Customer Service

When I arrived in Dubai several years ago, one of the most important tasks at hand was to purchase a mobile phone and a connection so that I could keep in touch with my family. I remember dropping in at one of Dubai's better known retailers of mobile phones located at a shopping mall.

One of the other customers was certainly not in a very good mood as he tried to sort out his problem. Apparently he had purchased an expensive mobile phone only 3 days earlier but his execited was shortlived as the device failed to turn on. This was his second visit to the outlet and he was yet to recieve a satisfactory resolution from the sales person. His case had been handed over to the 'customer service' department at the head office and the retail outlet was awaiting further instructions. Needless to say, I waited for several minutes before leaving the outlet to continue my hunt for a new mobile handset.

So who exactly is 'customer service'? As a customer, my only touch point with the retail outlet is the sales person and hence my only access to customer service is the sales person too. Let us therefore pause and look at the role of the sales person, not from the perspective of the retailer but from that of the most important person in the entire chain - the customer.

Over the years, several studies have been done to understand why we shop at particular outlets and why we do not at others. I need to mention here that I have never shopped again at the mobile handset outlet mentioned above. As retail markets mature and the competive advantage earned from product and location begins to erode, the area of customer service will play a key role in the choice that customers make. If one were to look around the retail landscape of Dubai, you will find more cases of poor customer service than otherwise. Despite the fact that the best known retail brands have set up shop in Dubai, the standards of customers still lag way behind. In the last few years, greater emphasis was given to the physical aspects of the operations and the product itself.

Recent developments within the retail arena point to subtle changes happening in the area of customer service. While training has received a fair share of focus in the last few years, there is a conscious shift happening at retail organisations. The leaders are willing to deploy expensive technology to identify and resolve customer service opportunities. I know of several organisations that have made some dramatic changes to standard operating procedures to empower the frontline teams to reach out more effectively to the customer.

This is an important and exciting time in the evolution of customer service in Dubai and we are all privileged to be part of this historic transition.