Customer service: a positive force in business success

Customer service may not immediately spring to mind as a driver of business performance, but for those who get it right, it can boost success.

Consumers can make or break companies. If you aren’t providing effective service for these consumers, business efficiency can suffer. That’s why getting it right is so important.

Customer service specialist, Jaquie Scammell noted that those who aren’t getting it right are missing a golden opportunity.

“I define effective customer service as; the ability to strike a balance of efficiency needs and emotional needs for the customer. This balance sounds simple but is not always easy to achieve. If a business over indexes on being efficient, they may miss an opportunity to create an emotional connection, loyalty and eventually raving fans that tell their friends and family about the brand or business,” commented Scammell.

“If a business over indexes on the emotional needs of the customer, and consistently falls short of getting the job done, then eventually the customer may vote with their feet. The aim of the game in customer service is to leave people better than when you found them, where they received the solution or product they needed and they felt valued during that interaction.”

The benefits are clear, but what makes effective customer service? According to Scammell, it’s about identifying and catering to the needs of consumers.

“To serve means to put the needs of others first and work to benefit others in some way. Good customer service when broken down, is about two things: did that business help me with what I needed ie; provide me with a solution, and, how did they make me feel while doing so?”

“The outcome of customer service is only ever half of the equation. The other half of the equation is the quality of the interaction and how a person, the customer, felt during and after that interaction. Good customer service needs a team of people who are not only offering a service to customers but who also bring a willingness to serve their customers. When people are willing to serve, they are generous,” said Scammell.

“Good customer service delivered by humans, often enabled by technology, are generous with their attention, their time and their human spirit.”

While tech can assist in providing great customer service, the debate stands as to whether it detracts from the experience. People would rather talk to another person than a computer, and the rise of AI-assisted customer service has the potential to ruin this.

Scammell believes a balance is necessary for success: “Our world moves fast. It is designed to help us get what we want when we want it. Our world is slowly removing humans from service interactions at every possible turn.”

“The future of service requires a balance of technology and humans. There are times when we want to be served by technology – we are looking for efficiencies. There are times when we want to be served by a human – we are looking for connection. There are times when we want both.”

She continued: “Leaders, your job now is to look at the touchpoints of service in your business that require technology and the touchpoints that need humanness. Humans are at the top of the pyramid – we do the connection parts of service best. We need to remember that at the heart of service is humanity. We have names, hearts, and minds; we are spiritual beings having a human experience and thrive from connecting with other humans.”

The future of customer service may indeed be AI-driven. With the expansion of this tech, it is likely AI will take over this aspect of business. Whether that’s positive or negative is yet to be determined.

“To understand the future of service, we need to understand the future of AI. AI has already made us more efficient in the workplace. Chatbots have also taken a seat at the workplace table, and the more sophisticated they become, the more opportunities we have to enhance the customer experience. It’s estimated that 85 per cent of customers’ relationships with business enterprises will be managed without human involvement. AI gives customers more real-time communication faster,” said Scammell.

“ChatGPT is the fastest-growing app in human history, and generative AI is changing humans and how we serve each other. It hugely reduces our need to think critically and creatively, problem-solve, and apply emotional reasoning to our responses and written replies. I think we will see more AI in customer service as years go on and the question I ask and promote daily is: what will be the quality of service if we allow AI to do it all for us?”