To Serve
We’ve heard plenty about the lousy customer service in Singapore. We’ve heard how great the customer service is elsewhere. But have we really thought about how to tackle the issue at the root?
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There are a few points that service providers have to take note of.
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Smile. The first thing a customer would like to see is the sales person smiling at him or her. This does not happen often enough though. However, when I am smiled at, I feel welcome, and I feel that the sales person is happy to see that I am interested in their products. Even if I am a complainant at a counter, a smile would surely alleviate my displeasure.
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Study. Yes, it takes knowledge and aptitude to be a customer service representative, or sales person. When I ask about a product or service, I expect the person to be able to tell me everything. Yes, everything.
"The toaster weighs 1453 grams, and the heating element has a life span of twenty thousand hours."
"This rim used to be made in Japan, but of late, the company has shifted it’s operations to China. But don’t worry, the quality controls are as high as before."
"Our shoes always come with their soles stitched on the underside. In fact, our founder, Thomas Middleton, believed firmly that there was simply no better way to bond the sole to the shoe."
Too many stores hire people but fail to educate them on the products they are selling. It has not become the culture to take pride in product knowledge. I dislike it intensely when I am told "I don’t know." If within five minutes of browsing I have not got my answer, I simply never go back again.
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Sincerity. The sales person has to believe absolutely that their job is to serve, to ensure that from the moment a customer steps into the shop or sits at the counter, their every need, even whim and fancy is met. Customers do not owe the businesses a living, and poor or insincere service is a definite turn-off. When I choose a place to eat or shop, it is not merely the product or price that is a draw - it is the service. There is nothing quite like walking into a coffeeshop and have the stallholder wave and call you, clean a table, and pull chairs specially for you and your party. Actions such as these ensure that customers return again and again, and bring their friends too.
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Saving face. The customer is always right. Wrong. Customers sometimes make errors, especially when they perceive the businesses to be out to cheat them. But it is a subtle art of service to carefully, delicately, and discreetly point out the customer’s error. Not in front of everyone else, but where no one can hear it. Doing so reinforces the notion that the business has the customer’s interests at heart, and is willing to take the trouble to save his face - this is especially valuable to us Asians.
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No matter how educated or polished a sales person is, the most important characteristic is the willingness to be servile. Serving is not a day job, or worse, a temporary job. It is a skill, an art, requiring poise, grace and flourish. Carried out with wit, charm and a ramrod straight back. Flexible yet firm. Impeccable.
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Therefore I ask who was responsible for hiring all those chaps out there who smoke outside the shops when not on duty, answer questions with a grunt, slap food on your plate, and never look you in the eye? I would like to say that all these hapless students and neer-do-wells should be fired, right here, right now.
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But wait, it is the management, intent on making money, failing to pay attention to the most salient details that is at fault. They have failed to train their staff to be the best they can be. They have failed to make these people better themselves, and by doing so, have failed to make this world a better place.
