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For many companies, customer service is something that is the responsibility of a
dedicated department which can only be contacted by telephone, post, or in some
cases only by e-mail. For others, the reality is that numbers dictate customer
service to be something which is provided in person at the point of sale. Being able
to provide customer service in person is essential for these companies, however
helpful it would be to have a dedicated set of customer service professionals. That
said, being forced to provide customer service in person, as time-consuming as it may be, has its
advantages in the circumstances. Whatever else can be said about this way of providing customer
services, it does allow a level of personal service that is hard to beat.
Speaking to the customer in person rather than on the phone has its drawbacks, and no one would deny
this. It keeps professionals away from other work, and can lead to them getting drawn into long,
complicated discussions which would be better carried out in a less pressured way. However, when it
comes to customer confidence, being able to look a customer in the eye and tell them that you will get
to the bottom of their problem does enable a certain amount of satisfaction on the part of the customer
that is not easy to achieve in any other way.
When dealing with customer service issues on the telephone, it is possible – and sometimes irresistible –
to put the customer on hold and transfer them to someone else. Anyone who has been the customer in
this situation knows how frustrating that can be, especially when they then have to relate their problem
to another person because it has been poorly communicated. Good customer services rely on being able
to maintain the confidence of the customer, assure them that their problem will be solved now, and at
no extra cost to them. It also allows a personal touch which is hard to achieve any other way, and when
it comes to customer retention and future business, a friendly face will have a lot more impact than a
disembodied voice or a few lines of text.