The Benefit of Human Customer Service 

By Gary A. Penrod, CBSE

Whether as an individual, or as a business, people (the consumer) buy goods and services. That is the lifeblood of an economy. The purchasing process is sometimes straightforward and simple. Other times, it is more complex involving several layers of people, contracts or purchase orders and specifications that describe the services to be provided, cost and other terms.

Humans are not perfect. Sometimes things don’t go as planned and problems develop for a variety of reasons. Enter the Customer Service team. These individuals are hired to fix things, at least that is the plan. Instead, the plan is falling short of making things right and providing customers with a fix that works for them. Why is that?

The extent to which technology has entered the customer service approach may be the culprit, or at least in some cases make customer service less satisfying for the customer. Customers expect satisfaction with their concept of what should be received from the service provider. When the product or service falls short, consumers are used to customer service being provided by a human being, not a computer-generated voice. 

Although AI/technology may be the wave of the future, some service providers have found that the human approach to customer services works better. Many building services companies anticipate that there will be problems from time to time and a human worker can blunt the problem’s effect by listening to their customers before something small becomes a big problem. That’s anticipatory customer service. It likely requires more effort than the technology approach, but it works better, thus perhaps saving the relationship with the customer for the long haul. 

It may be that the anticipatory customer service approach is perfect for the janitorial service provider. Those engaged in that sector understand that perfection is difficult to achieve, especially since many customers may have a different concept of what clean is, or what is included in the contract specifications. Small issues can be fixed easily; plus, the service provider has gained insight about the customer’s expectations. 

Over time, anticipatory customer service will likely affect a positive view of the service provider by the customer. It is also an opportunity for the service provider to up-sell other services that are not included in the basic contract.

While there may be a place for electronic customer service and customer service surveys, the human approach works better if the consumer and the service provider are human. So far, that is the way it is, but change is inevitable. Enter AI. Stay Tuned.

Gary A. Penrod is a long-time building services industry leader, speaker and author; having founded and operated a successful service company. After that company’s divestiture, he founded Gary Penrod and Associates, Inc (GPA), an industry-specific M&A group, having exclusive focus in the building services industry GPA continues to serve the building services industry, having successfully assisted many firms with their divestiture process in the USA, Canada and the Caribbean.
Penrod is a former BSCAI Board Member and President.