With customers having a wider range of options to determine where and how they spend their money, businesses will need, now, more than ever, to restrategise their focus and prioritise customer needs. Simultaneously, they must offer competitive solutions against rising international competition.

Microsoft’s ‘Global State of Customer Service’ report 2020 stated that nearly 90 per cent of customers consider the quality of customer service when selecting a brand or remaining loyal to a brand. Furthermore, as much as 58 per cent of customers will, without hesitation, sever a business relationship should the quality of service received fall below their expectations.

We are no longer living and working in a space in which customers will accept whatever is offered because little to no other options exist. Jamaica must become more customer service-driven to effectively compete with global businesses, including the virtual marketplace that will continue to threaten and disrupt our local markets and commerce.

As a customer I have unfortunately encountered a multitude of negative experiences in which I felt like a secondary concern and a nuisance to be swiftly dealt with. Some employees are still stuck in the predigital age, when all that was needed was to show up each day and collect a salary at the end of the week or month since customer options were limited and the business continued to thrive due to little to no competition. These attitudes and behaviours not only compromise the quality of service but also have the potential to adversely impact the business’s reputation and long-term viability.

As the director of Jamaica’s leading computer repair service, with nearly two decades of experience in the field, I firmly believe that the key to a thriving customer-focused business lies in the level of service offered. Meeting and surpassing customer expectations is crucial for success.

I encourage employers to institute, even temporarily, incentives that will encourage their employees to be more focused and more driven towards providing first-class customer service by systemically rewarding those employees who shine. Great customer service should no longer be left to those who work at the customer service desk. Great customer service should be the mandate of every single employee — from the groundskeeper to the CEO.

Great customer service is not about perfection, since perfection is an end goal. Customer service is an ongoing, ever-evolving process, the heart of which is the customer’s satisfaction, which in turn leads to brand loyalty, repeat business, and referrals. If we understand this concept, our customer service efforts cannot fail. It means that we are always prepared to learn from our mistakes, accept negative feedback, intervene when our employees fall short, and offer meaningful redress to the customer.

Honest and substantive feedback from customers is gold. Approaching the gathering of feedback as a habit rather than an occasional activity will provide valuable information on the quality of service and products being provided. Every place of business should have at least a suggestion box, a rate my service card, employees with name tags, or an electronic customer follow-up system.

There are businesses that depend heavily on customer referrals. You may not see their names plastered on billboards or street signs, but you will hear of them through word of mouth. Those entities ensure that every customer is treated like a celebrity because they already understand what it takes for their businesses to survive the next century — a strategic move towards making the customer the primary focus. In this paradigm, profits and gains will be secondary to tailoring their operations to achieve ultimate customer satisfaction.

Our goal must be to ensure that every single customer who does business with our company feels like he or she is the only customer we have. We therefore urge all companies in Jamaica to make the leap and start prioritising customer service efforts, as it is the only way they will survive in the next century.

Leighton Brown is manager of Hi5 Jamaica Services.