Fortunately, recent weeks have been extremely busy. We have traveled kilometers by land and air, delivering training in cities across the country.
Your humble servant and friend had to rush from Puebla to Tijuana in the blink of an eye because of those ever-present and never-appreciated last-minute emergencies.
Customer Service Comes First.
The previous evening, I was enjoying a peaceful dinner when the notification arrived. At 9 pm Central Mexico time, it was time to mobilize every hand and mind so that the following day I would be sleeping at the border. That is how this latest race against time began; I am still writing this on the flight to Tj.
The point is—though it is neither your business to know nor mine to tell—that traveling against the clock could, within reason, be “pleasant.” In reality, however, it becomes a genuine ordeal, particularly because service levels and the focus on customer care in Mexico are worse than poor. To be clear, I am not generalizing, but it is truly sad that even companies dedicated to selling services have so little preparation in customer service.
My irritation began at a Puebla bus station, where counter staff get annoyed by your confusion about platforms, schedules and so on. Even the luggage loader became angry with me because things were not being done as he said they should be, although his colleague had given different instructions minutes earlier.
At Mexico City's enormous airport, everyone—from baggage porters and staff organizing queues at the front desks to check-in agents and the person serving coffee—treats you like a stray dog looking for food. Even the guards checking that your boarding pass matches your official ID do it.
Let us be clear: saying “Good afternoon, your ticket and ID” without even looking at the person, in an angry father’s tone and with a scowl, may follow procedure, but it is not customer service. Rolling your eyes when I ask for a room-temperature soft drink is not customer service. Scolding me like my mother because I stepped somewhere prohibited without any signs is not customer service.
And I am not just thinking about this travel experience... I remember my last cinema visit, when buying food took an absurd amount of time while staff laughed, shoved one another and generally took it easy, with enormous queues waiting to buy just a drink. This really happened: we ordered a chocolate crepe—not Norwegian smoked salmon, just a simple chocolate crepe. Because of the delay, they offered to bring it to our seats. They did bring it, but halfway—HALFWAY!—through the film. My girlfriend had already forgotten about it.
It makes me laugh because our sales team has long tried to offer these cinema chains our High-Quality Customer Service course: we truly believe it could help them. Their answer to date has been: “That is not something we need.” And yes, I mean both Cinepolis and Cinemex.
And what about restaurants? It is sad to find places with excellent, delicious food where waiters throw down your plates, serving a drink or bringing the bill takes longer than eating, and even collecting payment seems to annoy them. Zero service or customer focus.
Worst of all, this becomes a vicious circle: the person at the counter treats me badly, I respond badly, they shout at me, I shout back, and eventually everyone ends up swearing at each other.
People! Customer service: if you have no customers, you have no business. If you do not orient the whole organization toward the customer, you are living like a politician in a country where everything is rosy. Only when the water reaches your neck do you finally halfheartedly get to work.
Well, dear reader, because we at JST&C understand this urgent need in Mexico, I want to share the basic pillars of high-quality customer service. They form part of the first module of our training, designed to help your employees avoid everything described above:
1. Reliability: If I don't trust you, I'll buy once but never again.
2. Sensitivity: if you do not understand the customer's needs, you are in trouble; management's needs are not a reference point.
3. Tangibles/Intangibles: every product or service must generate a positive impact, both physically and experientially.
4. Guarantees and service: if you promise me something, deliver it; otherwise, how will you make it up to me?
5. Empathy: as the saying goes, 'with the measure you use, you will be measured.' If this is positive, carry on; if not, change!
6. The customer is always, always, always right: but you must know how to guide them toward what is correct.
Put these 6 pillars of our ‘High-Quality Customer Service’ course into practice, and remember my words: armies of consumers eager for your product or service will line up at your door.
Rock’n roll people!!!
