4 unfortunate customer service trends

The whole notion of customer service, and I mean proper and meaningful customer service seems to be disappearing quickly. Gone are the days when you are blown away by someone’s effort to go way above and beyond to give you an experience.

You would think that after the last 2 years with disruption to business, forced business closures, and the change in consumer behaviour, businesses would be ensuring that their mantra and actions would all be about providing a positive and memorable experience for any and all customers that have an interaction with their business and staff. Most people don’t say anything anymore when they are treated badly as they think that there is no outcome or change if they do.

Sadly this has led us to now accept bland or no experiences as the new norm.

The consumer is over mediocrity and it’s time for a change back to proper and deliberate service.

There are four customer service styles that seem to be rampant today out in the marketplace which I want to highlight that we see a lot, especially when we are asked to do a “customer service audit” with businesses as part of our staff training program.?

Your business grows when your customers get treated right. This isn’t rocket science, it’s a fact that unfortunately a lot of business owners and their staff are not getting.

1. The Ninja Service

The ninja service is probably one of the most common types of service we all experience. Like a ninja, ninja service is when you don’t even realise that service has even been there or a part of your experience when dealing with someone.

Every few days I stop at the same service station to fill my car up with fuel on my way to taking my daughters to school. I am yet to have had one word said to me by the person behind the counter. Not a “hello”, not a “how is your day”, not a “that will be $63 please”, not even a “thank you”. NOTHING!!!!?

I would have been there at least twice every week now for over 2 years and been served by the same guy so one would assume that he would remember me but still, I get nothing. So he is a customer service ninja. He does everything by stealth. Problem is, as a customer I am not only after what I purchase, I am also after an experience. A good one, not a bad one!

1. The Skeleton Service

The skeleton service is very easy to spot. That is when you just experience the bare bones of service. You know, where it’s evident but just. This is happening all the time and it is my belief it is due to either lack of training, “compliance training (you know, tick and flick), or staff are being trained in basics of service by people who don’t really understand what consumers really want, like or need.

Recently I went to my local food supermarket. Now this place is huge. There are 15 checkouts. The problem is they never have any open.?

This particular day I was there picking up something for dinner there was just one register open with a lady working her butt off to get through the monstrous line of shoppers lining up. Down the other end was the “self-serve” checkouts which most supermarkets are trying to get us all to use. This is where I had a problem. There are 10 “self-serve” registers there but they had 3 staff telling the customers which register they should use. Now as I have been on this planet for a fair while now, I’m pretty sure I can see what register was available to use. Not only were there 3 staff members there, in all their wisdom they closed 5 of the “self-serve” registers so that lineup was 20 people deep. When I questioned one of the staff members as to why they were shut she said “that’s so we don’t get too many people through here at one time”. HUH??? Well if they didn’t want too many people there, wouldn’t it be smarter to take 2 of those 3 staff and open up a proper register for them to SERVE the customers?

Skeleton service is a croc and should be stamped out of all businesses.

1. The Fool’s Gold Service

Back in the gold rush, fool’s gold was everywhere. Whilst it looked like real gold, not until it was tested could it be proven if it was real or fake.

This is how a lot of us have a customer service experience these days. Whilst everything may be going well in our dealings with someone, not until there is an issue or something tricky pops its head up do we see what the person is really like in the service realm.?

This normally happens when dealing with a “service department” over the phone. They have been trained to do things a certain way, which in a perfect world would be awesome, but the reality is all customers are different. Then when a customer wants a better outcome or feels like the level of service needs to be better the true nature of the level of service is seen in all of its ugly colours.

Service isn’t just for those customers who are perfect. It is also there for those who can be a right royal pain. True good service is what will win them over and calm them down, not fake fool’s gold service.

The main issue that we have found when dealing with larger organisations is that whilst management have put “procedures” in place, they have never had to experience them themselves. You see if they have an issue with something that their company offers, they just go internally to get it fixed. They don’t ever experience what their customers have to go through.

Essentially they are like a chef who has never tasted the food he /she is serving!

1. The One Size Fits All Service

The one size fits all service experience happens to most of us every day. You know when you go somewhere and you are met by an employee who just spits out the same old same old rhetoric? “Hi, how’s your day going”, “the weather is nice today isn’t it”, “oh I like that colour on you” blah, blah, blah…

As stated before, customers are after experiences, engagement and to be really appreciated with sincerity. The fact is, the customer today one thing more than ever before….CHOICE! Unless we genuinely look after our customers and treat them well and service them to the hilt, they will find someone else that does.

This is why staff training and I mean proper face-to-face training and none of this online training garbage comes into play. Businesses who recognise that staff needs to be constantly updated in the skill of service are the ones who are kicking big goals. Every time I spend time with staff in a business that has engaged my services to train their people, the sales results the following week increase due to the staff paying more attention to their customers.

So there you have it. Those are my 4 customer service styles that need to go. I am sure you could think of some more but if we all concentrate on treating our customers how we ourselves like to be treated when we are spending our own $$ then I am sure things would change for the better

If you would like to see how Customer Culture can assist you and your staff in increasing your bottom line, head to www.CustomerCulture.com or send me a message.