Do Customer Service Executives Get the Respect they Deserve?

Business is expected to have a keen interest on information provided by CSE regarding the market place and in particular Customer issues. However, up until recently CSEs have not been getting the attention they deserve. They have complained that they are hardly represented at senior management level despite claims by management that customers are at the heart of their activities.

The reason is simple. Most CSEs like many other people talk the language of things. Unfortunately, management and the boardroom understand the language of figures. Top executives are convinced by the language of money. Apart from carrying wrong qualifications into the Customer Service environment, most CSEs cannot convert their discussions into measurable numerical figures. They can’t argue meaningfully on the total cost of poor customer service to the organization. They can’t quantity what percentage of total sales is poor customer service chewing. They cannot argue reasonably well on how much poor customer service is “eating” into the company ‘ s profits. Understanding how much customer service is costing your business should be a critical KPI for any business.

The challenge of calculating the true costs of Customer service seems to be the root cause of why so many businesses ( including public service bodies) fail to genuinely place customer relationships high enough on their agenda.

Hence a sound understanding of costs of Customer service is important for CSE to win arguments in the boardroom. Avoid war stories and focus on evidence – based arguments.