When we asked a random sample of people their opinion on customer service in Lebanon, we routinely received the same answer: “What customer service? Ha! MAFEE customer service in Lebanon.” This is surprising considering the current economic climate and the level of competition most businesses face. One would think that Lebanese companies would be scrambling to please their customers, to offer them special deals and dazzling service. However, this is simply not the case, and it’s not just our opinion. Over the last few months, we have been surveying men and women on how they spend their money, and if customer service influences their choices. We also asked them to rank establishments according to levels of customer service (the five best and the five worst).
The InterContinental hotel chain has consistently come out on top; starting with the Phoenicia.The Mövenpick also ranked very high. Roadster restaurants (all branches) were continually mentioned as having superior customer service. Spinney’s (Dora branch) seems to be moving in the right direction, as is Roum hospital.
What makes these organizations stand out is that they provided a positive memorable experience for the majority of their customers CONSISTENTLY. People told us that they felt important when they interacted with certain companies. They were thanked, and the staff smiled and treated them well. “Once when I received something that I didn’t like at Roadster, the waiter actually let me order something else and didn’t charge me and he was very nice about it. Now, to me, that’s customer service!” said one patron of the restaurant chain. A local company that we deal with for air conditioning, Frigo Services (Haroutune Beuyukian Est.), has provided incredible service for us in the last year. They anticipate our needs, call us regularly and if they say someone will be there at 9:00am, they actually mean it!
When we asked people if they told others about their positive experiences they all replied ‘yes.’ And we also asked them if they ever spoke about bad experiences and they replied with a louder ‘yes!’ As Customer Service 101 will tell you, “A happy customer will tell three, an unhappy customer will tell ten!” In companies where staff has freedom to make decisions to please the customer, it makes a huge difference. Proactive employees are something that so many companies desire, yet few leaders are able to let go enough to allow their proactive men and women space to be truly service oriented, let alone creative, especially if it involves money. Please see that satisfying your customer in the short-term, even if it costs, will be worth it in the long-term.
Everyone is a client
It is imperative in today’s competitive market that companies (no matter what size) take notice of the level of service throughout their organization. All departments must be seen as customers of other departments. We must develop a holistic service mentality if we are eventually going to sell our skills in the global marketplace, which expects/demands a higher level of professionalism.
Think outsourcing!
What is a service mentality? A service mentality is one that understands that in order to be considered as a member of the service community (which we all aim to be regardless of business), we have be to dedicated to constant improvement and providing exceptional results. Unfortunately, many leaders fail to completely understand that each department has to be converted into behaving like a professional service firm (think Deloitte & Touche, Accenture, McKinsey). Customers have to be seen as the most important aspect of your business: how about even calling them clients. Tom Peters, a man known as the most listened to business thinker, put it into one phrase in 1997: “Life = Client Service. Period.”
Recently, a Lebanese colleague and consultant remarked that he had a difficult time convincing local companies to change some of their basic practices and procedures in order to streamline, saving valuable time, money and enhancing customer satisfaction. He found that many leaders were resistant to adopting new technology that could replace lots of signatures and unnecessary time wasting steps for “service representatives” (employees) and “clients” (customers). “It’s as if they are telling me, ‘I’ve been doing it this way for 30 years and it worked in the past, so I’m going to keep doing it!’” But as Lew Platt, the chairman and CEO of Hewlett/Packard said, “Whatever made you successful in the past WON’T in the future.” This is really unfortunate. We found that actually there are a lot of good employees out there that aspire to be “service representatives,” however, the systems that they have to work with (or around) are so illogical and cumbersome that it makes their jobs nearly impossible. In fact, in some companies, we felt that it was a miracle that people were even able to smile, let alone thank the client, considering the steps they had to go through to complete a transaction.
Think. Government telecommunications!
What steps can leaders make now that can increase the overall performance of their organization and enhance service to their clients?
1. Take time to create a mission statement and vision for your organization. Make sure that this is an original statement of intention, and not something copied from another organization. It has to fit! The importance of service must be included in some way.
2. Communicate this mission to every person who works for you and with you, and ensure that the bottom-line nuts and bolts of why your company is in business in known. 3. Raise the level of customer to client and communicate this constantly and consistently through written and spoken correspondence, business behavior and training.
4. Contact every client (customers, departments, suppliers etc). Review past work. Examine results. What kind of service did you provide? Was your work PROFESSIONAL? If not, correct it. Offer something free, no strings attached. The reward will be felt throughout your organization and the impact on the client will be lasting. Needless to say, companies that have corrected past mistakes have seen their profits soar.
5. Add Value to every employee’s performance by recognizing him or her on a consistent basis for exceptional work. Conduct weekly meetings that focus only on service performance. This includes service between departments.
6. Ensure that you are delivering high quality goods.
7. Communicate…did we already say that?
8. Go to the ends of the Earth to satisfy your clients and understand that teamwork is key. Make it clear that everyone has to do WHATEVER IT TAKES to achieve top performance and Client satisfaction.
9. Spend time and money training your people. Even if you are the only trainer. Most people want to do a good job, however many of them have no idea what they are supposed to be doing or how to do it!
10. Conduct constant evaluations of your company’s performance. There are lots of things that you need to know about your company. The most important is: how are you doing? I mean the big picture, not your profit balance. Insist on continuous evaluations (even of yourself) and use this incredibly valuable information to improve.
11. Invite people in from outside your organization for insight, advice and experience. 12. Market your product and services. 13. Invest in TRAINING…did we already say that?
Reputation is EVERYTHING
We know you are wondering which companies were listed as the worst. Well, sadly there are too many to even discuss. Furniture companies that have no idea what you ordered and paid for; department stores that force customers to search for a place to pay and offer almost no accountability should the item purchased turn out to be faulty; banks that treat their clients like nuisances; automotive repair shops that charge people for something and give them something else (like a used rusted battery). The list is endless. Ad hoc business practices, corruption and resistance to change are definitely not characteristics that will carry us into the Service Age. Tommy Weir and Christine Crumrine are from the Beirut-based CrumrineWeir, the global leadership experts.
