Article 4.
THE BUZZ

CREATING A BUZZ!!!

David Freemantle, author of the new book THE BUZZ and an international expert on customer service asserts that too many companies in the UK have ‘lost the plot’ when it comes to customer service.  They just do not get the all important little things right and their staff definitely do not BUZZ!

THE LITTLE THINGS THAT

MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE TO

WORLD-CLASS CUSTOMER SERVICE

By

David Freemantle

Switched off service

During the last few weeks I have had stayed in ten different hotels around the UK as part of a roadshow to promote my two new books THE BUZZ and THE BIZ.  Having worked extensively abroad over the last few years it was a great opportunity to re-examine the standards of customer service  in the British hotel industry.

Sadly I was disappointed.  Rarely did I receive a warm welcome and more frequently  I encountered disinterested staff who did the bare minimum. They definitely did not BUZZ.  At a seminar I was running in Gloucestershire last week it was the usual experience of miserable people on reception,  of coffee not arriving on time, of a lack of pro-active communication and insufficient information.  Too often I stared at dirty plates on the restaurant table whilst staff chatted away at the counter.

The best service I received during this tour was from the receptionist at the Copthorne Tara Hotel in Kensington.  She was absolutely charming and exceptionally helpful.  When I asked her where she was from she said  ‘Tanzania’. 

And that is where I am at the moment, writing this article in my room at the Holiday Inn, Garden Avenue, Dar es Salaam – and where the large majority of staff really do BUZZ.  It is the same around the world.  Invariably I receive better service in Singapore, South Africa, Kenya, Sri Lanka, Mauritius and the Middle East than I ever do in the UK. In these other countries, spanning a wide variety of cultures,  the service is consistently good, yet in the UK it ranges from the mediocre to the ordinary – and is rarely brilliant (albeit there are some occasional examples).

I am reluctant to name companies but I find that British Airways is sadly in decline when it comes to service whilst other airlines I have given my money to are absolutely brilliant, for example Kenya Airways, Sri Lanka Airways and Emirates as well as  Singapore Airlines who are phenomenally good on virtually every occasion. 

I flew to Dar es Salaam on British Airways and found a real struggle beforehand to pay them over two thousand pounds for my business class fare.  I rang the Executive Club Number to discuss my complicated itinerary and found myself waiting ages before a human being came on the line to take my money off me.   My flight here was four hours late and nearly cancelled. This was not for the first time. Eight months ago I sent a complaint to British Airways (via email – there is no other way) and received an automatic acknowledgement and the promise of a considered reply. I am still waiting for the reply eight months later.

No wonder I have stopped booking British Airways wherever possible and go through Trailfinders who are excellent.  They answer the phone instantly, know what they are talking about – and invariably put me on other airlines who offer better deals.  That is why I am flying Singapore Airlines next week. I am in the process of divorcing British Airways as they gradually lose my business to other airlines.  My first eighteen years of flying with them were wonderful. The last two years have often bordered on Hell.

Even within companies there is a wide range of experiences. Take Starbucks for example. This company has a very strong ethos of customer service and prides itself on its people-centred customer-oriented approach.  The best Starbucks in the world is at Millennia Walk, Singapore.  Here the staff really BUZZ.   The worst Starbucks in the world is near where I live.  In fact I have stopped going to Starbucks in the UK, preferring Caffe Nero or EAT.

Losing the plot

To examine the reasons for this decline in customer service it is worth spending a minute or two delving into the history of customer service.

Prior to the early 1980’s customer service was something few managers gave any thought to.  It was just taken for granted. They ‘assumed’ it occurred and it was therefore not a focus for management attention.  You only have to study the management  and business textbooks of the era prior to 1982 to find little reference to customer service. 

The concept of modern customer service was invented in 1982 by Tom Peters in his pioneering book “In Search of Excellence” .  It stimulated people to focus on customers and service and not just on  production, industrial relations and financial strategy. 

Following the success of  “In Search of Excellence”  virtually every organisation in the world jumped upon the customer service bandwagon and initiated customer service improvement programmes.  Thus during the 1980s British Airways transformed itself into “the world’s favourite airline” by focusing on customers and initiating a series of improvement programmes starting with “Putting People First”.    Other companies such as Disney, Nordstrom  and  SouthWest Airlines became icons of progressive customer service, delivering as they did an exceptionally friendly approach in which empowered employees were motivated to deliver incredibly high standards of service.  They companies literally ‘buzzed’ with an energy which not only attracted customers but also attracted much publicity.

