Joel Warady

BrainTrust Query: How Consumers Killed Customer Service

December 29, 2009

FROM RETAILWIRE:
We went to the buy-one-get-one sales. We made Walmart what it is today. We camped out for Black Friday. We built the dollar store channel. The bottom line is that we voted with our wallets and customer service lost. Are consumers largely responsible for any deterioration in customer service at retail?      [more...]

I'm not sure we can place the responsibility of poor customer service on the customer's quest for efficiency and low prices. The fact that consumers expect prices to remain low while companies expand their use of technology, and run a more efficient organization, does not mean that they have forced poor employee training.

Companies have an obligation to do a better job of hiring, training, and most importantly, providing a proper corporate culture that encourages pride resulting in better customer service. The CEO, whose compensation package has not diminished during the "low-price" consumer quest is the person responsible for poor service levels, not the consumer. When the CEO "gets it," shops his or her own store and understands what consumers want, and then learns how to give it to them, then and only then will the customer service levels improve.

Let's make sure that retail executives are not allowed to shirk their responsibility. Their job is to satisfy the customer's needs; both on price and on service.