A very interesting something has come to my attention and I felt compelled to put fingers to keyboard to pass it on to my fellow forumites. It may not be something new to you, but it is new to me, and it fairly fired me up when I heard of it!

We all know that good customer services are the cornerstone of our society. How often we get them, or how good they are, is another matter altogether, of course. There are many companies who pride themselves on their good customer services, and many who are absolutely appalling in that department, but one thing is for certain….most people vote with their feet. In the current economic climate, no-one is prepared to put up with poor customer service and pay over the odds for this….or even pay full price for it. Why not go to a place where you are GUARANTEED to get good customer services?

Such a place exists, believe it or not. Do you want to know where it is? Boots. The Chemist. On your local High Street. Go there. And do you know what? If you don’t get good customer services, YOU have the power to dismiss the member of staff concerned, yes YOU, a member of the public, because – get this…..that member of staff has signed a good customer service contract right alongside their contract of employment, in fact, as part and parcel of that same contract of employment!!!

O.K. it may not shock you. It may not even surprise you, but it sure as little green apples surprised me. I know Boots pride themselves on this aspect of their business, as they often produce little surveys on their till receipts and you can take part in them to say how good your experience was, so that you can be entered into a prize draw to win money. I have done them many times. You can name a person who provided you with particularly good customer service, so that person may be recognized by their manager and rewarded in some way.…the staff in our local Boots told me happily that one of their rewards was an internal competition being run by the manager and the incentive was a free half day’s paid holiday. That’s quite a good incentive, and one to strive for, I would say. I am fairly popular in my local Boots as I make a point of ALWAYS completing the surveys and the staff really do excel themselves and provide good customer services for that reason, to me, and to others who know me, and it is not a personal thing, I am sure, because now I know their real incentive is contractual. It is part of their employment contract to provide that good service.

They are obliged to provide good customer service. Isn’t that incredible? I wonder how many other companies actually write that into their employment contract? I wonder how much better customer services would be if they did? Isn’t it way past time we started demanding this from the companies we deal with on a daily basis – supermarkets, utility companies, convenience stores, newsagents, travel agents, gift shops?? I think it is past time. It would revolutionise the whole consumer industry if it were contractual, though, wouldn’t it – it really makes you think!!