I read this article on Digital Spy that cabbies in London may soon face mandatory lessons on when to give great customer service to their passengers. Under a new policy, cabbies will be:

• welcome passengers and deal with stressful situations
• demonstrate ‘the Knowledge’ of thousands of streets and routes in the city

Source

What really strikes me in this news article is the government’s effort to educate its cab drivers to better serve its passengers/customers. I would want the same thing happening here in my country.

Honestly, many cab drivers here need some disciplining. For instance, they refuse to take passengers (that’s refusing to serve). They want to charge more than what’s reflected on the flag meter (That’s highway robbery!). They ask passengers which route to take, or how to get to their destination (That’s nonsense!)

In other words, they need to know how to serve!

Today, let me share with you a case study on the comparison on the in-store shopping experience of Hennes & Mauritz (H&M) and Marks and Spencer (M&S).

Click here to read the case study.

Our customer service experience this week is the story related by Service Untitled and how Wachovia Bank earns his respect for good customer service.

He relates:

… Up until a few weeks ago, I had never been to a Wachovia Bank, but special circumstances for an ailing relative brought me there. The Service Manager, Brandi immediately greeted me at the kiosk in the center of the lobby and was able to direct me to the financial specialist who could handle my  special banking needs. Admittedly, I had to wait a considerable amount of time and that was a legitimate complaint, but once I met with the representative, the transactions were effortless and efficient. 

Continue reading…

Customer needs are a-changing; it’s true! Here are some of the changes as cited on RetailCustomerExperience:

• high unemployment, resulting to less buying power, which results to low retail sales
• health consciousness is on the rise, and organic has also caught the attention of consumers
• significant use of social media
• a shift in the way consumers want to access information through the Internet

Source

So, if you were a retailer now, what would you do to ensure that you would still satisfy these customers? Here are my recommendations:

1. also suggested by the article: reduce prices and increase promotions to get shoppers to their stores
2. offer quality products and services so that customers would get their money’s worth
3. reach them through social media and offer them good privileges or collaborate with them on some worthy cause
4. create more touchpoints for them

All these may leave you spending than you should be but it may prove more beneficial in the long run. After all, this economic crisis won’t be forever.

Salespeople only want one thing, and that is to work with a system that helps them spend more time selling and closing deals.

A CRM system can do that. It’s a system that when implemented well can bring good results to the sales team and to the company as a whole. But often, the buy-in procedure is not that clear that sales teams refuse to follow.

An article on SellingPower cites six rules to help sales teams fully embrace CRM. Basically, the team has to be made understood what’s in it for them. Here the six rules:

1. Upgrade only when necessary.
2. Take a gradual approach to change.
3. Make the benefits of the upgrade clear to the sales team.
4. Shield your sales team from complexities.
5. Managers should train reps.
6. Forbid under-the-table reporting.

Read more…

I found this interesting article on Vanguard, Now That’s Customer Service!

The article lists down several establishments or shall we say customer touchpoints and what to do in each so that you can exclaim, Now That’s Customer Service!

Find out how customer service should be in these areas. Read on…

So now what is your idea of customer service?

Here’s another hot serving of CustServ roundup. Read and learn about customer service and customer experiences.

The Consumerist relates that Verizon and T-Mobile has offered free calls to Chile. Isn’t that something to feel happy about?

Social Media Today says that social media may just be replacing jobs or social media may be needed in certain jobs such as marketers and customer service representatives.

Over at The Social Customer, Barry Dalton outlines social media in the contact center, beyond the tools, beyond the tactics.

Social Media Today features how top 5 companies win Twitter and win customers. It’s really amazing how social media is making the job of marketing and customer service reps much easier.

Is customer service getting worse? If you want to add your vote, check out the poll at Jan Norman’s blog on Small Business.

I stumbled upon this post on Motor Crave about Toyota giving out of its way to give extra services to customers who have been affected by the recall.

In addition to free coffee and magazine, Toyota is heard to give such services as driving vehicles to and from dealerships, offering free rentals and coughing up cab money.

Although this action is viewed as a result of extreme pressure due to the massive recall, and not really out of the goodness of their heart, I still feel that it’s the best that they can do. After all, customer service is about handling a circumstance and not entirely about solving problems.

Our customer service experience this week is the story about a customer of Lee Jeans and how the company surprised her with an unexpected yet awesome customer service.

Bucksome narrates:

In the Fall I noticed a tear at the inner side of one of one of the batch pockets on one of my favorite pairs of  jeans.  Perplexed, I looked closer and saw that there was a matching tear at the other pocket.  Contrary to Mr. Boomer’s jokes, my pants were not too tight in the rear.

This shouldn’t happen to pants only a few months old so I got to work on not losing out on my purchase.  I had bought the jeans at Kohl’s but no longer had the receipt and didn’t want to deal with trying to return it at the store if at all possible.  I found Lee’s website and submitted an email inquiry asking how I could get them replaced.

Continue reading…

Via: People 2 People Service

Over at BusinessWeek Online, Jeanne Bliss shares insights on being a marketer and a merchant and how it impacts customer service.

Read the article HERE.