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It was interesting to listen to Shirley Bailey-Woods on ;Working Lunch" today (Friday May 18th.) Shirley was being interviewed because the BSI (British Standards Institute) recognises that the UK suffers from poor Custom Services delivery.
The BSI survey shows some alarming figures:
- 8 out of 10 customers are unhappy with the way they're treated by staff
- 75% of customers admitted to wanting to, or had actually changed their allegiance.
- Of the growing numbers that complain, many receive standardised responses, often with apologies – even when they've actually written in praise of good service.
It was interesting to note that the BSI are not just concerned with the Banks and energy companies as one would expect, but consider the level of customer service generally to be poor. Where have I heard that before? Attractions are not immune, indeed with the sector offering limited career opportunities and often seasonal employment motivation can be difficult.
Its fairly easy to do the "soft" side of customer care. The smile and cheery personality all help, but there is a harder, more practical approach that's needed. How are your calls handled? Is your information clear? How you treat staff reflects how they then treat the customer. How do you measure and benchmark customer service?
Increasingly customers seek excellence, and are urged to complain more readily if they feel unhappy about the delivery and level of that service.
I offer a service that will highlight the flaws if you have them before your customers find them. If all is wonderful, believe me I'll tell you so you can pat yourself, and more importantly your staff, on the back. The cost of not ensuring excellence can be high, and the modest investment of an audit can give you peace of mind. I intend to link only to sites that commit themselves to excellence. Equally my site has an Attractions Directory where I invite visitors to review the attractions they visit. I would guess we're in for interesting comments and wake-up calls.
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