Who is really winning when it comes to delivering good customer service?

By: Nathalie Schooling

The irony wasn’t lost on me. I was in the UK to attend a conference at which thought leaders around the world were presenting their… well…thoughts on the importance of the customer experience and, almost without exception, my experience of customer service in England left much to be desired.

Given the fact that this is one of the countries that has been hardest hit by the global economic crisis and resulting recession, one would think that stores, restaurants and hotels would be falling over themselves to make customers feel special and valued. But one would be wrong.

From the moment I set foot on UK soil, it was evident that when it comes to making customers and guests feel welcome the English have as much to learn as we South Africans do. In fact, in many ways, South Africa has an advantage over England on the customer experience stakes because, while both countries don’t deliver anything near the service levels they should, at least in South Africa we do so with a modicum of warmth and hospitality.

For a country that is preparing to host the Olympics next year, the UK has far more important things to build than a world-class stadium. The inability of shop assistants, hotel receptionists and most public servants to muster even the slightest bit of warmth is frighteningly evident. I can’t think of a single interaction that left me feeling welcome as a visitor to the country, let alone a customer and guest.

Interestingly, this lack of service I experienced in England left me feeling a little more positive about what we have to offer here in South Africa. While there is still a huge amount of work to be done, we actually have a fairly solid foundation – in the form of the people employed to deliver the service we require as customers. Sure, sometimes the lack of training, commitment and effort is very apparent, but South Africans are, by and large, warm and friendly people who if given the right encouragement and education will be happy to deliver the kind of service that their customers desire.

And when it comes to positive customer experiences, there’s a lot to be said for authenticity. My visit to the UK left me with the distinct impression that much of the blame for the poor service could be attributed to the fact that there are very few English people who are actually doing the serving over there. The huge influx of Europeans means you are more likely to be served by a ‘foreigner’ than by a patriotic individual who has a vested interest in creating a good impression of his or her country. And if your employees aren’t interested in making sure visitors to your country leave with a positive impression of it, what hope is there of them doing so for your business.

In South Africa, the opposite is true. Regardless of our cultural background, we are generally fiercely patriotic people who want everyone to love our country as much as we do. Hence the overwhelming success of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in terms of delivering positive customer experiences.

Imagine what we could achieve from a service perspective if we could simply harness that patriotism and create an understanding of the potential positive impacts – on the perceptions of residents and tourists – of delivering consistently excellent service and memorable customer experiences.