MY NEW JOB OF Customer Service/Care

Have you ever worked in Customer Care/Service? When asked this question, what comes into the mind of a number of people is working in a call centre environment as is the case with the MTN or ZAIN call centres. Picking up calls, answering questions and advising clients based on feedback and account status on respective software. Whilst this is partly true, it is but a fraction of what customer care or service essentially is. My new temporal time job title is Customer Service Representative with the title of my other part time job being....naa...tell you some other time. Our main focus of discussion here is customer care/service, what it is, its importance and how best it can be applied.

Question...

Is there a difference between customer care and customer service? Food for thought...

What is Customer Care?

It is boring give definitions such customer care is “the moment of truth between a client and service provider owing to direct or indirect correspondence.” Oops, I just defined it! However, quit true, it is boring to give definitions as simple as has just been done. Whilst it is not wrong to do so, it would also not be incorrect to define customer care by implication. However, let us not divert attention to how to answer exam questions.

We have defined customer care. But what does that all mean?

It is one thing place an advert and have it running on television, radio or the internet. This can also be in magazines and other media such as interactive media.  It is also another when there is actual interface with the customer. Let me explain...

Adverts are one way. It is the organisation saying this and that about itself, its employees, its products, corporate social responsibilities, values and bla bla bla with no one asking further, and if so, it is people paid to ask specific questions. Therefore, objective probing is absent and the company can flatter itself with only reason and imagination being the limiting factors, amongst others.

On the other hand, customer care presents an opportunity for the customer to be able to probe the service provider through an agent such as Customer Care Executives. Communication is bi-directional and can never be accurately predetermined, if not possible at all! The customer can ask as many questions as desired to gauge the knowledge of the agent. There is actual interface, meaning, the customer and agent come into contact, directly face to face or directly through other media such as telephones/cellular-phones and online chat rooms. This is where the challenge lies not just for marketers but Human Resource (HR) practitioners as well. We will start with marketers.

Because marketers are the ones that will interface with customers, the following are essential;

• Product knowledge – you must have adequate knowledge about the products offered by the company.

• Interpersonal skills – ability to get along well with others irrespective of their individual backgrounds.

• Knowledge of competitors – This is important for comparison purposes especially when explaining company products.

• Team work – customers need deal with one person because service centres are usually very busy. You must be able to pass on work to others and equally you must prepare to receive such requests.

We now turn to HR practitioners. What role do they have to play in facilitating for effective customer care? 

In addition, the following are important;

• Flexibility – Because customer care greatly involves direct interface with customers, you will deal with different people that may address you differently and sometimes using different languages. Flexibility must also be encouraged especially for call centre agents. For one of the cellular networks providers, their greetings are so standard that they sound like machines. There is need for flexibility.

• Continuous training – This is very important. It is incorrectly common for service representatives to be from different professions such as education and in some cases, secondary school graduates. But even if one is marketer, there is need for continuous training and development. A deliberate program must be in place for this and the progress of one must be communicated to the others with the objective of motivating.

• Procedures and policy – In customer service there must be a standard way of dealing with different situations. The steps to be taken must be universal so that each can be properly followed from the beginning of the situation to where it was halted, even up-to completion.

• Technology – This is also very important, in customer service, it is very cardinal. When a customer comes through to check on the status of their account, they must be advised appropriately. But for this to be done, the agent must have quick access which cannot be effectively and efficiently done manually by scrolling papers. This can only be done when there is an electronic database. Thankfully one can walk in any bank or Multichoice centre and make such queries and get feedback there and then. Learning institutions seem to be lurking behind, including those that teach Information Technology (IT) and we even get to wonder what it is that they teach...

• Time management – How much time must be spent on one customer by one agent? For most organisations it is two minutes. But this must also be looked at considering what exactly is being done by the respective agent with the customer. It could be that, and this is common, the customer has more than one account he or she needs advice on and thus more time must be given by the agent. But even in such cases, time management is very important.

With the above, it may seem right to say all company employees are in a way or two involved in customer care and not exactly customer service. However, where everyone is responsible, no one is accountable. Service agents therefore have the task of attending to customers and offer quality attention and indeed service. They must exhibit the right qualifications both internally and externally and they must be well schooled and knowledgeable on the fundamental principles of customer care.