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Peter Cakebread: The Value of Service
15 May 2014
I don’t know about you, but I sometimes hanker back to the days when you could go into a shop and the staff would not only know you by name, but would also have a pretty good idea of what you would wish to buy. And they’d also be happy to have a chat about the football, or whatever else took your fancy.
Now, most sales transactions are just…well, transactions. With little in the way of personality, but plenty of efficiency.
But I would wager that the benefits of that efficiency are largely felt by the vendor, not the customer.
When I am asked for the nth time for my account number, or account name (my own name apparently not being specific enough), I do start to feel just a little frustrated. That I have to work pretty hard to be a customer of a certain bank, or Telecoms Company, or whatever. That somewhere along the way, the concept of customer service has been subverted, or just trampled underfoot, by the demands of ‘big business’.
I read the blurb about efficiency, about modernisation, about systemisation, but I just feel overlooked, with my reasonable requirements ignored.
Well, I got so hacked off that I decided to do something about it. I built a business at Marshall Leasing, where personal service remains king. Where staff are empowered, and better still, encouraged, to be helpful. To build relationships and maintain them.
And you know what?
We get on great with our customers, and apparently they agree as they’ve rewarded us several times with service company awards!
So in summary - why can’t the systems be designed to make MY life easier? And, come to that, what was so wrong with customer facing staff who genuinely cared about the service levels they delivered? Those who actually tried to cater for the customer’s needs, even if these didn’t fit the script?
Well, at Marshall Leasing, this type of optimum service still exists – and when it comes to our customers, we’re dedicated to going above and beyond – whatever the circumstances.
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