The importance of customer service
BULA vinaka shoppers, I do hope you have all had a good week and are looking forward to your weekend shopping.
The school term has started and I wish all our students and teachers a productive term and hope everyone has done or is catching up with their back to school shopping.
Recently I was shopping in Valelevu when I overheard a shopper yelling over the counter at the shop attendant.
He said she should serve customers well and hang her family problems at the door as she was there to work and not come with an attitude.
“Do not be grumpy and put your family problems at the door entrance, as you are here to serve customers that bring you good money,” he yelled.
She was too embarrassed to respond as all eyes were on her. But it made me ponder on the importance of customer service and which is my topic of discussion this week. Customer service is the support you offer your customers — both before and after they buy and use your products or services — that helps them have an easy and enjoyable experience with you.
Offering amazing customer service is important if you want to retain customers and grow your business. So I asked a few shoppers at work and this was their take on the subject.
Jim says sadly, most supermarket workers these days showed a lack when it comes to customer service. “Workers in supermarkets particularly are the worst when it comes to customer service.
“They do not treat their most important stakeholders — customers — with care and respect. “There is a complete absence of the passion to serve their most valuable clients,” he said.
He believes the onus is on employers to train their workers on customer service etiquette. The service industry in Fiji should consider implementing a standardised customer service etiquette guideline for all sectors. Citing an example he says a store worker rudely and angrily responded to him while he enquired about an electric fan.
“This time around, I calmly asked her if she was having a bad day. She smiled, chuckled and responded to the contrary.”
In other instances, Jim said he stands up for himself. He believes happy customers usually mean good business. “Treat them well and they’ll have no problem spending at your outlet.
“Proper customer service etiquette can either come naturally to a worker or they’ll need to learn and practice it. But it is paramount and must be a non-negotiable feature in and for any business,” he said.
Another colleague Sophia said around 40 per cent of supermarket workers were friendly and offered great customer service while 60 per cent were rude and nonresponsive towards shoppers and their needs or queries.
She believes the solution to this is to train all new staff on the importance of customer service. “Some cashiers never even look up to greet us, but they do not realise that we are bringing business to them as their customers,” she said.
Sophie said she would tell staff off if she felt their customer service was slack.
Sadly it is real that good customer service is lacking today in most shopping centres, stores and supermarkets aroubd the country.
Managements of supermarkets this is something you need to look into to ensure your customers are being served well. At the end of the day it’s these shoppers that bring business to you.
Never forget the phrase “the customer is always right” because this suggests that a customer should always come first! The onus is on management to train their staff.
They will never know the difference until you train them well. For many businesses, customer service is more important than anything else. A positive customer experience will provide you with benefits such as, reducing costs and increasing profit, building customer trust, and improving your brand reputation.
At the end of the day remember that customers chose you for a reason, whether it be reputation, value or convenience.
Please take some time to ensure you give your customers an even greater reason to always shop with you.
Happy shopping all!