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I once had a very interesting conversation with a very good friend of mine Lynda King Taylor; an International Speaker and Author on Customer Service.Lynda, as usual, had some very interesting questions to ask me, only this time, it was for some research, for an up and coming article she was working on. And I thought you may be interested in my replies.Lynda: Is good customer service becoming more elitist?Derek: This is an interesting question. Good customer service is not absolutely essential and many businesses may be able to survive or even succeed without it. And therefore it often comes down to the vision of the business leader and the strength of his/her leadership.There are many instances, even in very small businesses, where the owners really put their heart and soul into the business. For them, customer service is absolutely paramount. And they will feel that their pride and reputation is always at stake.Increasingly, businesses are recognizing the correlation between customer service, customer retention and financial success. And so they may be making a huge investment in customer service but still facing the competitive pressures in terms of their pricing. A good example of this might be Boots the Chemist.I know that Boots the Chemist invests heavily in customer service both in their stores and behind-the-scenes. They have a very strong customer service ethic and an excellent reputation with their customers. But in order to survive they need to remain competitive in their pricing.Most people would probably like to receive excellent customer service from every business that they deal with. Unfortunately, this is never going to be the case. Some businesses are just simply not set up that way. Customer service could be thought of as being similar to product quality. It would be nice to always have the best quality. But the best quality is not always available or desirable.And finally, there is the customer experience. Customers may well be prepared to pay extra for an improved customer experience. And, in some instances, would not believe in the experience unless they had paid a premium. Why is it, for instance, that one brand of perfume might cost 10 times as much as another? Or that a restaurant can be significantly more expensive than its competitors even though the food is very similar.We have to deal with a huge range of emotions and needs. In some cases, it may cost more to meet those needs. And in some cases, customers may expect to pay more. We all want elite suppliers in just the same way that we want cheap suppliers.Lynda: Do we, as consumers, accept that we should not expect better service if we are not paying for the privilege?Derek: In this part of the world, I think that we all have minimum expectations.We expect that if we purchase from a reputable supplier then we will receive a product that is suitable for purpose and reasonably priced. We want the reassurance that any fault or problem will be corrected. And we expect to be treated with respect and courtesy.However, we also know not to expect too much in certain circumstances. For instance, we would not expect the same service from a roadside burger wagon as we would from McDonald's. And we would not expect the same service from McDonald's that we would expect from a Beefeater restaurant. And we would not expect the same service from a Beefeater restaurant that we would expect from the Ritz Hotel.There is a huge diversity in the level of service we can expect to receive. And rightly so. But there are two things that cause frustration for the customers of any business. The first is a lack of respect. And the second, is a level of service that we feel falls short of what we have paid for.
Article Source: http://www.content.onlypunjab.com
Derek Williams is creator of The WOW! Awards™ an International Professional Speaker and Chief Executive for the Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Europe.
For more information about Derek Williams visit www.MrWow.co.uk
For The WOW! Awards (including access to a FREE customer service newsletter) visit www.TheWowAwards.com
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