A few months ago one of the large banks proudly promoted and advertised the fact that they had listened to what customers had said – and were employing more customer service staff in their branches – so, no more long queues.
Well, I have been into my local branch of ‘which’ bank a few times since, and I can report that the service is just as poor as previously – and the wait in the queue just as long. Either the bank promotion of increased staff levels was a scam, or they haven’t reached my local branch yet, or their service process is totally rubbish.
It is one thing for an organisation to promote an ‘initiative’, but another issue to actually implement it.
So, the moral of this story – if you promise something to your customers, make sure you deliver on your promises!
Don’t keep your customers waiting
I recently had an appointment with a service provider for 4pm and when I arrived at the office I was greeted with a waiting room full of other clients. Needless to say I assumed he was running late so would be in for a long wait.
Thankfully the clients waiting ahead of me seemed to be being processed fairly quickly – then more clients came into the waiting room and were seen ahead of me! Apparently they had been told ahead of time that the provider was running late and chose to came back later.
I eventually saw the service provider after 5pm – after a wasted one hour waiting.
I know some service providers charge a consultation fee if clients cancel with less than 24 hours' notice – perhaps service providers should provide clients compensation when they keep clients waiting.
In today’s society, people are time poor and to many, particularly self-employed people, time is money.
If clients have to wait due to a service provider running late – the organisation should notify clients so they can try and use the time productively. A tactic I try and use is make a booking for as early in the day as possible based on the logic there is less time gone for the provider to be running late!
So, if you are service provider, how do you avoid problems associated with running late?
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Paul Chad is the Principal of CHAD Marketing Services, an organisation dedicated to assisting individuals and organisations achieve their potential via innovative marketing strategies.
Paul has over 25 years experience working with small, medium and large organisations, both public and private operating in local, national and international markets. He is a Certified Practising Marketer, Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute and possesses post-graduate degrees in both Marketing and Business Administration as well as being a qualified workplace trainer.
For more information and free initial consultation, contact Paul on 4284-8051 or via chadmarketing.com.au
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