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By Kieron Murdoch | Opinion Contributor
Few people can say that they have never had a bad customer service experience.It happens, sometimes far too routinely. Admittedly, one of our major challenges is that poor customer service is not often enough addressed in business settings in order to correct behaviour and elevate the standards of service delivery.
Similarly however, the bar can also be raised by recognising and rewarding good service. That said, we cannot help but admit that we are enthused by the concept of recently held WOW Factor Awards. The event, founded by certified customer service trainer, Orena David-Charles, was held on Saturday, October 12, 2024.
“We tend to bash people a lot where they do things wrong, but I am a firm believer in encouraging people when they do things right,” she was quoted as saying (Observer).
Before nominations opened earlier in the year, David Charles said she wanted to celebrate the best examples and in so doing, inspire others to “excel in the level of customer service care they deliver”. Winners were chosen in four categories from among lists of nominees based on online voting. By all accounts, the night was a smashing success.
Oslyn Gregory of Cyclones Basketball Club was given the top award for Sports and Education. Carlene Spencer from Sandals Grande received the top award for Hospitality and Tourism. Meanwhile, Earl Richards won the top award for Financial Services and Darshanie Singh of Frank B. Armstrong won in the Sales and Marketing category.
As we congratulate the awardees, the founder and organiser, and the sponsors behind the event, we come back to what we believe is one of the important underlying messages to be taken away from the newly found awards, and that is the importance of acknowledging when people do things well.
This is important for leaders to try and practise in the work environment, whether you have a physical place of business or work remotely, whether you engage customer face-to-face or virtually, whether you have 100 full-time employees or 1 part-time employee, or whether you are a top manager with overarching responsibilities in a business or merely in charge of supervising a single trainee.
In every case, it is important to remember that improving the customer relations and customer engagement aspect of the business means not only clamping down on instances of poor service delivery but also acknowledging when someone is doing it right, even if that acknowledgement doesn’t come with an additional reward – merely the acknowledgement helps to set the bar where it ought to be.
It creates a psychological boost when someone knows that they are doing well despite the pressures of the job that they do. It may also make them less defensive and more readily accepting of advice or correction when they run afoul of expectations, as they are less inclined to feel as though you take the stance that they can simply do nothing right.
That said, there is also a need to address the challenge from the other end as well, and that means establishing clear expectations and requiring accountability when a member of the team falls short of them. It also means taking complaints and negative feedback from patrons seriously. Also it perhaps means not being afraid to write someone up each time, give them a chance, and eventually let them go.
Whether you’re an entrepreneur with one person assisting you part-time, or whether your payroll consists of multiple spreadsheets, why should the brand you are working hard to build or maintain suffer from anyone who is not prepared to treat customers the right way? We must not apologise for developing little tolerance for impoliteness (or rudeness), unhelpfulness (or laziness), and dishonesty when they occur.
Beyond that, anyone interacting with a customer or client in any setting must remember that politeness and helpfulness often determine whether the person walks away feeling like they had a positive experience or not, even if they did not get the product or service they wanted.
How many times has a patron heard “That’s not my job” as opposed to “What I can do is put you on to my colleague who handles those specific requests” or “They are not here now” as opposed to “Unfortunately they have stepped out for a moment but what I can do is take your information and ask them to reach out to you once they get back.”
Another popular one is “I don’t know” given as a response to an inquiry either in a store or over the phone about whether something is in stock, or what the price is, or details about the product or service. This full stop style “I don’t know” should actually be “I am not sure, but if you give me a brief moment I will find out” or “We’re very busy at the moment, but could I take your number and call you back with that information in 5 minutes?”
Then as well, there’s the issue of respecting a customer’s stance on a product as opposed to nagging them to purchase it. Who has not encountered a well meaning salesperson in a shoe or clothing store who insists that the shoe or article of clothing will stretch or that you ought to purchase it even though you have clearly articulated that you do not like the way it looks, having tried it on.
Ultimately, good customer service and positive customer interactions help to build up a business and promote the prosperity of business owners and their team. But those interactions must start with politeness and helpfulness. Other elements can come into the mix depending on the nature of the work or the sector, but if at any time, politeness and helpfulness are absent from the equation, there will be problems.
Still, as much as we focus on calling out the bad and striving for accountability, we must remember that acknowledging the good is the best way to actually set an effective standard upon which performance is to be judge
About the writer:
Kieron Murdoch worked as a journalist and later as a radio presenter in Antigua and Barbuda for eight years, covering politics and governance especially. He is an opinion contributor at antigua.news. If you have an opinion on the issues raised in this editorial and you would like to submit a response by email to be considered for publication, please email staff@antigua.news
This morning, I was telling someone about the poor customer service in Antigua, especially within the government sector. Government workers must remember that we, the public, hired them to serve us, not vice versa. It’s the same as the politicians. Once you work in the government sector, you’re there to provide a service to the public and the country.
I COMPLETELY Agree with Donna!
Perhaps the CONTENTS of This Article could be THE Beginning of REQUIRED Reading for ALL Service Employees—especially Some Government Service Providers (among others).
This could be accompanied with a Quizz, the Results of which could be used to Assess the Level of Further Education NEEDED by the Quizz Taker…..We MUST Begin Somewhere……The Extreme BASICS (of Requirements) is A GOOD Place To Begin!
Thank You Mr. Kieron Murdoch for THIS Excellent Article on This Topic of Customer Service in Our Nation of ANU/BAR. My Hope is that It will Indeed BEGIN to help us All to COMMIT to Improvement in This Vital Area of Business Relationships.