30th April 2012 | News
Why do so few companies excel in customer service? And why do some companies do well when others fail?
Customer service expert Professor John Murphy of Manchester Business School, one factor is that often too few people within an organisation take responsibility for the customer experience.
"Customer satisfaction is often the responsibility of the marketing department or even a specialist unit within that known as "customer service" or "customer insight", he says. "You can talk to people in the finance department, for example, and they don't think they have any responsibility for customers.
"In the future more and more companies will recognise that everyone has a responsibility to keep customers happy. Leading edge companies are already incorporating it into their job specification."
Professor Murphy says another problem may be lack of empathy with customers. However one of the biggest factors in customer satisfaction is the amount of effort customers have to make to do business with your organisation. Businesses can make significant improvements simply by removing these barriers.
Professor Murphy adds: "Making it easier for customers can have as big an impact on customer loyalty as improving the quality of the product."
Customer service expert Professor John Murphy of Manchester Business School, one factor is that often too few people within an organisation take responsibility for the customer experience.
"Customer satisfaction is often the responsibility of the marketing department or even a specialist unit within that known as "customer service" or "customer insight", he says. "You can talk to people in the finance department, for example, and they don't think they have any responsibility for customers.
"In the future more and more companies will recognise that everyone has a responsibility to keep customers happy. Leading edge companies are already incorporating it into their job specification."
Professor Murphy says another problem may be lack of empathy with customers. However one of the biggest factors in customer satisfaction is the amount of effort customers have to make to do business with your organisation. Businesses can make significant improvements simply by removing these barriers.
Professor Murphy adds: "Making it easier for customers can have as big an impact on customer loyalty as improving the quality of the product."
