Customer Service – What is it? Who gives it anymore? I know we live in changing times but not all change is good. I remember as a child growing up we were told to respect older people when addressing them and we would use Sir, Miss, and Mrs etc. We were never encouraged to use first names and to this day I have difficulty using an older person’s first name.
Like many young people I had a part time job during my high school days, and loved every minute of it. I was a checkout chick with BBC (Brisbane Cash and Carry) which was taken over by Woolworths, I believe. When I first started we went through a training period and were told how to talk to customers, how to dress, and encouraged to work quickly and efficiently. We even went as far as having a state competition for the fastest most accurate checkout operator. I never won at state level but did participate in a few, and after all I was only part time so the others had a lot more practice. “That’s my story anyway”
When customers came into the store we were always on the lookout to see that they were not left wandering around and if someone looked a little lost you would walk up to them and ask if you could assist. Sometimes the answer was no, but other times they were most grateful, especially the elderly who could not find what they were looking for. This alone brought customers back to the store and when they reached the checkout it was always, “Good morning Sir”……or “Afternoon Mam”…… as you looked into the customers face so they knew you had acknowledged them.
Of course back in those days we had to manually enter the price of each article, so conservation was short, before starting or on completion of the transaction. We still had time to talk and find out the latest gossip from the regulars and a little about the casual customers as well. We would give them some advice on what is around the area or where they can find something locally. We packed the purchases into boxes or bags and even took the purchases to the car. I know today that is not possible as the shopping centres are just too big and you would have staff running all over the place.
But how many times have you been into a store lately and the attendant has not even acknowledged that you are there as they start scanning your items. They speak long enough only to say the total and there is no please or thankyou. They then take your money, give you your change (no counting it out any more either) and that’s it, you stand there thinking there must be something else but no nothing. No thank you, have a lovely day or thank you for shopping at Woolworths, Coles etc. The whole shopping experience has become cold and it isn’t just the supermarkets, it’s all stores. Do they not want you to come back?
My business involves telephone work and one of the first things I tell new employees is to smile before picking up the phone, and if you can’t smile don’t pick up the phone. People will know, always be respectful, say Good morning and thank you for calling, or sorry we were unable to assist. I am a bit of a talker when it comes to the phone and as we are a travel related business we have clients calling to hire vehicles for business or holiday purposes. I have travelled extensively throughout Australia and New Zealand so I have been to most places and have a fairly good knowledge about what’ s around to see and do. Clients love being able to talk to someone who has been there and done that, but there is a fine line and you must be careful that you don’t get carried away and waste time. As in any business, time is money, especially now when businesses are also paying for the phone calls whether they are local or international.
The moral to the article is I believe we are not customer focused these days. Many stores assume you have to shop with them and so they don’t have to do the whole customer service thing. WRONG! We should take a stand and insist on it. Service attendants that do not take pride in their personal appearance will not take pride in their job. Let’s start getting people to take pride in their appearance as it will make them feel better about their job. It is a well known fact if you look good – you feel good, and that will show in your work performance. These days it does not cost a lot of money to be clean and tidy.
For the record there are still some businesses where customer service counts and I hope my customers feel mine is one of those.
What absolutely intrigues me is,” where is this attitude coming from”? Is it purely a generational thing? Is it a parenting problem with often both parents, if there is two, too busy working? If that is the case, why are they both working? Is it so they can eat out often or have two cars or just the overseas holidays etc? Maybe society today is so far removed from generations ago that future generations will soon be unrecognisable.
If it is the employer’s problem, how is this now acceptable when previously this level of virtual rudeness would eventually result in dismissal? What has changed for them? Don’t they realise the effect it has on their business?
Or is it the publics fault for accepting this level of courtesy or lack of it? Do the young people of today accept this abysmal lack of courtesy as the norm?
There are many other issues emerging in society today, such as physical violence from both sexes. At school age some parents even encourage it.
As society changes, with for example, school children not speaking or spelling English, and math being a thing of the past, are we sure this is all progress?
As time passes and this trend continues will we wake up one day and wonder how or why it all happened?