I was pleased to read BL Ochman's post called "Dear Corporations: Nothing Else Matters if Your Customer Service Sucks."
Among her salient points is this: "Yet day after day, poorly paid employees, who are not empowered to make
even their own simple decisions, handle the most important thing any
company has - customers. It's really time for that policy to change."
It has always seemed to me that a business would want its most enthusiastic, articulate, and knowledgeable people on the front line with customers. Yes, they would have to pay more in salaries, but I am positive that the increase in revenue and repeat business would more than make up for it, and pay for itself many times over.
As it is, customers seem to have an across-the-board disdain for customer service personnel, and the feeling seems to be mutual. If you have any doubts, run a search on "customer service" on Twitter and read some of the comments people make about their vendors, and what the service reps say about their customers.
Much of this negativity falls away if businesses decide that quality interactions with customers is worth paying enough to make this kind of job attractive to the best and brightest within a company. And I think that EVERY business should make it a point to have ALL management do a stint on the phones or on the front lines, as to not lose touch with the customers OR the people they pay to serve them.
-- Chuck Dennis
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