Returning from a short trip to the States I have been struck  yet again  by how much better our cousins across the pond are at customer service. Whether you are having a meal in a restaurant, sipping a cold beer in a hotel bar, or doing a bit of retail therapy, the service you experience is truly world class.
The reason it is so good stems from the fact that the people who serve you really do seem to care about what they are doing, and take a real pride in a job well done.
Better still, they are clearly empowered by their bosses to do whatever it takes to ensure the customer really does have a great experience. Two examples prove my point. We spotted a mistake on a till receipt in a department store and that resulted in a 10% discount (worth about £15), on the spot, as an apology. The night before we did not get our table at the time reserved and were given a free drink at the trendy restaurant's bar  as well as a heartfelt apology. It was all very impressive, particularly as none of it was disingenuous or delivered with a false smile. Sure, staff are clearly well trained. But you never get the feeling that the way they interact with customers is all done by rote  having been learnt on some intensive indoctrination, sorry training, programme.
My mind turned back to my short holiday after reading the results of an IGD survey of the grocery industry's top brass (you can read more about that on page 36). More than half of those business leaders quizzed  but particularly those retailers among the survey respondents  said that developing outstanding customer service was their top strategic priority. That's great news, because as any shopper will tell you, most supermarkets are still pretty patchy on this front.
I accept it is unfair to compare the service in a swanky Chicago restaurant with that received in a busy supermarket. But I can't help feeling that if British food retailers could capture the essence of the American service culture  where people really want to do a great job  then we would start to receive truly outstanding service week in, week out in our supermarkets.
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The reason it is so good stems from the fact that the people who serve you really do seem to care about what they are doing, and take a real pride in a job well done.
Better still, they are clearly empowered by their bosses to do whatever it takes to ensure the customer really does have a great experience. Two examples prove my point. We spotted a mistake on a till receipt in a department store and that resulted in a 10% discount (worth about £15), on the spot, as an apology. The night before we did not get our table at the time reserved and were given a free drink at the trendy restaurant's bar  as well as a heartfelt apology. It was all very impressive, particularly as none of it was disingenuous or delivered with a false smile. Sure, staff are clearly well trained. But you never get the feeling that the way they interact with customers is all done by rote  having been learnt on some intensive indoctrination, sorry training, programme.
My mind turned back to my short holiday after reading the results of an IGD survey of the grocery industry's top brass (you can read more about that on page 36). More than half of those business leaders quizzed  but particularly those retailers among the survey respondents  said that developing outstanding customer service was their top strategic priority. That's great news, because as any shopper will tell you, most supermarkets are still pretty patchy on this front.
I accept it is unfair to compare the service in a swanky Chicago restaurant with that received in a busy supermarket. But I can't help feeling that if British food retailers could capture the essence of the American service culture  where people really want to do a great job  then we would start to receive truly outstanding service week in, week out in our supermarkets.
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