Customer service is a complicated entity that is made up of customer service managers, customer service executives, customer service support staff, customer service trainers and customer service representatives.
All of these individuals in their various roles work to keep customers happy in a variety of ways. They either serve as conduits to voice frustrations, or as a way for customers to get help on a particular product. Sometimes the customer may have a simple question like store hours, or they may have a more complex question like how a product works in layman terms.
No matter what the customer service individual’s role is, they play an integral role into the overall customer service aspect of the company.
It has been shown in studies that over half of all companies are viewed as having poor or acceptable customer service when customers are surveyed. While many company managers feel their customer service is stellar, only five percent of all companies are rated as excellent or world-class, and only 17 percent are rated as good. Clearly, many mangers do not have a firm grasp on how their company’s customer service operates and prefer to leave those types of manners to people below them.
Yet, without customer service, a company would be in dire straits to ensure that their customers are happy. Studies show that a happy customer will tell a couple people about their experience with the company, which in turn can help sales, while an unhappy customer will tell twice, or three times, as many people about their bad experience. If you think this isn’t true, watch the news and see how many ‘bad news’ stories are reported on, versus ‘good news’ stories. People like bad news and they like spreading bad news, so do not allow your company’s customer service department, or its customer service representatives to be classified as bad news.
It is important that a company understand customer service and ensure that it is a part of a company that is ranked high in importance with the research and development and design departments of a company.
With poorly funded and managed customer service department comes poor profits and difficulties in the future of the company.
If your company is one that does not work hard to keep the customers happy, then you will be a company that will be out of business very quickly.
Customers are the most important part of any company, and as a result, customer service and the customer service representatives who work for you are critical in making sure customers are always happy, even after they call irate.
Never, ever forget how important customer service departments are to the functional well-being of a company. They are worth many times their weight in gold.
