Should you have to pay for internet access? Ever…

My first inclination here is “No way”, when I travel whether it is on business or privately, I hate to have to pay extra for Wi-Fi. Most hotels have free Wi-Fi in the lobby and you can work there very easily, and quite often nobody expect you to buy anything although I will happily buy a drink for the privilege. But if you are a guest in the hotel clearly Wi-Fi is like having a TV or hairdryer in the room and should not be charged.  Yes I will choose a hotel on the basis of free Wi-Fi not only in the lobby but also in the room, (it is not a deal-breaker – but certainly a big influence).

In most cafes, pubs and resto you get free Wi-Fi. I find it perfectly OK that you might have to buy your drinks, and ask for the code – or you get it for free if you can sit through a minute of commercials.  On public transportation in Copenhagen amongst other cities you have free WI-FI.  And although I initially was “Wow – cool” I am now merely shrugging and thinking “Of Course…”.  So it is a complete mystery to me why you would not have free Wi-Fi in airports? (Except of course I realize it is a captured audience and because of that "easy money" - but it is not good service!)When do you think it is OK to pay for Wi-Fi – if ever?

Easy does it!

Yes you need to be easy. Just as good service should be easy to provide, easy is also good service:
Easy to do business with.  It is pretty straight forward if I make it very easy for my customers to do business with me I make it difficult for them to go elsewhere!
If you are happy with what you get – the whole package, you keep coming back – exactly the same reasons we all have favorite restaurants we keep going back to: we know what we are going to get and we are happy!

But what does easy mean? It means that a customer can reach you easily, ordering is straightforward, and delivery is smooth, that there are no surprises in the invoice and if something does go wrong I know you will fix it.  

How can you make it easy for your customers to reach you?

• Be where the customer is Facebook, Twitter, Myspace… although they are not equally suited for customer care it is a place to start and the conversation can move to a better suited platform.
•  Simple things like a on a webpage – make it easy to find contact information – it is astonishing how many homepages it is too difficult to find any contact information – and no a generic email address is not enough!

It is easy to order and pay?

•  How many hoops does a potential customer have to jump through to order? What if there are questions is it easy to get help? When I do business on-line I love the live -chats were you get help from a customer care representative.
•  How easy is it to pay? In Belgium for ex many time if I want to pay with credit card I need a small “digi-pass” to pay online – I hate that as I do not always have it with me – so if possible I opt for “paypall” – and if not possible there is a big chance that I won’t buy anything.

Delivery smooth and on-time

•  As with anything else make a promise and keep it! If you say 3 days delivery – keep the 3 days delivery!

Nobody, not even your customers expects you to be perfect. But when things go wrong they expect you to fix it.

•  Make it easy for the customer to reach you (see above).
•  Always always always react quickly if something goes wrong if a customer contact    you – get all the facts and quickly find out how to make it right again! And tell the customer!

By giving good service you make it easy for your customers to stay with you!

Small World - do we need local languages?

As the world gets smaller, is it OK for big multinationals to serve their customers in one or two languages?

In Europe even in pan-European shared service centers customers are served in multiple languages. But as we get more and more used to self-service via the web or mobile applications which more often than not only comes in a couple of “big” languages, are we now at the point where we want to serve  ex the Nordics and Benelux countries in English or German only.

The argument to support this is

Most people in these countries speak English anyway , they use the internet more than in south Europe for ex and are used to dealing in English so it should not be a way off. Most documentation is in English anyway and as a company it saves money not to have to find the small language speakers – that saving can be passed on to the customer.

But of course there is a different argument

Even if you understand English and can use a webpage (and have easy access to Google translate) it is so much more intimidating to have to string together sentences or understand the spoken word which might be with dialect or some “slang”. That saving is never going to be passed on to the customer anyway.

I believe that if you are in the B2B you can probably get away with it (although I doubt it is good service), but certainly in a B2C environment it is still comparable to shooting yourself in the foot – you will lose business.

My New Year’s resolutions

Of course I am going to be fitter, lose a few pounds – eat a bit more healthy, drink a little less and spend more quality time with my loved ones. But 2012 is the year I will declare war on bad service and do whatever I can to promote good customer service.

·         I will not go back but find an alternative, if the shops I usually use do not provide good service. (Living in Belgium that might actually be a real issue to find an alternative). This also goes for restaurants, bars and cafes – and will seriously limit the selection of nightspots we have

·         I will complain to the store instead of just accept it as an annoyance (name and shame)

·         I will also make sure I compliment good service. (like praising good behavior in a child)

As consumers we need to put an end to the acceptance of bad service, and demand proper service wherever we go.