The 1990’s – from customer service to CRM

But like every passing  ‘seven year wonder’  the fashion for customer service gradually changed into something different.  During the 1990’s it evolved into CRM (customer relations management) and as companies struggled to reduce costs, improve efficiency and enhance profits they allowed high-technology and computers to take over many of the traditional roles exercised by empowered and customer-friendly front-line people.   IVR (interactive voice recording), internet ordering, call centres and outsourcing to India become the order of the day.   Empowered front-line employees were proving just too expensive and too unreliable to provide what was deemed cost-effective customer service.

In other words many companies  lost the plot.  In the late 1990s they increasingly alienated customers by creating a barrier of high technology which made it exceptionally difficult for customers to talk to human beings in times of need. 

Alienation of employees – the energy drain

The focus on high technology, efficiency, cost reduction and profit enhancement did not only alienate customers but also employees, many of whom went about their jobs with a glum face and an attitude of total indifference to the customer.  Employees saw themselves as ‘commodities’ to be disposed of when times were tough and as a result took the sensible action.  They walked away and joined other companies who they thought would be better.  

Even today too many organisations still focus on the hard impersonal side of their business. They become task driven and focus on numbers, targets, analyses, mechanisms and processes.  Everything is ‘systemised’ even down to a ‘scripted welcome’ and a procedure for railroading a customer through a routine.

Organisations which focus primarily on the hard impersonal side of business become ‘flat’ and devoid of energy. There is no buzz

 All this results in organisations that are ‘flat’ or devoid of energy.  The excessive reliance on systems, cost reduction, mechanisation and the impersonal aspect of service drains energy from customers and employees alike and leads to the alienation and demotivation referred to above.

World-class service – the buzz – switched on people

Organisations that provide world-class service ‘buzz’.   Their people are switched on and they make it happen for customers.    It is down to all the little things they get right.   Their employees seize every opportunity to please customers by going beyond the routine of everyday work.  They put a spark into the way they do business and this ignites positive relations which customers cherish. The spark comes from the minutiae of behaviour, from the look in an employee’s eyes to the words he or she chooses in speaking with a customer.  The aim is to make every minute with a customer a high quality minute and thus a totally positive experience that could not be bettered anywhere else in the world. When this is achieved a buzz is created.

Here in Dar es Salaam,  Harieth Kimaro the young lady who has just cleaned my room at the Holiday Inn volunteered  “I am happy when my customers are happy. That is why I am so happy to clean rooms.”  It is as  simple as that.  She buzzes with energy.  I am finding less and less happy people in the UK – and relatively few who take pure delight in pleasing customers, whatever their requirements.

When there is no buzz everything is flat.  Employees are switched off and in turn switch off their customers. There is no imagination and no initiative.  Procedures are followed and that is all.  The service is minimal in every sense.  Little energy is expended on customers and the prevailing attitude is to get away with the least possible.  Smiles are rare, indifference is the order of the day and attention is focused elsewhere, sometimes on costs, sometimes on tasks, sometimes on merely following the order of the day.  Everyone is unhappy and it shows.  Mediocrity and ordinariness are the best descriptors of these organisations.

Examples of world-class companies that buzz

However there are exceptions in the UK.  These are the companies that have risen above the cold technology of CRM and modern customer service to create a buzz, to create a positive energy that radiates between customers, employees and managers alike. These are progressive companies like ‘eg….’ a software company,  TNT Express,  the sandwich retailer  Pret A Manger, the department store chain  John Lewis and go-getting progressive banks and financial institutions such as  Birmingham Midshires and West Bromwich Building Society.

Managing the buzz – the emphasis on the soft side of business - people

In addition to their focus on profit the executives of these world-class companies put a lot of emphasis on the ‘soft aspects’ of business management.  For them their highest priority is getting the people thing right.  It means focusing on the psychology of the organisation in terms of behaviour, attitudes, relationships, motivation, communication and how managers can radiate positive energy which transmits its way through the structure to the front-line and the interface with customers.  

The ultimate outcome is a wide range of positive everyday behaviours which absorb this positive energy and which in turn  radiates on to customers.  This is the buzz.  Customers sense it as soon as they walk through the door or pick up the phone.  They know that this company just hums with energy and that everything is going to go right for them.  It is these little energised behaviours which can make a big difference in transforming a company into a world-class organisation.

Copyright

© Dr David Freemantle

Superboss Ltd

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Windsor SL4 2XU
Tel: 0044 1753 833226

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ARTICLE COPYRIGHT © Dr David Freemantle