Lyn Etherington, a director of Cape Consulting says that to achieve good customer service there are five key conditions.
"First, there has to be clarity within the business as to what the “customer experience” is supposed to be. Do senior managers, middle-managers and front-line staff all share the same clarity of purpose?
Second, is that purpose regularly reinforced by managers, at daily briefings and team meetings?
Third, is good customer service measured and rewarded? “People notice who gets promoted and ‘who gets on around here’,” Ms Etherington says.
Fourth, does the idea of customer service fit in with other organisational priorities? If all the talk is of cutting costs, don’t expect “customer delight”.
And fifth, does your business present itself to your customers in a seamless way – hard to achieve when technological advances (and cost savings) tend to fragment the organisation."
