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World-class service: The West is the best
For
many Indians who are used to sub-standard service in every
walk of life, the service focus in the West comes as a breath
of fresh air, writes Mohan Babu
Perhaps
one of the best “perks” of living in the West is the opportunity
to enjoy a world-class service in almost every aspect of life.
By world-class service, I mean the day-to-day interactions
we have with our service providers, be it bankers, sales persons
at stores, customer representatives over the phone, check-out
girls at the supermarkets or even online interactions over
the Web.
Let
me illustrate with a personal anecdote. Just the other day,
I had an opportunity to test the limits of customer-service
at my bank in Colorado. Incidentally I must also point out
that I try to complete most of my transactions — including
paying my bills, transferring money and checking balances
etc — over the Web using my PC-bank account. I had issued
a cheque, payable to someone; but later I decided that I shouldn’t
have issued the cheque since I didn’t need the service. Realising
that it would be more cumbersome to get a refund after the
cheque was cashed, I resolved to place a ‘stop order’ on it.
I logged on to my online bank and filled out the stop order
from. A small fee was charged from my account the next day
and I assumed that everything was hunky-dory.
However,
a couple of days later, I was astounded to find that the amount
on the cheque was charged from my account. I drove down to
the nearby branch and explained my predicament to the manager.
She looked at my account and got the details of the transaction
and made a call to the online team and presto, my case was
solved. She assured me that the amount would be credited back
to my account and that I could consider my problem solved.
This
story and incidents like these are repeated hundreds of thousands
of times across the US. Customers and consumers here have
come to expect a certain level of service. As the level of
service increases, the bar is raised and every business and
enterprise tries to become more service oriented. The US economy
is predominantly a service economy, meaning the bulk of the
revenue generated by corporations come from the services they
provide. The higher level of customer service includes the
ambience of shops, eating joints, malls and supermarkets.
It also includes the ‘standardised’ service that customers
come to expect when they go to a familiar chain like McDonalds.
McDonalds strives to ensure that every outlet across the globe
has a similar look, feel and level of service.
Companies
in the west employ a variety of media in order to enhance
customer satisfaction and feedback. This includes use of ‘1-800’
free-phone numbers, web sites and mail-in customer cards.
Most products and services come with the service description
and include free contact numbers that customers from anywhere
in the country can call. Of course, many large corporations
have service forms designed in their websites. People filling
in these forms can expect responses within hours if not days.
The
premise behind service culture is simple. Things and systems,
however well designed, can and will go wrong. What makes a
difference in the customers mind is the ‘recovery process’,
i.e. the company or service provider’s reaction to an anomaly
in service and how they recover. Service employees in the
US are empowered to take a decision that will satisfy the
customer. They are also educated and trained to act as ambassadors
of the company’s culture.
Service
management is expensive and involves highly trained people
to resolve customers’ problems and answer queries. It is interesting
to note that in order to reduce service costs, a lot of the
‘backend’ CRM (customer relationship management) is moving
to India where we have relatively qualified, educated and
‘cheap’ workforce. A person calling the customer service in
the US is expected to be oblivious of the fact that he is
talking to a customer rep based halfway around the globe.
E-mail responses generated by service-reps sitting in India
may satisfy customer queries coming from Chicago or Cincinnati.
I only hope that we benefit from the ripple effect. Servicing
global customers around the world should teach our companies
to ape their global counterparts. The already-trained service
personnel could easily transition into similar roles within
Indian companies.
Companies
and service providers in the West have realised that the cost
of acquiring a new customer is many times higher than servicing
and retaining existing ones. They also realise that the word-of-mouth
that a good service experience generates, is more valuable
than any advertisement.
For
many Indians, who are used to sub-standard service in every
walk of life, the service focus in the West comes as a breath
of fresh air. Of course, a number of Indians are increasingly
travelling to the West and returning to India with world-class
service experiences fresh in their minds. They are starting
to communicate these experiences to the service providers
in India, which has led to an increasing number of Indians
expecting (and receiving) world-class service in their back-alley
too.
Implementing
good and pleasing service management does not need an MBA
or a team of consultants. Even small-time street vendors seem
to understand the essence of good service. Ever wonder why
in a busy market, with dozens of vendors hawking fresh pakodas,
one of them stands out, attracting the most crowds? Maybe
it is the ‘special ingredients’ that he uses. Maybe, just
maybe it is the smile and light hearted manner with which
he greets and serves all his ‘regulars’.
Improving
customer service is a subject that is a lot easier to talk
about than to implement. The key to success is changing the
corporate culture, a deliberate process involving two steps:
Establishing a plan to exceed customer expectations and getting
employees to work the plan. As the world becomes a “smaller
place” seamless global service management will become the
key.
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