Andrew
Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba
“Good customer service costs less than bad customer service”- Sally Gronow
Often, indigenous-owned businesses are of the assumption that if they hire unqualified personnel – especially in their sales and marketing departments – they will save on salaries.
This is because an unqualified person is usually not paid the same as a qualified professional.
However, in terms of cost-cutting the opposite is true because these staff members are not professionally trained and can cost the company more.
Just because someone can speak eloquently or is beautiful, does not make them the right person for the job.
There is more to it than what meets the eye.
One bad move by a company representative can cost an organisation quite a lot.
It can be costly in terms of productivity, revenues, and in some instances, the company must pay for refunds or replacements.
The customer also usually bears the brunt of these costs, as they tend to be passed down to them through pricing.
In turn, when costs become high demand may slow down, thereby affecting the company’s profitability.
Sometimes, underqualified friends and relatives are taken on board.
This is wrong, because hiring people that will be the face of the organisation involves more than feeling sorry for relatives and friends who have no skill for the job at hand.
There is need to use proper assessment tools when hiring, because as an employer you get a more complete picture of the candidates under consideration for the job.
Factors such as character, work style and decision-making styles are key to any organisation.
In some cases, after a bad service experience from a company representative, a customer may be tempted to ask the nature of the relationship between the service provider and that employee.
Perhaps not surprisingly, most of these staff members are relatives who are unqualified and lack the training to complement the little knowledge they have about the job at hand.
Examples of poor customer service in retail
1). Stalking
I have a friend of mine who wed two weeks ago; while doing preparations for the wedding, the couple had several bad customer experiences.
One outstanding scenario was when they got into a shop and were looking for the groom’s suit.
The sales representatives in that shop kept on trailing them on their every move, to the extent that they ended up feeling very uncomfortable and could not freely discuss the different options that were on offer in the shop.
In the couple’s minds, the representatives were choking them by following them around.
The shop’s representatives were perhaps unknowingly behaving like stalkers and irritating the potential customers, thereby driving them out of the shop.
However, this does not mean you should totally ignore a customer when they walk in; not at all.
It is important to keep an eye on them at a distance, so that when they require your help, you are readily available.
2). Absent Help
In some shops you struggle to get help, because either you cannot locate the personnel, or they are too busy with other things, like being on their phones.
I recently saw something on Twitter, where a customer was complaining about parking marshals who are always absent when one wants to park their car.
The complainant said the parking marshals only surface when the owner of the vehicle goes away, and they clamp the car for non-payment of parking fees.
When customers come looking for a service, they may require help on different things.
Thus, they must be able to call for some help whenever they need it.
Organisations must therefore make it easier for customers to identify their staff who can help them.
This can be done by either having corporate wear or name tags for their staff members.
The staff can even introduce themselves to the customers when they come in, and mention to them that they are available to serve them.
They should then give them space to do their shopping.
3). Talking Behind a Customer’s Back
People will always have something to say when they meet other people.
It is however wrong for your employees to talk about customers behind their backs.
Some representatives seem unashamed to talk about a customer in this way.
This gives the potential customer a negative image about the business, and not want to do business with you.
It is always important to be respectful of a customer.
*Cresencia Marjorie Chiremba is a marketing enthusiast with a strong passion for customer service. For comments, suggestions, and training, she can be reached on [email protected] or on 0712 979 461, 0719 978 335
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