Any company, providing services, can easily lose the quality of customer services if it pays no attention or give less importance to Service Delivery and recovery function of Customer services.
Core need of Customer services erupted during 90’s in Sub-Continent. Soon CS became vital element and most crucial department in providing strong base to companies’ bottom lines.
However, even today, Customer Support remains as a dummy department / division in many organization, and is paid less attention as CS is considered as company’s extra expense and not as key thing as sales or finance.
Reasons why quality of service went to failure:
Defining Customer Services Strategies in Vision & Mission:
It is often observed that customer services delivery & recovery are the least concerned areas. This department is ignored unintentionally and at times intentionally, as Customer Service is considered not directly earning money for the company.
Though companies write very catchy phrases in their Vision and Mission Statement, but all those words are usually implemented without any strategy in place. Neither these strategies are shared with customer, leaving not any chance for customer to take decision based on terms of customer services.
For developing and delivering customer excellence and customer delight, any service provider must define customer service strategy in their core vision and mission.
This will not only help them achieve customer satisfaction but will also earn the company customers’ delight with huge loyal subscribers spreading good word of mouth for the same company.
No doubt these customers will become their own ads without investing any particular amount for marketing.
Now question arises;
Only defining MISSION / VISION, Is it enough?
Mission /Vision must be deployed in company’s cycle in real means from macro to micro level. Having said this, such deployment is only possible if TOP MANAGEMENT’s attention and support is there to practice it.
Supporting Factors:
- TOP MANAGEMENT’s Continuous Support / interest in customer services.
- Importance of internal customer satisfaction will eventually satisfy external customers. (this means market competitive salaries , working environment and conditions)
- World’s top standard customer service strategies.
- Customer service and customer excellence programmes
- Avoid OUTSOURCING as much you can, because you know your system better than any third party for service delivery/ recovery.
- Management must realize customer service as core division of the organization and give importance to customer service programmes.
There are lot of other supporting factors that are also involved in the deliverance / recovery of customer services. But this cannot be practiced if top management support is not involved in extreme interest of the customer services.
Action Items:
For pursuing customer service excellence, following action items can help companies achieve highly competitive customer service, this may involve:
- One point agenda for customer service delivery / recovery.
- Education / training of internal / external customers both, by training external customers – it will help them in resolving bundle of issues within customer base. Like customers helps customers.
- Highly communicative mechanism among the internal departments which are co-related with each other for providing instant support. Please also note that, this is the base of customer service delivery / recovery of any customer service organization.
- Proper incentive / giveaways planning for annoyed customers, and ensuring the resolution of complex problems within time.
- Always communicate time-line of the issues resolution time, this will help in achieving the trust of the customer.
- Proper Knowledge base development with FAQ’s, it will help them in catering most of the customer base even without contacting them.
- Training —Training—-and Training…..Train your field staff, front desk staff, customer service staff and any individual about the customer service excellence and about the mission and vision that you are trying to achieve.
Conclusion:
Customer service delivery / recovery and quality of service can only be practiced, if TOP MANAGMEENT is willing and interested in practicing it, otherwise no need to spend millions of bucks for only filling the tube.
great….no doubt telco’s should practice this….
ya telco should follow it and telenor need to follow it badly
In Pakistan all businesses large or small need to seriously improve the culture and systems to take better care of their customers. Talking about the telecom field, my experience in the past few years has been that customer service from cellular companies has deteriorated. Whereas Customer Service form PTCL has improved – though all have a long way to improve further.
The basic training in courtesy and manners should really start from home and from primary education. Doing that will also improve the image of our society and the Country.
PTCL Should Follow it.
every telco shud follow it….
I have worked in organizations where this level of customer service is practiced, unfortunatly it cost too much and at the end of the day the customers were never satisfied. CS is a fools paradise, customer don’t ring you up to tell what a great job you have done, they ring to complain. Deal with them and move on….. The person who wrote this is an idealistic MBA looking for a job.
I agree with you to an extent. Have you ever come across Micronet?
Doesn’t customer call them when he/she is in trouble? But how about hanging up with fully satisfied mood?
Simply ask for review from someone who has used Micronet, you will be amazed to hear the comments and the level of satisfaction.
And by the way, Micronet doesn’t advertise their services.
well, Mr. The Truth,
its about more than a year that i am continuous visitor of ProPakistani and i am used to read Reality Bites Articles.
i believe author has complete in depth expertise about Telco Industry and Customer service Excellence.
Facts: if customer services never exist then:
1. You will not be watching customer approaching ads on your T.V sets about every industry
i am talking from Wheel KA Chakar to Telco and from Telco to Mughal ka Steel…everyone talks about customer….and try to satisfy customers.
I belong to FMCG’s and i know what actual customer service is and how it return you in a loyalty and in a cost. i also have couple of years experience in a Telco…and believe me what he/she has written in the article , it exist and it does not lead to that much cost. it is much better to spend on this rather than to spend on illogically elements.
pls refer to authors page in ProPakistani, you will get to know about author that author is serving in a European Telco since a decade.
i think including me and you , we need to accept the reality of customer services as this was the key Japan become Super Power in Electronics, Customer Service is the key US industry Spends Millions of Dollars in outsourcing and practice within organization.
Examples Goes on…Bro….
Customer service skills can help a business become more profitable. Simply because customers want the most value per dollar spent.