I read a variety of blogs and recently read one about poor customer service in the railway industry. The blog can be found here Committed to Customers? – BusAndTrainUser – journeys around Britain by bus and train  and, in summary, highlights difficulty in making contact with customer services teams. The author, before retirement, ran a highly regarded bus company. Some of the comments, after the article are quite amusing. Of particular note is the one where some one sent a compliment and received a standard letter which apologised for the issue and enclosed a £25.00 voucher!

But, how do we deal with customer service? As the new normal emerges and blended working impacts many we do have to have systems in place. It need not be complicated – just some one to deal with customer comments as part of their job. And, they should have time scheduled to undertake the task.

When I was CEO of a Community Enterprise I kept reminding my team that we had customers who were service users; customers who were people visiting and customers who paid the bills. The distinction was made for a variety of reasons.

Service users are customers because they use the services provided. If they are not up to the mark they will complain and, if too many complaints reach the customer who pays the bills the service will be taken away from us. So, we treat service users as customers, provide excellent service and respond to comments quickly and appropriately. We don’t send out a £25.00 voucher and an apology when some one says that we have done well. We don’t hide when some one says that we have not done well.

People who were visiting were also customers – regardless of the visit. Treat them well and provide a good experience and they could buy from us in the future. It is well over a decade since I moved on from that organisation. A successor has successfully repositioned it as a venue hire operation – an action prompted by feedback from purchasers of services resulting from visits to other events. The operation was alert to market changes by focussing on customer service.

But, the operation paying the bill was the ultimate customer. How service users were treated was part of the future contract negotiations. Value is more than just price or cost. Good customer service, at all levels, can enable an enhanced price. Poor customer service has long term effects in a market where there is choice.

Andrew Rainsford
20th August 2021