………………………If you say you love me too!

Ever tried to analyse what great customer service is? To give your staff a definition in a couple of sentences that is easy to understand, easy to execute and delivers every time?

I think every company strives to deliver ‘Great Customer Service’. It’s almost the go to phrase for most companies on their literature, web sites and social media. After all, surely all customers want a great service. I’m yet to see anyone advertise bad service. But what is this mythical thing we all strive to deliver?

If you were to take a poll, customer service has a lot of definitions. Some mix it up with Customer Services’ – a department in a store. Others would say providing best price or next day delivery. Is ‘The Customer Is Always Right’ the lynch pin?

I believe most people don’t really know what great service is until they have received a bad service from a company. Great service doesn’t need to make you feel all warm and gushy inside. It doesn’t mean for every delivery you must reach for the feedback section of a website. That instinctive feeling of always returning to a supplier for your goods is probably an indication of the level of service you are receiving. The service might be different from all of your suppliers, yet you return to them without question. Why?

At Norseal we work hard on our values and company culture. The way departments interact with each other. The environment the teamwork in and the no bullshit but honest approach we have with each other help us extend that to our customers. It is impossible to get everything right but how you handle the fallout from a bad situation goes a hell of long way to demonstrate to your customers you care.

This also has to be a two-way street. If you demand great service from your suppliers, you have to be prepared to provide constructive feedback and explain your requirements. Losing a customer on price is easy to understand but losing a customer because they didn’t like your service and they didn’t bring that to your attention if a lot more difficult. How can any of us put something right if we don’t know it’s wrong. No matter how many times you check your processes and procedures you cannot get into the mind of an unhappy customer without dialogue.

I recently spoke to a past customer who told me we used to provide great customer service. Naturally, I was going to fix this. How could I not? My mantra has been customer service since as long as I can remember. This customer was coming back to Norseal no problem! So I listened to him tell us of all the great things we used to do and how that all changed. I started to feel a little suspicious when he told me one of the things we did wrong was have the audacity to put up his prices. Now this emotive little subject to some is the deal breaker.

It transpires that was the bad service we provided. He and his company were insistent that each year they requested a larger saving as the spend grew. With the impossible demands they insisted we provide, no matter how great your company culture, big smiles and cheery conversation is it does not put bread on the table.

Now we find ourselves one whole year from the start of the largest life changing experience we have all faced. Our sales guys have been out polishing their cars in the hope one day to visit all of our beautiful customers again. If you want to speak to them to discuss your personal needs, to tell us where we might be going wrong and where we can change please let us know. We cannot do this by ourselves and I promise you if you engage with us we will deliver on what is important to you.