“That which gets measured gets done.”
– Tom Peters, Author, In Search of Excellence

As Tom Peters notes, if nothing is measured, there is no motivation to meet customer service requirements — and if customer service requirements are not being met, customers will go where they are being met.

Whether an organization provides a service or product, the perceived value is being assessed by each customer at every point of customer contact.  If customer needs are consistently met, this increases customer loyalty and positive word of mouth referrals — both of which lead to increased sales and profits.

Despite the well-documented need for good customer service, poor service still abounds, continuing to hurt organizations’ profitability.

The top 10 reasons for poor customer service are:

1.   Nothing is measured.

2.   There are no standards.

3.   Employees are rewarded for productivity instead of performance quality.

4.   What is important to customers is not what is important to management.

5.   Measurement is not performed consistently.

6.   The measurement of performance is done incorrectly.

7.   Poor quality mystery shoppers (biased and subjective reporting without specifics to back up low ratings).

8.   Lack of quality control in mystery shopping.

9.   Incorrect scales are employed in reporting.

10.  Reporting of results is not timely, or in the format needed to provide effective corrective action.