Hi, back from Butlins and into the Christmas run up!  A never ending stream of “Want that” requests from both children as every single advert seems to be the latest toy rage to sweep the country.  Zack (4) insists that Tesco stocks every toy advertised and that he only wants it “this one time!”,  Aaron (11), on the other hand is a lot more pragmatic and realises that he can’t have everything he sees advertised.  He has therefore limited himself to only asking for those toys valued at £150 plus!!  Remember the days when you were happy if you got a whole orange in your stocking!  Those were the days, eh?!……

The theme of today’s post is the the distinct lack of Customer service I see in the UK as compared to other countries I have visited, particularly the US.  I have come to the conclusion that it is our own fault.  We don’t complain enough and that has allowed a “Customer is never right” attitude to creep into virtually every shopping outlet I visit.  I am not for one moment advocating that the “Customer is always right” but surely there is a middle ground that UK retail outlets seem to have missed entirely!  I’ll be discussing these points further in a future post but I want to explore the similarities between offline and online Customer services even though the similarities may not be obviously apparent at first glance.

Good Customer service begins the second someone walks into the retail outlet.  Do they see interested, interactive staff, or do they see bored, cheerless sales assistants?  Does a staff member immediately appear next to you and ask you if you require assistance or are you studiously ignored?  On selecting your purchase and proceeding to the checkout, are you greeted with a cheery “and how will sir/madam (delete as applicable) be paying for your goods?”, or is your debit card snatched unceremoniously from your hand and shoved into a chip n pin reader?  Once purchased, is there any kind of follow up service to ensure you have had a satisfactory experience?

Clearly the online web sales process is slightly different but comparisons can be drawn…..

How does your website look?  Is it clear, easy to understand and thus helpful to a Customer, particularly a first time Customer?  Do you offer more than one method of payment?  Do you have a help-desk attached that provides a Customer with the “looked after” feeling.  On completion of the sale do you provide any kind of helpful  follow up service (and I don’t think affiliate bombardment is helpful!).

Developing, implementing and maintaining excellent Customer relationships will ensure your online and offline business is sustainable with consistent repeat business.  At the end of the day, the Customer may not always be right but the Customer definitely pays the wages!!

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