The Service in Customer Service
A common thing I hear a lot from expats living here in Japan is that they love Japanese customer service. I don’t know how many friends I’ve had that when they’re moving back to the United States tell me the thing they are going to miss the most is the the customer service. Naturally, I think about whether I agree with them or not. So, me being me, I broke my thoughts down into 3 parts. First, I think about what is good customer service; then what kind of service do I get in Japan, and finally putting those two together; does the service I get in Japan match up well with my idea of good customer service.
What I think good customer service is starts with words themselves; customer service. In particular I focus on the verb “service.” So what does it mean to serve somebody? Usually it’ll be something along the lines of looking out for their interests rather than your own right. If I have a servant and that person is doing what they want and looking after their own interest they’re not really serving me. They might be a perfectly wonderful person but they’re just not a good “servant”. So how can you show that you’re looking out for someone else’s interest? in a sales environment as a customer, my interests are getting the best product for my money (i.e. good value). What I mean is getting a product that will actually solve my problem. That’s why I buy everything. I buy a product to do something whether that is to satisfy my hunger when I buy food or to satisfy my desire to have a cool looking room so I buy some decorations. I want it to serve some sort of function. (used the word service there again.)
Now, I haven’t had much sales experience but the little sales experience that I’ve had taught me that trying to make a sale was the last thing you should be doing if you’re a good salesman. If you’re actually taking care of the customer what you should be doing is making sure you understand the customer and from that understanding helping them solve the problem which might involve selling them something you offer, but it might not. So that’s my idea of what good customer service is; putting the customer first even before the sale.
Then what kind of service do I get in Japan? The service I get in Japan is pretty good. When I go to the store the staff are very polite, the store is very clean, and I don’t have to worry about finding a salesperson. The staff are usually very prompt in being available. In fact, as an American, it can be a little unnerving how readily available they are. They’re always sort of hanging just out of reach which makes me feel like I am being spied on. In addition, they’re very helpful in terms of answering any question I have. I have often been pleasantly surprised by the knowledge of shop staff, especially at smaller stores. I have never really had an unpleasant experience in any store in Japan.
The problem comes when I start to think about service in the way that I described before. I am never asked a question by a staff member. I hate using words like never because of the certainty of the word but to the best of my ability I have never been asked a question by a sales staff related to the need for the purchase. Now I have been asked a question such as about myself since I am a foreigner living in Japan and their might be legal implications at places like financial institutions or realtors offices as well as how I am going to pay and what not. However, nothing regarding my problem. Thus, if they don’t ask me any questions, how do you know what I need and how do you know how to serve me? Without such knowledge it seems like they are just setting themselves up for failure.
I can easily say that, yes, Japanese staff are very polite and helpful, but can I say that they offer good customer service? The answer is no, not really. Now I want to qualify that and say that I have only ever had really good customer service a few times in my life and it is easy to recognize. So perhaps I am being too harsh when I say that Japan does not have good customer service. What my friends and most people mean when they say that is more along the lines of the staff being friendly and helpful. If that is the case as a linguist and philosopher, I would encourage them to say just that and not use the phrase customer service. But again, that’s just me.
There are many related topics that have come to mind when writing this. I leave such discussion for a later date.