Why company structure affects customer service

The reality is, in today’s situation, many companies don’t really care about customers; they care only about themselves.

Executives who run companies are expected to make cuts during hard times, yet, would they put themselves in harm’s way to protect the service of customers? I highly suspect not. With many job cuts affecting those in the front line and junior employees, there remain fewer skilled customer service employees.

But if these roles were made redundant because there are ‘too many of them anyway’, then there should be a general inquiry into how business was being conducted and how it was possible for the company to be overstaffed in the first place.

This would call into question the competency and performance of the management. This is a very important issue that must be addressed.

Cuts and reductions are very complex issues, and often emotional. A decision has to be taken to rethink how business is run. If we are to rethink a way of working that requires less management and more employee ingenuity, we can concentrate our company’s efforts on delivering outstanding customer service rather than building outrageous management empires. There is an abundance of technology available to manage several business functions, and there are loads of wonderful outsourcing options that can service companies’ needs too.

So why are companies still relying on in-house employees for these services? Why are they still hiring in the old fashioned way?

Ownership management must become the model of the future. Every company has to consider the idea of giving away a share of their company to the people who run the business so that they are invested in the success of the company.

The final word on this: if a manager were an owner, I am pretty sure profits would increase, because every individual’s earnings would be exponential based upon the success of the company. If the company was staffed solely by owners, meaning those with a share in the company, then how motivated would every single person be to create a more successful business?

The issue of customer service would occupy the minds of every individual. The golden rules that every company must follow include:

1. Keep the customers that you have
2. Get them to spend more
3. Get them to come again (and bring their friends)

People serve people, and in this business model, the entire organisation would be concentrated on finding ways to streamline the business, remove inefficient processes, and deliver exceptional service to customers.

While researching this article, I went out touring different kinds of businesses to see how I would be served as a customer. I was unknown. One of the thousands of customer transactions conducted by organisations.

What was the outcome? I got processed.

In the current situation, customers are also dealing with physical boundaries. In hotels, they have erected glass barriers between the receptionist and the customer, with the same seen at fast-food restaurants and the supermarket cashier desks. In fine dining restaurants, the menu is now printed on single-use paper placemats while banks make you line up as far away as possible until they can attend to you. The mantra – in line with the required precautionary measures, is to reduce customer/employee interaction and avoid contact at every possible step of the process.

As humans, we are gregarious. It is innate. We function that way. People love to talk to people.

Once we are out of the pandemic, companies should focus on creating unparalleled levels of service where every person is respected by those that serve them, where customers are embraced, they are called by name as often as possible and they are treasured by those that serve them.

Companies will do well to rethink their model of ownership while also streamlining costs and ensuring that their employees are concentrated on growing the business by taking care of every customer.