Thu 24th Apr 2008 02:04AM
Have you noticed over the past several years that there has been a decline in customer service? Oh, there are still people out there who greet you kindly when you walk in the door, are truly solicitous as to what your real wants and needs are, and who listen the first time when you ask for something. But mostly these days, it seems as if there has been a dramatic decline in the pride that people take in their work. Why does it have to be extreme? Either married to your job, or hate your job. Can we meet in the middle, enjoying our jobs and taking pride and responsibility in them?
If you have ever gone to a fast food restaurant to order a number 5 with no tomatoes and an extra large soda, and been served a number 6 with extra tomatoes and an extra large tea, you know all about lacking customer service. If you have ever walked through the sliding doors to your local product store and the person hired as the greeter gives you a half glance while she centers her attention on staring out into the parking lot, you know all about the deficiency in customer service. And if you have ever gone through a check out line with your groceries and been treated to silence and downcast, bored eyes as your cashier throws bug spray and apples roughly into the same bag, well, you get the point.
So what has happened to customer service? Is it the current generation? Is it the somehow the new American idea of getting everything we want? Or is it simply that people do not care anymore? Probably all of these things combined help to contribute. But at root, there is a lack of empathy or caring for any other being, or at least caring more than we care about ourselves. Why are we so selfish?
Truly, offering top notch customer service is the easiest thing in the world to do. It only requires a smile, a handshake, a simple so how are you today? Are these little things really what are holding people back? Apparently so.
If you feel that you have been treated unpleasantly, there is always an 800 number to call, a comment card to fill out, a manager to complain to. But these are not the things that will help in the end. Maybe your comment card will get a district manager to pay a little bit more attention on his next round. Maybe the call to the 800 number will get you a refund for your mixed up meal. Perhaps you might even get someone fired if you go to the manager. But it does not start with these things. It comes to these things. What individuals should do is simply watch their own behavior. When you are at work, do you answer the phone with a telling smile in your voice? When you speak with a customer, do you ask how their day is going, and if you can help them in any way? It might be hard to fix the world one little smile at a time, but it is much easier to do it this way than with a frown.
Business owners are not helpless in persuading the customer service attitude. They can hire a business for mystery shopper reviews to help shed some light on the customer experience. Mystery shopper reviews will allow the business owner and employees to see an unbiased assessment of what a typical customer sees, hears and feels. Gaining the customers perspective is crucial to the success and development of any business in any industry. Mystery shopper reviews are the perfect way to see a real life situation through the eyes of the professional.
Mystery shopper reviews are popular in retail, fast food and dining and rental industries. However, they are not limited to those industries and shopping for those industries is different. Therefore, a business owner should be able to customize the criteria evaluated through his or her mystery shopper reviews. Mystery shopper reviews are a guaranteed way to improve customer service.
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The original article is located at: Customer Service Perspective