HIGHLIGHT OF EPISODE 34 OF THE SERVICOM HELP DESK RADIO PROGRAMME
Episode 34 of the SERVICOM Help Desk Radio programme held on the 16th October 2018 and featured a Deputy Team Leader in the SERVICOM Office, Mrs..Stella Benson who enlightened the public on how to handle difficult customers for effective service delivery.
The National Coordinator and Chief Executive Officer of SERVICOM, Mrs Nnenna Akajemeli in her introductory comments, appreciated both service takers and service givers for their inputs that have kept the programme going with recorded impacts.
Mrs. Stella Benson noted in her discussion that customers are citizens that go to MDAs to get services, adding that there are two major types of customers which are internal and external. She said internal customers are the staff of any particular organisation while the external customers are the general public who come in different shapes, sizes, religion and culture to receive service from MDAs.
Explaining further she said “difficult customers are inevitable in any service window and it is duty of service givers to know how to handle them, It is important we treat them well and help them overcome their state of anxiety or fear”.
“Difficult customers are the ones that are difficult to please; they like to bend the rules. Service providers in MDAs should listen to such customers, empathize with them, use words like sorry and please and assure them that their complaint will be resolved”, She said.
Mrs Benson noted that there are also challenges when customers do not follow processes and laid down rules, and appealed to MDAs to employ multiple means of communicating useful information to customers such as sign languages for the deaf and making announcements in local dialect for customers who are not too lettered.
“Customers like to know when their complaint can be solved, when their correspondence will be attended to, they would also be happy when there are directional signs to guide them in office premises”, she added.
