The Global Phoenix - Issue 4 The Global Phoenix - Issue 4 | Page 9

76% of consumers believe the customer service they
received shows how the company values them as a customer .
(Aspect Consumer Experience Survey, 2015)
A positive customer service
experience differs from culture
to culture
In Japan...
“ I am sorry to have kept you waiting.
You are very welcome here. The total
is 4,757 yen. I humbly request 4,757
yen. I have certainly just received
10,000 yen. Shall I take it from 10,000
yen? Your change is 5,243 yen. I will
first give you the large bills. Please
confirm. Here is your (small) change
and receipt. Please confirm. Thank
you very much.”
In the USA...
“Hi, I’m Heather, and it’s my pleasure
to be your server tonight. We have
some really great specials I’d like to
tell you about. They’re all delicious,
but my personal favorite is the shrimp
fajitas seasoned with cilantro ; they are
just fabulous!”
On a global scale, 60% of
consumers say they have
stopped doing business with a
brand due to a poor customer
service experience, and this
number increases to 68% for
18–34–year–olds.
Connecting with culture to solve the
problem: One example
One American IT Services company decided to
locate their global customer contact center in
Sophia, Bulgaria, based on their understanding
that Bulgaria is home to many sophisticated,
educated young people with excellent technical
skills, who are also conversant in the English
language.
Beyond the usual customer service training, they
offered English Language Pronunciation Training,
but came to realize that the Bulgarians also
needed a higher level of understanding about
their customer’s actual service expectations and
cultural assumptions.
Berlitz was brought in to help. We found service
representatives were very competent at solving
customer issues, but there was a gap when
it came to connecting with the customer and
empathizing with their immediate situation.
A custom course was designed to help the
contact center representatives better understand
the cultural implications of their work with North
American customers and boost their confidence
level. The response from the service agents was
quite positive, many of them reported new “Best
Practices” in customer service that included the
missing elements of connecting and empathizing
with the customer from the customer’s cultural
point of view.
(Global State of Multi-channel Customer Service
Report, 2016)
www.theglobalphoenix.org
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