76% of UK consumers prefer dealing with humans over digital channels to solve service issues
Timpsons, the shoe-fixing, key-cutting high street staple, are a notable company for a number of reasons.
Managing Director Mr John Timpson doesn't sit in the directors box.
(He has a seat in the Colin Bell Stand to watch Manchester City's home games because he's a person who, you know, likes people.)
10 per cent of their workforce are reformed ex-offenders, which is a distinct outlier for organisations of any size.
But most pertinent is its policy for dealing with customer complaints.
Each employee runs their own shop and is responsible for the hours they keep and the takings they make.
And each employee has a discretionary limit of £500 to fix a problem for a customer.
No sign off procedures. No questions asked.
If a customer has a problem they can spend up to £500 to sort it out.
It's a very empowering model, trusting the employee to take responsibility for the customer's satisfaction.
It means computer can never say no.
Which, this new global study from Accenture* suggests, is what the people want.
While we're keen for digital and mobile to be primary transactional channels, 76 per cent of consumers prefer dealing with people to solve problems when things go wrong.
The trend for channel shift, with the commensurate savings available to organisations, remains essential for accessing goods and services, however there is a clear desire to balance this shift for transactions with a human-led channel for service before, during and after.
Androids might dream of electric sheep, but people dream of human-led service interaction (or something very much like it...).
How are you balancing your service provision for today's customers? Are the service pathways simple for customers to access? And are your people empowered to help the people they serve?
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I have one arm and use speech to text so when I send a DM, we are in the lap of the Gods
8yyeah Richard is awesome
Chief Client Officer | Sales & Account Management | BPO | CCaaS | I help companies increase client revenue through strategic relationship building and solution selling.
8yI truly admire his ex-offender programme plus hen and his wife also fostered 90 kids over the years. I can't understand why he's not received a knighthood as yet. The man is a legend.