Featuring Hugh Laurie
When service representatives disparage their organization, its service or its products, then everyone loses. After-sales service is a significant factor in creating loyalty among customers and staff. The guidelines you can use to remedy the problem of "unselling" are demonstrated in this 1997 remake of a Video Arts classic title.
Charlie, a service repair man, is called out to a number of typical service scenarios, but on each occasion he manages to criticise everything that's important to his business - the products he services, his customer, the salesperson they originally dealt with and his organization itself. The realistic scenes are not only amusing and highly watchable, but make some clear points about the role that service staff should be undertaking.
When repairing a couple's washing machine, Charlie shows no compassion that they are knee-deep in water, and just compounds their distress by criticising the product's design and safety features. Next he is faced with a broken photocopier which a business needs urgently repaired, but just blames the organization for not looking after it correctly and for not calling him sooner.
At a computer center a hi-tech machine has failed and needs a new part, but Charlie's call to head office gives the customer the impression that his company is inefficient and unable to help. Finally, when looking at a householder's faulty burglar alarm, he critizises the engineer and salesperson before him, leaving the customer confused and unhappy.
When Charlie sees the light, viewers will appreciate that his role is as a trouble-shooter not a trouble-maker. He visits a restaurant to repair an oven and leaves the chef delighted with the service, taking out a new service contract and an order for a kitchen upgrade.
Key Learning Points:
- Adopt skills to satisfy customers and instill them with confidence
- Learn to represent your business in a positive, professional light
