Charlie had been leaning forward to look at the shops, and in the flick of an eyes second as she sat back the bullet shot past her forehead, an inch away from killing her, and flew behind Dougs head, smashing through the off-side front passenger window. Glass splintered everywhere, and in the seconds of gasped breath, Dermot shouted: Drive, drive, drive – out of here! to the rather nonplussed taxi driver.
We reported the incident to the Police who were polite but did nothing.
The house letting agent offered counselling, but did nothing. I didnt think that would help: we needed answers. Over the following 7 days, the Police still did nothing, but we all had a growing sense of outrage that no one believed or cared about the incident. The standard response was: well no one was hurt (apart from some minor cuts), were they? Maybe it was a firecracker.
Where is the fine line between customer services and public relations?
The relationship between each one of us and another person is all about trust, faith and a degree of honesty about the situation we all find ourselves in. Usually, and in most instances, this can be a wonderful and satisfactory experience. When it goes wrong – surely we should be working doubly hard to put the situation right?
In fact Vicky wrote about the experience in the Irish Mail – and via the UK it got into the Cape Town newspapers – and reflected badly on the collective civic response.
Double the effort:
If we liken this frightening experience with any everyday customer service experience there are some similarities:
- You don't expect to have a bad experience;
- Being disbelieved only exacerbates your sense of disgust, alienation and frustration
- Your experience is your reality (there really was a bullet shell, broken glass and cuts)
- The memory of the experience is longer lasting than any good experience
Oddly many of us have a higher percentage of negative thoughts than positive: as much as 80% negativity. South Africas government should be working doubly hard to ensure that their country is safe and sound for all the football fans who will be out there in June, 2010 for the World Cup. It was such a shame we had this experience, as it is the most glorious country with many wonderful people, beautiful cities and towns.
A remedy?
What would you have done to advise the Police, if you were in their team? I would suggest you'd say:
- Empathise with the experience, and try to find out exactly what happened;
- Identify what would help to address the situation and then take action;
- If it is high profile, then ensure your PR team are in involved to help mitigate any negative outcomes
- Publicly offer to ensure this sort of incident is rare.
Getting it right is really very easy if your organisation (and you) is genuinely interested in delivering excellence time and time again as you want the customers back, time and time again. If you go to Hout Bays Sunday Market you will find lots of locals selling wood carvings, pottery, sparkly jewellery, etc., and will spend precious time tailoring items to suit you there and then – with wonderful smiles.
Insincerity, lack of guidance for staff at the front line, or inadequate leadership just highlight the gaps: the difference between what you say and what you do.
But that was 31 December 2009 – now we are in a New Year, so maybe things will get better? I hope so, and every day I thank God that my daughter is alive and well.
The Full Article can be read on www.callcentre.co.uk