DHL celebrates customer service week

DHL has celebrated International Customer Service Week, with emphasis on the importance of customer service to the economic growth of Ghana.  

The International Customer Service Week, a global initiative, seeks to develop a culture of service excellence and superior customer satisfaction.

“Customer experience is one of the great frontiers for innovation, and most companies have been slow to grasp it. Yet I predict that customer experience will decide the winners and losers in the years ahead,” said Gloria Torres, Head of Customer Service for DHL sub-Saharan Africa.

Torres pointed out that the degree of choice in goods and services is bewildering. “A history of sustained positive customer experiences increases the chance that a new product gets chosen over its competitors.”

She added that companies which deliver exemplary customer experiences share a set of integrated business disciplines that drive their success. “Customer service is a crucial touch-point between companies and customers,” she noted.

DHL Express celebrated Customer Service Week across more than 51 countries in sub-Saharan Africa, including kick-off events, ‘thank you’ gifts for customers, and some community projects such as planting of trees in some government schools and donations of food items and clothing items to some charity organisations.

“We take customer service very seriously, and great customer experiences are full of surprising ‘wow’ moments,” said Torres.

“In 2012 thus far, we have already received 61 global awards for our service. As an example, earlier this year we implemented ‘Straight to the Top’ which allows any customer to bypass the call centre and go straight to the top of the organisation. Furthermore, there are no machines answering calls at DHL. You speak straight to a person at DHL,” she said.

“Building great consumer experiences is a complex enterprise involving strategy, integration of technology, orchestrating business models, brand management, and CEO commitment. It's harder than you think!” said Kader O. Coulibaly, General Manager DHL, Ghana.

“But it starts with having a great team, and this year’s Customer Service Week also provides us with an opportunity to reward our star advisors, and recognise their passion for our business and for our customers.”

Customer Service Week was founded in 1991 and ran last week.

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