Customer service enables businesses to create valuable relationships with customers & suppliers alike.
The communications made between a business & their customers are the underpinning of their success. If the relationships between business & customer/client are hampered in any way at all; then this could ultimately be damaging for the business.
However, what does customer service look like in a modern world, in 2019? & how have things changed throughout history?
As a child when I & many my peers would make weekly trips to the local shop, the Post Office or the greengrocer; there was a distinct relationship between us & the shop keeper or person serving us. Wherever I lived as a youngster, the people in the consumer establishments we visited regularly, knew us by name, knew our family & knew how to ask questions about parts of our lives they were party to. This all came about through snippets of conversations held between us as shoppers/consumers & the business owners we communicated with.
If you go back even further, to when the High Street of a town or village was the absolute heart & soul of a community; everyone knew everyone. Home deliveries of milk & other commodities were common place, because these were small dwellings, where entire communities relied upon & supported each other.
However, as we are all aware, this personal interaction has for the most part, long since gone by the wayside.
Alongside progress, comes more people & more houses. Communities are no longer small & intimate societies, as we see sprawling housing estates making towns & cities become gigantic. Along with this, the ability for communities to hold on to the traditions of the past; struggle under the weight of progress & with it the communications between consumers & businesses have changed beyond all recognition.
In a modern world, if for example we have an issue with a bank, a phone or a utility service; we now have to make a call to a faceless person, often times abroad & reading from a script, to try & get to the bottom of the issue we have. Our grocery shopping experiences have changed too. Gone are the intimate greengrocers & the momentary chats at the hand operated tills; now are gigantic supermarkets are under such pressures to get your shopping tallied up, in your bags & away; the conversations have all but disappeared.
So, how has this happened? This has partly happened because we all live such fast paced lives, that we do not have the time for time anymore.
We are all guilty of lying in bed of an evening & suddenly remembering that we haven’t bought the new toner for the printer, a gift for Aunt Diane or yet more clothes to clog up our already over spilling wardrobes & on the internet we go & a few impersonal clicks later & our new ‘thing’ is ordered from a faceless warehouse, with no interpersonal reactions at all.
However, the tide is beginning to change & one of the main reasons is because of loneliness.
For many years now, researchers have been collating evidence which most certainly suggests that loneliness can & does lead to depression, mental illness & isolation. One of the areas of study, is how our ageing communities are struggling with this, especially in a time where so much of our lives are lead online, an area that some of our senior citizens do not have access to. For some of our more infirm members of our communities or those with disabilities; gaining access to human interaction can be limited. Therefore, the option of an automated shopping experience or a faceless person on the end of a telephone; adds to their isolation.
In light of this, there are some businesses who are beginning to recognise the need for human interaction.
Many British corporate companies who had previously outsourced customer service call centres abroad to cut costs; have now recognised that British consumers need a person they can hold a dialogue with & not communicate with someone who is limited to a script. These exchanges have inherent customer service pitfalls, if there is a simple language & culture barrier put in place.
Furthermore, with more people seeking more sustainable ways to shop, to purchase their goods from environmentally conscious suppliers; we are beginning to see the upsurge in independent businesses slowly integrating our towns, villages & even our city centres. This is not only enabling a better level of communication between the consumer & the business owner; but it also goes some way to remind us of the value of human to human communication.
One such project has been launched by a supermarket chain in Holland.
The Dutch local Jumbo Supermarket in Vlijmen has launched two great initiatives, namely an “All Together Coffee Corner” and a “Chat Checkout”. The All Together Coffee corner has been designed for people to interact, to communicate & hold conversations with other shoppers, in an attempt to combat loneliness & encourage more human interaction. The ‘Chat Checkout’ has been spearheaded to enable ‘People who would like to have a little chat, can take this special checkout where things may take a bit more time, as the cashier makes time for some chit chat. ‘(1)
However, should it have to be so deliberate? Should a ‘Chat Checkout’ being used as a company gimmick be necessary, when human interaction & customer service used to be the norm for all consumer purchases & purchasing experiences?
Next week, we will take a look at some customer service tactics & success stories & will explore the ways in which business owners can strive for a much more personal experience for their clients & customers alike.
Written by Katy-Jane on behalf of Virtually Smart Ltd
