Does service really matter?

In these tough economic times, though it’s tempting to include service in the many cutbacks being made across the breadth of an organisation, it is important to remember that it’s precisely service that will keep your current customers and will continue to attract new ones, which is essential in surviving the downturn. The gap in the quality of customer service from those organisations that are cutting back to those continuing to build and improve their service offerings is most certainly widening during these tough times. Don’t let your organisation fall into the service reduction bucket.

If you look at the emerging demographics, with millions of ‘Generation Y’ers coming into the workforce, as well as becoming key consumers of services, that should underline the need for businesses to reassess their service provision. This young demographic’s demand is for more, not less, personalised and tailored services, fully utilising technology to deliver robust services. Organisations that are providing and delivering robust services win; there is no second place.

Why does service matter? It gives organisations the ability to stay connected with their customers, to hear their feedback and take tangible, proactive action to meet their demands: what they need, where they need it, and how they want it met – across multiple channels (in person, online, self service, etc). Delving into the topic of offering multiple channels of service, in today’s highly mobile marketplace, being able to offer meaningful service via several channels is key, particularly to the younger customers. Workplace and lifestyle demands are dictating service be provided in many options, but always provided consistently and reliably.

What does effective service look like? Perhaps this is best described from the customer’s point of view:

• Multiple options – service offerings available when, where and how customers need them, for example, self service or talking live to a person;

• Easy access to services – across multiple channels (in person, phone, email, web);

• Service in both the good and the challenging times – organisations which actually listen to their customers and which find workable solutions to meet their specific needs… especially in tough or challenging situations;

• Doing what they say or promise to do, including following up on commitments made;

• Offering access to help around the clock and seven days a week.

To meet the Generation X/Y and mobile workforce customer demand for more personalised services, organisations are looking to customer-focused technology to help meet their service needs across the multiple delivery channels. Well beyond providing phone support and written documentation services, today’s customers are demanding additional service provision. Things like web self services, self-help knowledge areas, FAQs, ask-the-experts, knowledge look-up, pod casts and video recordings for ‘how to’ instructions or announcements are all essential for serving customers effectively.

Basically delivering access to a customers’ entire portfolio all on a single device (PDA, phone, online) so customers can have one-stop access to services for addressing their queries. And with technology, it doesn’t have to be a ‘price versus service’ equation.

Using technology and automating the service options not only meets customers’ service demands but can also maximise an organisation’s efficiency. For example, according to Help Desk Institute (HDI) metrics, the cost for a support call is $26 per call where a web request is $21 per call and self help is $18 per call. So when you apply the dollar savings per call, say 600 self help calls a month (vs. phone), it equates to a $4,800 savings a month or $57,600 annual savings just for this one service option change.

To help move organisations towards improving their customer service offerings, here are five steps to consider:

1. Insure you are actually listening to your customers frequently and across all your customer demographics (crossing age, gender, location) to get a true idea of their actual service needs. Customer service requirements are specific to each demographic group and can be quite varied. The service needs of a 65 year old retired, customer are often quite different from a young 26 year old mobile professional or a 20 year old homemaker;

2. Tailor your service offerings so they meet the growing service demands, but effectively use technology to do so, minimising the service delivery costs;

3. Increase your service offering from the basic phone channel. Even adding one additional channel like web self service or self help will send the message to your customers that you are ‘responsive’ to their service needs;

4. Change your employee incentive programmes to encourage and reward your employees for taking tangible actions to meet customer needs and permanently solve real customer issues at the root cause, not simply finding a temporary work-around;

 5. Build training programmes that have service as the key focus element, so that every action you take for customers has service at the heart of the offering; that all things done for customers should be done with service in mind. I recently came across a huge banner inside an organisation that read: “Your job is to take care of the customer…or to take care of those who do”. Service should be at the heart of everything an organisation does.

Does Service really matter? Absolutely and always. In good times and especially in times of challenge, it’s service that will keep your current customers coming back and service that is the competitive advantage to draw potential new customers to do business with your organisation.