Talk is cheap – or is it?

How many people who receive good service break the three people mould? I happen to be one of those who tell all and sundry when I receive good service. The bottom line is; vocal referrals hold more credibility.

I was reprimanded in my previous article for using my "powers" to pick on Tiscali. However, Fair Deal, hosted by Isabel Jones chose particular organisations on a weekly basis and did in-depth reports on consumer's grievances - and this was televised on a national level. You never heard people complain about her exploiting her power as a presenter or journalist, in fact, the companies rectified these problems post-haste. You get columns in every newspaper and magazine whereby people can voice their complaints and thoughts on a particular issue and there are now dedicated websites where one can do the same thing.

Martha Rogers, of Peppers and Rogers, gave a talk a couple of years back on CRM and one of the examples she used was of a consumer who went into a bank one Saturday morning to see one of the managers regarding a query on his account. When he found out that the person wasn't there, he asked the teller to validate his parking ticket. The teller said that he had to do some business in the bank. When he explained his situation, the teller still wasn't interested in helping him and insisted that he did a transaction. After lots of arguing, he eventually did his transaction and closed all his accounts with the bank. He turned out to be a multi millionaire.

Why do people have to fight so much to get the type of service they deserve? What is happening with society? Why are there so many people out there who think they are doing the world a favour if they actually smile and give the type of service the public deserves? Client Service is not a cat you can skin in many different ways. There is a right and wrong way, knowing which is which is part of your job; it's as simple as that.

Regarding the Tiscali issue, I got a call from the marketing director apologising that I had to go to the lengths of writing an article to get heard. I wasn't blamed or complained at, in fact, it was a phone call of total understanding and compassion. It was a phone call which gained Tiscali the respect of a client, which is all I asked for in the first place.