How much is indifferent customer service costing your company?

Every year companies spend millions on equipment, systems, IT upgrades and maintenance, vehicle fleets, marketing, advertising etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. Every year many of the very same companies spend very little, and indeed pay even less attention to the service they should be providing to their customers. Their receptionists are rude, switchboard puts people on hold forever, sales people make promises they can't keep, managers spend all day in meetings, and complaints are treated like a bad smell from next door. I hope this doesn't sound too familiar.

"Buy our products!" screams the advertising of company Z who spends 10 million a year on advertising and heaven knows how much on recruiting new staff. "And if something goes wrong here's the call centre number - if you can get through." As we dial, frantically trying to get through, Company Z's managers are huddled in another meeting, inaccessible to staff, customers and even one another while trying to work out how to stem the high staff attrition rate and increase profits. The product is great, but they're losing staff, they're losing customers, they're losing market share and they don't know why.

Meanwhile, company C (stands for clever) who is chipping away at the market share of company Z have a modest advertising budget, but a well-positioned client acquisition plan. They know who they want their customers to be and they're keeping the delighted customers they have by staying in touch. Their phones are answered promptly, professionally and politely by motivated employees and they get straight through to the person they asked for. These employees won't leave company C for anything, not even a 50% raise. And everyone's trying to poach them. Heaven? Maybe, but it's happening in little pockets all over and these companies are profitable and growing.

I hope you enjoyed my little story. Perhaps I should write a novel. Point is, it costs money to fill the bath. And it costs a fortune to keep it filled when the plug is out. It is sad that not all companies that believe in marketing feel the same about service - because it is the partnership of the two that creates the most stunning examples of success. You see, when your company isn't doing well, everyone suffers, particularly the employees. Conversely, what a pleasure when your greatest problem is trying to handle an overflowing bath! That's when you can ease off the marketing accelerator (da tap) just a little and put something back into the guys that pay the bills (da customer) and the guys that do the work (da employees).

Here are a handful of things you can immediately implement to change the way complaints are handled in your company. If you're not the boss, forward this to him with your recommendation!

• Make customer service the responsibility of every employee, not just the customer service department. If the CSD can get away from "fire fighting" they can do their real job, which is to promote the good image of your company by staying in touch with customers on a positive note.
• Educate your staff about the true value of a complaint. They should view them as challenges and opportunities, not threats.
• Publicise mistakes in your company newsletter as well as the pro-active steps taken to resolve problems. This way, employees know what to do when they're faced with difficult situations
• Encourage and provide an easy means for customers to give good and bad feedback, and then act on it. This is more accurate and a lot cheaper than conducting surveys.
• Respond to each and every complaint quickly
• Thank customers for their honest feedback. To you it's valuable, accurate information and its free!

So, how much is indifferent customer service costing your company? You find it in pockets, sometimes big, sometimes small, but it could be costing more than you think. The cheapest way to improve everything in your company from IR, staff attrition, absenteeism, morale, and profits is to establish a sizzling customer service culture. It may involve an up-front investment, but it will pay for itself many times in the future. Once established, it requires the simple "Greenhouse Principle" to maintain.

Paul du Toit