These are my New Year’s resolutions; what are yours?

Don't let simple housekeeping let you down.

It is a shame when you have a great product, great facilities and your people do a fantastic job and just because you miss some really simple housekeeping you let your customers down. That happened to me today…… I started up being really impressed then quite annoyed.

But the story started already two weeks ago. Alpha-male, son and I were on our way to visit family in the UK and we were – as per usual delayed so in a rush to catch a ferry. On the way we got a chip on the windscreen (a nasty big one) so as we drove on I called Carglass for help – the lady in the call center were fantastic listing us options en-route in Belgium where we could stop by to get it fixed – but as we were late for the ferry she organized that Carglass UK would come and fix it the next morning at our destination.  As promised the next morning a gentleman came and fixed the windscreen in the most pleasant and polite way you can imagine, as he finished off he told me to, when back in Belgium, to go to the local Carglass branch and let them check the fix is OK.

This I did today – to ensure I would not waste my time queuing I first call the call center and explained, again the agent was fantastic told me just to come and it would be done very quickly. To find my nearest Carglass Branch I looked at their webpage typed in my address and was directed to a branch only 5 km away. When I arrived at the address the branch had closed down (and from the look of it for quite a while). So for the second time today I had to call the call center to ask for the address of the nearest Branch which was 14 km in the other direction.  Arriving there I am again being helped in the most professional manner and I am very impressed with the facilities they offer the customers should there be any waiting time.  

But regardless, I still ended up being annoyed for having to waste time driving to a closed branch, call the call center and then have to drive opposite direction. And this would be such an easy thing to keep up to date and that let the overall experience down.

Re-inventing you, back to work or just needing an “over haul”?

13 years ago I found out I was pregnant, whilst this was not planned we were nevertheless delighted with the news.

At the same time (well actually 1 month earlier) Alpha-male had accepted a job relocation from Amsterdam to London and I had quit my job to follow him. Whilst I had no intentions of being a “trailing spouse” being pregnant did not really leave me much choice - let’s face not many companies are willing to hire a pregnant woman.

After our son was born I had planned to take 9 months maternity leave and then start looking for a job, but for many reasons (mostly because I enjoyed it and we could afford it) the nine months became 3 years.

After the three years, we moved to Belgium, which meant comming back to European mainland and more importantly I would start working again! By the time we had set up home and it was time for me to find a job I had been away from the job marked for more than 4 years and I was scared.

I was scared that I had “dimmed down” in the last 4 years – that I would not remember how to work, that I would not understand anything – but most of all I was scared that I would be stuck in a job with no possibility of advancement.

Of course I realized that I would  have to step down the ladder compared to when I left, I would have to work hard and prove not only to my employer but also to myself  that I still had what it takes (and to be frank I think I was the hardest judge). So I got a job (as a cover for a girl on maternity leave) and to my surprise I still knew how to work and I loved it (I still do). I worked hard and I proved my worth in the company. Now I am responsible for a customer care organization of 70 people covering 13 countries in 10 different languages.

But in the process I had to reinvent myself somewhat.

Looks: I was a home-mum long before the term “yummy mummy” were coined, although I liked to look good and dress well, more money was spend on son who grew out of everything and Alpha-male who needed to dress well for work. So when I started to work again I needed a new wardrobe – initially I got some wrong, but now my work-wardrobe gives me comfort and the style I like and want to portrait, but most important it is very easy for me to get dressed in the morning, because everything matches and are thought through.  

Office life: One thing I really had to work on was the big picture, I used to think that if I did a good job – showed what I am capable off and that I have ambition to move up would be enough. But this time around I tried to understand the workings of a big corporation, in the beginning I forced myself to read all announcements from everywhere in the business – now it is such an integral part of my work life, because without understanding the big picture I would never be able to create a vision for my team. Of course I have had the great pleasure of working with people who readily shared their knowledge and taught me new things – things that helped me on the way.

So for every woman who are scared of leaving work to be with their child on the grounds that it might ruin their long term career I will always say that you can for sure do it, but I also believe the timing is vital: I was in my late twenties early thirties when I was out – I am not sure it would be a good idea now when I have hit forty. But on the other hand when I am hiring and see a CV with a “gap” from somebody who has been a home mum or dad I am not holding it against them (something I might have done if I had not done it myself). But whether the reason for re-inventing yourself is because you are reentering the job marked or you just think you need an “over haul” invest the energy, time and maybe a small amount of money. You will be a much happier person!