I chose a time when footfall would be modest and walked up to the reception. There were three people behind the counter and just me in front, yet not one of them made an effort to make eye contact, one girl looking up briefly with an enquiring, ‘Yes Sir?’ and then going back to the desktop in front of her. I stated my request. No acknowledgement or eye contact, but another lady in front did some key-punching, looking puzzled, and then muttered to the girl who peered at the monitor. I repeated my request, with exactly the same response. It was more than evident that this poor girl had been hired recently and dumped on the job with little training and certainly no briefing. The third person, a guy at the end, asked them to change their search - this was, mind you, for an elementary test - and then, when he saw them fumbling, told them how to spell it out.
When, a further three minutes later, there was no response of any kind, I left and went to the one I have used earlier that is about a km further down the road.
I wonder how many customers they have lost this way? Yet, they are hardly the exception for, in the service industry, such errors in systems analysis are rife. The management (or owners) build or take on rent grand, outsized hotels, malls, diagnostic centres, retail establishments and restaurants, then spend utterly ridiculous amounts on interiors, equipment (such as MRIs and automated laundry, to name two) and even designer uniforms for staff but - here is the crunch - the salaries, training and skill building, redundancy staffing and motivational levels are beyond pathetic in comparison and the only concession made is a weak ‘Employee of the Month’ poster on some obscure wall. It is as if people do not matter, when, in reality, the quality of staffing is the biggest factor.
Now, wouldn’t it be different if, in a service business, the management thought of the system as centred around the employee and then built it up from there? Take an X-Ray machine as an example. Most X-Ray technicians in a diagnostics centre look bored, deeply disinterested and, now-a-days, absorbed with their mobile phones (outside the X-Ray room, of course) or have gossipy conversations. What if they were trained in diverse skills and to converse socially with patients in a polite, supportive way - for many patients are in pain when they come in for an X-Ray - and provide reassurance? This training should be considered part of capital expenditure, and not as an operating expense, with high returns on investment. What if service professionals were given apps and tablets to walk up to customers rather than have customers walk up to them? What if they were given autonomy to take decisions up to a level much beyond where they can today? What if they reduced the usage of a few irritating, at times infuriating, phrases, such as, “One minute, sir,” (to mean ten minutes of no communication), “The system does not allow it, sir,” or “No sir, that is not possible,” or “Please wait, we will come back to you.”? These sentences can be minimally used with autonomy, customer focus and regular skill-building and genuine recognition. And what if, at peak hours, there were more customer-facing service personnel, looking less stressed and multi-tasking less?
All of this sounds financially puerile until you realise that the capital expenditure in these projects is so high that dropping the frills, bells and whistles, such as glamorous water-fountains in the foyer of a building or the atrium and eschewing chandeliers and fanciful lighting and mindless technology that has stopped impressing people, can pay for more than all of the above. The result: an improved service experience and a pleasant day for everyone.
This involves systems analysis, thinking of the different elements of the service system, with the goal of customer delight.
The truth is, very few do it.
