Customer Service Conundrums 2

Ok, so I am back again with more thoughts on customer service and the desperate need for improved training here in China. And, for this entry, I want to keep things simple, to focus on the basics.

As I write this blog, I am watching an LCD screen on subway line 10 in Beijing. The video that is playing is of an Olympic volunteer helping a disabled spectator to visit the Bird's Nest stadium. The sentiment in the video is wonderful. The volunteer helps the man into a specially modified vehicle using a state of the art chair-lift. She then helps him out of the vehicle again at the stadium and directs him to a wheelchair accessible entrance. The video then closes with the disabled man sat waving a mini Chinese flag. It all sounds lovely doesn't it? However, I have to doubt its realism.

Let me recount my own Olympic customer service experience. And, then let's contrast the two. During the recent National Day holiday, my girlfriend and I took a short trip to Beijing. One of our aims was to visit the Bird's Nest and Water Cube. The plan was simple. We wanted to arrive late in the afternoon so that we could see the stadia both in daylight and then illuminated at night. To me, this did not seem like an outrageous expectation. Unfortunately, I could not have been more wrong.

Our problems started when we tried to transfer from line 10 to line 8, which would supposedly take us straight to the Olympic arena. However, security in the station would not let us change trains without tickets for the center. As we did not have tickets, we asked where we could obtain them The guard said that he did not know, but that we could not transfer lines.

Unable to find any help, we moved outside in an effort to locate some tickets. We found several Olympic volunteers bedecked in their now famous blue shirts, but still no solution. Enquiring in both Chinese and English, we were not told where we could find the tickets, only that they did not have any. It took trips to three booths and conversations with nine separate volunteers to finally discover that tickets were limited and there were none remaining. In the end, the closest we got to the stadia was snapping pictures from across the fence.

Our experience was frustrating. Primarily, this was because we could not see the the two arenas. However, I must admit that I was also irked by the fact even though there was a large display of customer service, lots of smiles and plenty of enthusiasm, there was not actually that much help.

Personally, I believe this to be a major trend in customer service here in China. Many organisations seem to be keen to invest in customer service, but on a slightly more superficial rather than practical level. They want to show they care, they want to show they have the staff to help, but they do not provide the practical training to make their staff effective. Let me give you two examples I have encountered in Tianjin in which an organisation made an effort, but where their training - or lack of - had rendered this useless.

The first is my local Wal-Mart, a place that continuously seems to push customer service boundaries .... in a bad way! Let me paint you a typical scenario. After filling my trolley with shopping, I move to the cashier. Unfortunately, there is a huge line of people and only a few open checkouts. However, standing around holding walkie-talkies and taking inventory are scores of other employees. When I ask what they are doing or if they could open some more checkouts, they stare at me and tell me that is not their job or they are not trained to do that. This situation always leaves me perplexed and incredibly frustrated. Wal-Mart is clearly making an investment in customer service, but not at the most basic, most critical level. There are posters around the store advertising various services, there are staff waiting at the entrance to welcome shoppers and there are staff giving away free samples. All of this is nice, but none of it is necessary. Yet, having enough people at the checkout is vital, but ignored.

The second example is the Tianjin BMT (Binhai Mass Transit) - a light rail system that operates between Tianjin and TEDA. Last week, I was on my way back downtown after training in TEDA, and, I was in a hurry. I rushed into the station, bought my ticket and headed to the entrance. The next train was about to leave. I pushed my ticket into the slot. However, instead of the small gates opening, it spat my ticket back out, remaining firmly closed. I tried again, but got the same result. So, I moved to the next entrance, still no luck. All the while I was doing this, an attendant looked on passively. After my third failure, I turned to her for help. She stood, stared and shrugged. As I glared at her and began to shout, she eventually sprang into life, taking my ticket and exchanging it for one that worked. Much to my dismay, this took some time and, before I had a new working ticket my train left. I was fuming.

This was poor service, which, on its one, was not unusual. It was the events that followed which grabbed my attention. The next train left 15 minutes later. When it did, one of the attendants - in full dress uniform - saluted as though it were a visiting foreign dignitary. This then happened at every station along the route back to Tianjin. I began to wonder, if Binhai Mass Transit was prepared to go to such lengths to create a good impression, surely they could have spent a few moments training their staff how to operate an essential piece of machinery.

The BMT's slogan is "Speed Brings Efficiency". As I read it, I wanted to find a staff member and yell at them, "No! Training your staff in the basic skills of their job brings efficiency." It does not matter how fast the train is, if the staff cannot help the passengers.