A lax attitude to customer defection is always a mistake, especially once youve seen the price tag.
Genesys has produced perhaps the most telling piece of research this year, showing the cost of poor customer service to be almost $340 billion. The customer service industry desperately needs this kind of metric; hard hitting and definitive in proving the stark economic truth that results from neglecting customers.
Everyone working in the service industry knows the impact of great customer service, and the damage caused by weak delivery of support. All have stories to tell about the transformational experience of customers who are ably supported through difficulties, and how central a customer-first approach is to growing and maintaining the reputation of a brand. Yet it is too easy to become lost in the politics of service delivery and crucially, balancing the costs involved. Another survey this week, showing that businesses are failing to deliver on their staff development commitments, illustrates this internal battle perfectly.
The day-to-day realities of offering service can often cause mistakes and oversights. But as the Genesys survey well illustrates, there are metrics available that clearly show how damaging bad service is, and most importantly, how there is a direct correlation between business success and the quality of support offered.
There is a two-step process to changing attitudes to service delivery. Firstly, those leaders and workers at the sharp-end of customer service need to change their thinking. Instead of believing their role is to answer calls and fix problems, they need to understand that this approach is outdated. Customer service is about building relationships, working with customers through the channels they prefer to lose and ensuring nothing is missed. The second stage is then convincing the business the value of this approach, and this is where hard-hitting numbers will be invaluable.
Read more opinions from industry experts
|