UK companies are more EastEnders cafe than Downton Abbey when it comes to customer service

When it comes to customer service, UK companies may like to think they have it down to an art form like Downton Abbey, but in reality they are more like TV’s Brittas Empire or the EastEnders cafe, according to new research.

In a study by customer service training experts, Results International, over 1,000 consumers were given the 8 most common customer service styles and asked which one was most prevalent in UK businesses.  To bring the styles to life they were matched against popular TV programmes.

The findings suggest that while company bosses like to think their style is clever and expert like TVs ‘House’ or incredibly customer-orientated like ‘Downton Abbey,’ consumers on the sharp end are more likely to be experiencing a service which is decidedly less impressive.

27% consumers say UK businesses are run like the Brittas Empire’s infamous leisure centre, i.e. full of processes and systems none of which actually please the customer.  A further 21% say the dominant UK business style is typically ‘EastEnders cafe’ – where it’s all about being low cost and customer service is not prioritised at all.

“As with leadership, there is no single customer service style,” says Paul Stephenson, Managing Director of Results International, which has compiled a research report called ‘Is Your Customer Service World Class?’.

“The approach adopted by an organisation will be determined by a range of factors including its systems and processes, the attitudes of its leaders, their personal beliefs and staff training.  The secret is to genuinely know which style your organisation has, understand its shortcomings and compensate for them.”

However, this is trickier to do if the organisations aren’t honest with themselves, and Results International’s research suggests many companies imagine they’re better than they are.  For instance, just 3% of consumers think UK companies operate in the Downtown Abbey style where customer service is an art form, nothing is too much trouble, indeed customer service is almost showy.  Yet 17% of the business leaders questioned in the research think their company fits that service style.  Similarly, while over one in four consumers describe the typical UK business as adopting the Brittas Empire approach of badly thought-through systems and processes, just 4% of business leaders recognise this as the style their company adopts.

“The companies we work with are open to new ideas, are constantly looking for ways to improve and recognise that it has to come from the top.  I hope this research will prompt business leaders to pause for a moment to ask themselves which style they are really adopting. Their intentions may be noble, but if the experience at the coal face with customers doesn’t match what they think they’re delivering, there’s a mismatch – and that’s often where customer service problems start.”

To avoid this mismatch Results International recommends that companies adopt a four-phase approach:

• Get real – Be honest about your customer service style
• See the clues – Look at your systems and processes, the attitudes of your leaders, their personal beliefs and employee training – all will indicate your current style
• Remember that service style starts at the top
• Turn style into substance – Understand your style, its potential pitfalls and strengths, to turn your organisation into a world-class customer care organisation