{"id":2274,"date":"2019-03-27T20:07:21","date_gmt":"2019-03-27T20:07:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2274"},"modified":"2019-03-27T20:07:30","modified_gmt":"2019-03-27T20:07:30","slug":"back-end-staff-customer-service","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/?p=2274","title":{"rendered":"Back End Staff & Customer Service"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Service Please!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex-Ann Green<\/strong><\/em>, MBA, MS<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back end staff is anyone who works at the establishment who does not come in direct contact with \u201cthe customer\u201d. I had to put \u201cthe customer\u201d in quotation since we generally think of the person purchasing from us as our only customer. We have another customer though \u2013 our coworkers. Our coworkers are the internal customer and the person purchasing from the company is the external customer. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most times, we do not acknowledge our coworkers as customers\nand the treatment we give each other is less than wonderful. We move slowly to\nexecute our tasks and our position is, \u201cwell she can wait\u201d or \u201cshe will just\nhave to wait\u201d. We send each other to the next person for help because \u201cI don\u2019t\nhave the time\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m busy\u201d. One of the hardest pills to swallow for front line\nstaff is when they are doing their best to go above and beyond for the customer\nand there is nobody to turn to for help in a situation that the team could\nresolve if they pulled together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 It is time for us to\nrealize that front-line staff are not the only ones responsible for the\nexternal customer and they need the help of the back end staff in order for the\nbusiness to win. This is true on two fronts. First, let us consider the work\natmosphere and the demands of the job. Front-line staff should wow customers,\nbe cheerful, kind and enthusiastic. I could go on and on with the positive\nadjectives. The back end staff play a role in making that possible. How are\nfront-liners going to maintain a positive disposition when they have to fight\nwith back end staff constantly to get things done? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That is a very draining situation. Imagine being frustrated\nand angry after the exchange. You feel like you are at your wits end. You have\ntried all your options and are left to stand alone. You now have to go right\nback out to the customer and somehow gather yourself to exude positivity, try\nto think of another option or face the wrath of the customer when you try to\ndeliver your best no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Secondly, how are deadlines going to be met for the external\ncustomer? Business processes do not function effectively and efficiently when\nthe team cannot align itself appropriately. Even though the back end staff do\nnot converse with the external customers on a frequent basis, the work they do\nis integral to business function and ultimately meeting the customer\u2019s needs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is not ok to subject the front-line staff to berating\nfrom the customer because the team could not pull it together as a whole to get\nthe job done. Back end staff have to see they have a role to play. An important\nrole to play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At times, the issues for the front-line staff might be very\npersonal. It may be an HR matter relating to time off, sick days, pay or the\nlike that is taking an extended period to be resolved. It can be difficult to\nperform at the highest level in this situation. It would behoove all involved\nto consider these possibilities as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As usual, there are other factors to consider. The workload\nmay just be too much for back end staff or the processes in place may be\ninadequate or even nonexistent. Those we will tackle another time. In the meantime,\nlet us ensure all our customers enjoy great service \u2013 internal and external. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Talk Soon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alex-Ann Green is\u00a0a<\/em><\/strong>Customer Experience Strategist\u00a0– SP!KE Consultancy<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

hello@getthespike.com| IG:spikeinc_| FB:SPIKE.Experience| Twitter: @SPKE14<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back end staff is anyone who works at the establishment who does not come in direct contact with \u201cthe customer\u201d. I had to put \u201cthe customer\u201d in quotation since we generally think of the person purchasing from us as our only customer. We have another customer though \u2013 our coworkers. Our coworkers are the internal customer and the person purchasing from the company is the external customer. \ufeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,2],"tags":[1073,1235,1234],"class_list":["post-2274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-feature","category-news","tag-customer-service","tag-internal-customers","tag-staff-experience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2276,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2274\/revisions\/2276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/westernmirror.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}