I have learnt the following lessons from the service sector, having worked in it for years. Success comes if...
- the core essence of service is well understood, that is, a customer looks for prompt and accurate response first, expects a bit more extra than is required, and most importantly expects to be treated as a human being in need of help!
- every cutomer query or request is taken seriously, irrespective of severity and priority
- the service organization hires folks with the right mentality
- the service organization has a strong orientation program, periodical re-inforcements and process auditing
The above criteria list is not exhaustive but should be the starting point to assess an organization's preparedness to provide service.
A major company leaving India, should ring alarm bells across India Inc., and should prompt them to convene and focus on the causes of failures, rather than non-challantly dismiss this as an abberation!
Many of the companies that bring in their customer care centers to india.. do not bring alongwith them the powers.. the CSR's in india have all the responsibility without any authority. I have had my own experiences with AMEX, Chase, CITI, FEDEX, Dell... when the call is routed to india.. there is hardly anything the CSR's can do to satisfy a customers concerns...for example.. in DELL changing the shipping from 3 day to 2 day or one day due to delays.. in amex changing the apr or requesting a balance transfer same goes for citi and chase.. I have always had more success with american call centers than indian ones..so if any of these companies want better customer satisfaction they need to give more freedom to reps in india than crib about customer's complaining.
