RELATIONSHIPS - It is how you feel that matters

Like most stories in the national press, I suspect that this has been quoted out of context to some extent but apparently staff have been told that they must refrain from using phrases as “hiya”, “seeya” and “cheers” when speaking to customers.  Instead they must adopt a “formal but friendly” approach and say “hello”, “goodbye” and “thank you”.

A spokesman for the company is quoted as saying “Making everyone feel welcome, whether our customers or employees, regardless of language or dialect, is central to the Selfridges experience.  Part of that experience is to make sure our customer service is best practice and consistent throughout all our stores – including a formal but friendly greeting”.

All sounds a bit stuffy to me and I cannot believe that you really want that degree of consistency throughout the business.  What should count is how the customer feels and engaged staff are much better at deciding this for themselves at point of contact than adhering to a dictate from the centre.

I realise that there are points to be made from both sides here but my shopping experience is always enhanced when I am served by someone who is interested in me and engages appropriately rather than a corporate clone spouting the party line.

Mind you if there is one expression that I would like to see used far less often, and only when genuinely applicable, is “no problem”.  Why when I ask to buy something, from a burger to a suit, should I be told this as though my request might have been a problem for some but not for my serving hero who takes stuff from the shelf and passes it to me in exchange for my cash?  

Incidentally, the newspapers that I read, both red top and quality, saw the item as a “North –v- South” battle and quoted dialect and etiquette experts rather than a customer experience matter.  But then newspapers are not currently renowned for looking after customers in the widest sense of the expression.

The other piece of news to grab my attention recently also reflects customer relationships and relates to the news that Santander is closing all their Indian call centres and relocating them to the home country concerned.  It is funny how big organisations can change their minds so dramatically in a few short years.

To my mind, it does not matter where the service is delivered from it is the quality of service that counts.  For example if I am dealing with an overseas contact centre and the agent has a strong accent that is difficult to follow, especially if dealing with a technical issue, then the experience will be bad.  However if the agent can be clearly understood, is helpful, knowledgeable and friendly, then I do not care where he or she is based as long as my query is resolved timely and accurately.

As a matter of fact, I recently had a very pleasant exchange with an Asian call centre agent recently (I suspect that she was based overseas but, of course, not necessarily so).  She needed to ascertain that I was the right person that she should be speaking to, but instead of asking for my date of birth, asked for my birthday.  When I told her the date and month, she then said “and how young will you be on your next birthday?”  I replied seventy and she said warmly “my goodness, I thought I was speaking to a much younger man”.  

This might well have been part of her training but she did it beautifully, and you know what – it made me feel good and a tiresome service call that I needed to make became a pleasant experience. 

Will Selfridges’ policy provide that experience?  As I said let me know your views.

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