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Nothing turns a potential customer off more than a bad interaction with an employee. While many business transactions are now being handled by computer or online virtual agents, customer service is still a big part of what makes successful companies work.
Whether it’s visiting with your local phone company about a bill you thought you paid or consulting with an online trading broker for help with your stock portfolio, that interaction with another human makes or breaks the experience.
Companies that choose to pay low wages or fail to properly train their employees on proper customer service end up paying in the long run. There is no way that the quality of customer service can exceed the quality of the people who provide it. If companies don’t take the time to educate their employees, it will show.
It’s interesting to think that employees tend to treat customers as they are treated by management. Treat your employees with kindness and respect, and they will pass that on to the paying public. Talk down to your employees, and they will treat your paying customers just like you treated them. If a company finds consistently rude customer service, the first place to look is within the management of the company.
Good customer service starts at the top. If management and regular employees are working together and enjoying quality interaction, that same quality is likely to be passed along to the customer.
While some of this interaction has been pushed along to the automated phone system, there is still no substitute for quality interaction between customer and employee.
