By Dr. Martin M. Lwanga
Whenever there is mention of customer care there is a general misconception that this is a specialty that belongs only to a particular staff. There are those staff who need to be trained in customer care while others it is not a problem. In fact, if you talk to many managers customer care is function that mostly deals with front office. For the rest of staff they have other things to worry about.
So, this was the impression Musoke had as he joined Fine Pharmaceuticals. The company dealt with both retail and wholesalers. In many cases the drug outlets would call back the Head office querying details of orders and things like packaging. Because of the frequency of these customer complaints Fine Pharmaceuticals had created a customer service center to deal with emerging issues.
Having settled in his job as Head of Operations Musoke was surprised when the customer center could not conclude on some of the customer queries. His impatience easily came through when customers were put on the line for him to clarify on some delays. “Can’t you understand!” Once he blasted a customer whom he accused of wasting his time. “We are just busy but will get back!” He hung up. Occasionally he hung up customers as they tried to explain themselves.
When these concerns were brought up in a management meeting Musoke accused the customer care office of not doing their job. “We spend so much money training you people in customer care,” he charged at them in one heated meeting. “And then you send customers to me! Can’t you handle. Stop doing that. The job of managing clients is yours!
The Customer care organization
Musoke’s attitude is quite common. It is easy to find say a hospital where the front desk office have been well trained in the art of handling and managing customers. However, when it comes to the doctors whom all patients have to dealt with, at one point, such would have missed out on training in customer care. Many would not see it as part of their job since their role is to provide a technical service. “As long as I am doing my job,” so says one doctor, “why should I be bothered with simple things like customer care.
But that is part of the problem. For any front office to be effective it must rely on the availability of the back end. If the back end is rude to customers however sweet front office is it will all come to naught.
Perhaps as a result of this many organizations no longer see customer care training as reserved to only call center front desk staff. Everyone in the organization starting with the CEO must be equipped with skills how to handle and retain customer care.
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