I remember my cabin crew days at Air Mauritius, where during our customer service training and refresher courses, we were constantly reminded of ?the legendary Mauritian smile? and the need to be courteous and smiling throughout a flight, regardless of its duration, the number of irate passengers we dealt with or the time lag. I reckon we learnt the hard way; back-to-back flights were a common thing and, after those non-stop flights, garnering the kudos as we sometimes did would be considered today as exploits.

Whilst reflecting on those days, I note, not without disillusionment, that customer service, be it on airplanes, restaurants, banks or shops does not seem to be the top priority of service-based industries. I recently took an expatriate friend to lunch at this top-notch restaurant in a five-star hotel in Port-Louis. We arrived at 12:15 and the place was sparsely occupied. When asked for a table, a waiter snapped that, since I had not booked, I could not have lunch there. I explained calmly that, since the restaurant was obviously not full, he could accommodate us. Another adamant ?No? got two famished and angry customers heading towards another restaurant a few metres away.

After lunch, on our way to the car park, my friend noted wryly that the five-star hotel restaurant was still practically empty. During my 14 years in customer relationship management, I have tried to find the raison d?être behind such lousy attitudes and I am still adamant on one thing: there is absolutely NO plausible reason for anything but excellent customer service.

Hereunder are some points that heads of any companies should bear in mind:

Recruitment: Everything starts here. Look for three things when searching for customer service agents: Attitude, Attitude and? Attitude. Language skills can be taught to a call centre operator, how to distinguish between a pasta knife and a fish knife is certainly not difficult and can be taught to a waiter, but it is indeed a very arduous task to change negative attitudes.

Look for that special smile, test whether the potential candidate is willing to go the extra mile for the customer. Is that person open to new ideas and will he/she adapt easily to change? Needless to say that a bad recruit can cause considerable damage to your company whilst a good one is the beginning of endless possibilities.

Do not be afraid to head hunt. I have referred many waiters to five-star hotels, I have had no qualms in offering more attractive packages to people who have struck me as giving impressive customer service.

Lead by Example: I have seen too often those leaders who do not abide by what they profess throughout the day to their staff. One such leader found himself in an embarrassing situation when he was told bluntly in a break-out session that, as he does not respond to staff and customer messages or does not take the phone, he cannot expect anything better from his staff.

On the other hand, if the leader gives good example, subordinates will follow suit. Apply the basics when dealing with customers; always have good manners, be sincere in your approach and smile. If cleaning and replenishing a toilet in an aircraft is downgrading to members of the cabin crew, then they better think seriously of changing job.

Ongoing training: Any company must have a comprehensive training program for its staff at all levels taking into account the needs, strengths and weaknesses of each and every one. Appraisals conducted by objective and result-oriented supervisors are vital tools to analyse the training needs and also to identify staff with above-average skills and staff who are threats to good customer service.

Equal Opportunities: Frustration amongst employees only harbours negative attitudes resulting in poor service. Whilst reviewing a call centre operation, I ordered a survey to determine what the major reasons behind employee lack of motivation were. The findings revealed that a staggering 79% of the staff were discouraged and frustrated by what they considered as ?nepotism? or ?unequal opportunity of chances?.

Whilst it would be utopian to aspire to having 100% of staff satisfied with human resources management, it is nonetheless crucial to have a healthy environment where staff feel that they will be appraised and promoted on criteria based on merit rather than their colour of skin, ethnic origin, government/political lobby or nepotism in whatsoever form.

Empowerment of staff / softening of procedures: If your staff feel they have the power to take action or remedy a situation to please a customer within certain pre-determined parameters, many problems will be solved at lower levels. Too often, chief executives or general managers deal with petty matters which could have been solved at frontline level.

Mystery Shopping: Still hardly used in the island, mystery shopping if implemented professionally, could produce dramatic results. The aim is not to have Big Daddy watching over you but to install a system whereby the staff realizes that at any time someone could be appraising them in a very objective manner.

Before ending, let me tell you one story about great customer service. I heard it from a friend who is a high-frequency traveller. He went into a Bally shop in London to buy a pair of shoes; after a warm welcome, the gentleman showed him the various models specifying the trends and the shoes he felt would suit my friends? feet.

The salesman then noticed that my friend was already wearing Bally shoes and that the latter had some thread hanging out. When told that the shoes had been purchased 4 years back, he offered my friend a new pair of shoes free of charge on the basis that: ?Your Bally shoes should not be in that state even after 4 years.? Such customer service is simply outstanding and deserves mentioning. Closer to us, a few companies have impressed me by their customer service. With a rating system of 1-6 with, 1 being very poor, 2: poor, 3: satisfactory, 4: good, 5: very good and 6: excellent: Le Capitaine Restaurant ranks 4 out of 6, Indya Vogue Boutique: 4 out of 6, Mc Donalds Restaurant: 3 out of 6; (check out their birthday party hostesses; they are quite good), Nestlé?s telephone service: 4 out of 6 and finally Barclays head office inbound phone service: a highly laudable 5 out of 6.

Companies with awful customer service are unfortunately a common scene in the island and let us hope that in an era where monopolies are crumbling, the customer will use his purchasing power by refusing and challenging negative attitudes.

by Aisha Allee Mosabeb

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