, it was perfect - right colour, style and fit. I asked him to pack it. Before paying, I looked around the store, unaware that he was quietly laying out some more sets - different colour coats, with matching shirts and ties. When passing by them I stopped. I just had to try them on. Where I had gone for one jacket, I walked out a wee bit embarrassed, but with three sets, which I wore for years.

At a Marks and Spencer’s store in London a little old lady stepped up to serve me. I explained I needed a classic blue blazer. She looked me up and down and gauging my size, gave me a selection of three pieces, each of which was just right. Pointing to another piece on a rack near me I asked to try it.

“You can try it Sir,” she said, “but I would not advise it.” When I asked her why, she gently said, “Two buttons are better for you, they downplay a stomach.” Sold. I learnt something from her that was new to me. I selected from her choices.

I visited an electronics store for a small boombox with a CD player, which the salesman showed me. However, he continued probing about my present set up, what kind of music and videos I watched, the kind of sound I enjoyed? He then directed me to a home theatre system with pre and power amps, tower speakers - the works. He pressed play and it was magic. We kept talking technical and I realised that I needed a proper system, not a boom box. It cost twenty times more than planned and required a quick call to the wife to get her nod! But I still enjoy the system today. So, what is common in these three examples? It is the missing piece.

Customer Service does not need to be obtrusive, in fact it is often so understated it is unnoticed. Its’ foundation is the associate’s knowledge of his products and his understanding of what the customer needs. And it is delivered in a way that keeps the customer coming back.

And the relationship continues even after the purchase as the buyer believes that this is where her interests are taken care of, without fuss.

So instead of looking at the process, look at the outcomes. For me, the three basic outcomes of customer service are:

* Confidence – in the person who interacted with the customer
* Trust – in the organisation that she represents
* Loyalty – a lasting relationship with the organisation

Specialty stores usually have an advantage. Unlike in multi department stores, their staff have greater knowledge of the whole product category not just the latest collection or product. They can focus beyond this sale, on building an enduring relationship with the customer coming back and bringing others.

Some years ago, I think it was Shoppers’ Stop that had a robust training programme for shop floor staff, emphasising customer service. They also identified and developed some people for higher store management roles calling them ‘baby kangaroos’. Unsurprisingly, their salespeople were in

high demand for other retailers looking for good floor staff. But they did yeoman service to the entire retail business by training cadres who later took on greater responsibilities elsewhere, not unlike HUL or Tatas.

When so much of the buying is happening online, the challenge becomes even greater. Like it or not, everything in the digital world, becomes a game of numbers - open and closed complaints, happy and unhappy customers, red, yellow, green boxes ... But it becomes problematic when even some physical retailers succumb to the trend, handing customers a service telephone number, rather than have a real person to sort the issue.

Scale does have its challenges, but post purchase care is one area where a human touch makes all the difference. It is where the customer’s problem should be fixed, instead of the promise of a call back. Usually someone, or a robot, logs the complaint for a discrete team to solve. Perhaps, the staff should be trained and empowered to handle complaints from the beginning to the end and be compensated on this basis.

This does happen. A few years ago, I had an issue with Microsoft on my laptop. On calling the 1800 help number an agent replied. After I explained my situation, he painstakingly guided me step-by-step until it was fixed. At the end of the call, it was shocking that we had spoken for 45 minutes. He was absolutely unfazed when I apologised, just saying, “this is why I am here.” I guess, this is why they are where they are!

Whatever your retail model, physical, online or omni, you need to find the missing piece of genuine customer service which results in: CTL – Confidence, Trust and Loyalty. Customer relationships take a long time to build, but they don’t take long to be destroyed.

With over 30 years’ international experience in marketing, managing brands, retail and ecommerce businesses, the writer comments and consults in these areas.

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