Picture the scene – I’m in my local Waitrose with a full trolley and two tired children, when one of my brood is violently ill over our shopping. It’s every parent’s nightmare. Then, within seconds, two members of staff leap to our rescue – one whisks my daughter away to be cleaned up (with my consent!) while the other provides a fully stocked trolley matching ours. I am even offered a cup of coffee. This fantastic customer service from Waitrose won my loyalty (and my weekly shop).
Compare this personal, face-to-face experience with what you typically get online: automated, impersonal emails, frustrating telephone systems that insist your query can be classified using the dial pad on your phone and unhelpful, disinterested telephone operators. It is clear that there is a long way to go in translating a rich in-store customer experience across channel.
Some online retailers do better than others. Amazon, for example has a system called ‘first contact resolution’. This does what it says on the tin. They aim to resolve any query with a single interaction. Why? Because customers are easily frustrated and ineffective customer service is expensive.
Clearly, the challenge of providing optimised customer service across channel is much more difficult than in a single store. But with competition increasing in the retail space, retailers need to work hard at turning a new customer into a loyal customer. Whether you’re restocking a trolley or responding to a complaint- every interaction counts.
Simon has over fourteen years’ experience building and leading high performance sales teams for organisations including Microstrategy, EMC and Veritas Software. His experience is founded on sales excellence, recruiting, developing and leading teams with clearly defined goals.
Simon's remit is to drive our revenue generating activities, devising strategies to target the world's leading retailers and brands, and ensuring sales execution to the highest standards.
