Whatever happened to customer service?

For a country that likes orderly queues as much as the Brits, it seems odd that we are so bad at customer service. Advertising Agencies make vast amounts of profits each year for seemingly repeating the same adverts (Mars – Private Eye 1205) and yet no one has sought to put advertising money to better use by transferring the investment into training front line staff.

Good customer service makes a retailer stand out… ITSU for example are brilliant at it. The store on Regents Street where I often pick up lunch should be used as a case study for how to train staff. Servers are always polite, tidy and helpful. YoSushi!, however, spends remarkably more on its marketing and communications ( I think Limelight do the PR) and are a mess. Of the three restaurants that I’ve been into, surly and uncommunicative service have been the order of the day.

Other than getting a leg up on the high horse, what’s my point?

If major high street brands spent more training staff on how to deal with members of the public and concentrating on keeping the customers they have, rather than advertising for new ones, they might find the whole exercise a great deal more profitable.To use another example, I pay more for my mobile because on the whole, I find 02 staff helpful. When I think about my other brand choices, I see a similar pattern developing.

Internal comms, employee satisfaction or internal advertising… call it what you want. Just do it!