Customer Service

For my inaugural post, I wanted to discuss something that is so important to me (and will certainly be a recurring theme here) yet is so entirely lacking in Switzerland.  Of course there are refreshing exceptions, and when I find them (or you do) I will let you know.


A brief summary of customer service as defined by Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_service

Customer service is the provision of service to customers before, during and after a purchase.  According to Jamier L. Scott. (2002),^[1] “Customer service is a series of activities designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the customer expectation." Customer service is normally an integral part of a company’s customer value proposition. In their book Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, Don Peppers and Martha Rogers, Ph.D. write that "customers have memories. They will remember you, whether you remember them or not." Further, "customer trust can be destroyed at once by a major service problem, or it can be undermined one day at a time, with a thousand small demonstrations of incompetence."^[3]From the point of view of an overall sales process engineering effort, customer service plays an important role in an organization's ability to generate income and revenue.^[4] From that perspective, customer service should be included as part of an overall approach to systematic improvement.

Since I come from the States, where "The Customer is Always Right" stands true, I struggle on a daily basis with the total lack of customer care here in Switzerland. I'm generalizing a bit, but let's start at the beginning of the customer experience, and follow on it's path: 

1. Parking: While it's great that a) in town, parking is usually ample and b) cheap compared to US Cities (in parking structures) and c) well signed with the amount of parking spaces available and where, the parking garages themselves are so hard to maneuver no matter what size car you have that everyone I know has scratched, gouged or smashed their cars either at the entry / exits or on one of the many columns down below.  In addition, getting in and out of your parked car either usually requires Cirque de Soleil-style acrobatics and/or waiting for the guy(s) who parked on either side to return to their car.  So, first off, the customer experience is frustrating to put it mildly.

2. Entry to shop / commercial center: Since I now make my living working for an architectural graphics (what is sometimes referred to as environmental graphics) company I am acutely aware of signage (or the lack thereof).  I know the industry is still in it's very beginning stages here, but fun, directional, informational signage is always a good thing.  Black stick-on letters on a white background and a general total lack of branding is blah and almost useless.  It makes me think that the shop keepers / owners don't care if they bring in customers or make any money. (Which is probably true but more on that later)

3. Display: Retail needs to inspire, well at least it needs to inspire me.  Walking into a shop that has a lack of depth of stock (1 of each item, gaps in the shelves where product is missing, dusty merchandise) is depressing.  I can't tell you how many times I have walked into a shop and assumed it was going out of business.  Admittedly, coming from the land of plenty colors my view a bit, but retail should be fun! Oh how I wish Simon Doonan (creative director of Barney's New York) could really work some magic here. Maybe I should start a Top Design-style reality show for Swiss retailing...

4. Shopping experience: Hidden gems, surprise, and the excitement of finding different things each time you're in a shop barely exists.  I guess with prices as high as they are here, I feel like I deserve more for my money.  Whimsy, exciting new (worldly) products, stunning, clever, differing displays - all this adds up to a meaningful shopping experience, and makes the customer want to come back for more.  My biggest pet peeve here involves the shoe shops.  200 - 400 CHF pairs of shoes are displayed either hanging on plastic hangers or laid out on shelves like in the PayLess.  Even if I loved a pair, I would feel like I could get them in the states for $15.

5. Customer Service: Firstly, the overwhelming lack of e-commerce here is astounding.  If I wanted to see if a shop carried a specific item in the States, I could look on their website and find out within seconds, let alone order it quickly and cheaply.  Here, a phone call is always in order.  Finding the phone number on-line is fine, although not always right where you'd want it to be.  Getting someone on the phone is harder, as it's usually lunch time or the shop is closed because shops aren't open it seems for more than about a few hours a day...I've had several experiences like this recently, and when I've finally reached the right person in the right department in the right store at the right time (this has taken up to an hour), I encounter someone that absolutely cannot be bothered to answer my question, only to find out they don't carry the merchandise in question.  Usually, I'm directed to come in the shop and make a special order, which can takes weeks to receive (once I put down a deposit!).  
Secondly, once I'm finally in a shop and either have a question or need help with something, I'd rather not receive a Little Britain "the computer says no" answer.  I'd like the salesperson to understand their merchandise, be able to let me know when something will arrive, if it's not currently in stock, and in general be friendly, or not be on a 2 hour lunch break. Remember, in most of the world, "The Customer is Always Right."


Coming up...retail winners and losers