Customer Service in China?

Interesting insight into the prep leading up to the Beijing Olympics on this Reuters site. It’s mostly, from what I gather, written by professional reports who are not typically located in Beijing. It’s a nice (fluffy) look at some of the things that are happening in the run up. There are some good photos and some light stories and every now and then a bit of real insight. For example, in comparing the service cultures Hong Kong with Beijing the reporter said this:“But I still stand by the gist of it, which is that Beijing simply does not “get it” when it comes to attitudes towards service, and to building tourist facilties [sp] like airports which are world class.”So what else is new? Just because Beijing is hosting the Olympics doesn’t mean that Chinese culture is going to change, nor are business practices going to be updated overnight. Beijing certainly has invested billions in the Olympic venues and in training people. But service is an attitude that is not just “trained” but it’s felt/believed and needs time and experience to germinate.Two related experiences that explain not just the attitude in Beijing but in most of China. And this isn’t just the old hackneyed “Under Communism they didn’t give damn, and they still don’t.” I believe there is more to it than that.First anyone that has ever been here has heard (in English or Mandarin) the phrase “There are too many people in China.” The one-child policy, the Mao offer to give way 10’s of thousands of women, and thousands of years of over crowding in limited agriculturally prime areas—they all combined to produce an attitude amongst many Chinese that there are just too many of them. (Have you ever heard a foreigner say that?! Of course not. It is a uniquely Chinese attitude.)The result of this history is that, in my opinion, Chinese are very unconcerned about anyone that is not in their personal network. Despite the Chinese penchant for all terms emotional, there is a real lack of honest human empathy (renqing) compassion for the masses (“ants,” as the Chinese say). How do you serve throngs of unknown others if this is the attitude you’ve been taught/experienced for your entire life?! Answer is: You don’t, at least not very well.Second, as a foreigner, my life in China is very different from the “masses.” I’ll be the first one to admit that, for the most part, I am treated better (because I’m noticeably different) by strangers in China than other unknown Chinese would be. Of course, the pessimist in me says that this is because service providers probably assumed that I have more money to spend than the other unknown masses. But that’s just the point. Those who are perceived to be worth more, in whatever way, are give the better service and the rest of the masses are ignored.And there are reasons for the difference in attitude too. As the article points out, Hong Kong is decades ahead of China in its exposure to both the service economy and other (western) standards for customer service.One of those other issues is that China, when they started their capitalist experience, really started out at rock bottom. I honestly believe that many Chinese believe that it’s so much better than the 1960’s and 1970’s that even if there are still problems people should just shut-up and be glad for the fact that things are so much better than before.And they really are better, but, of course, that’s no excuse to stop now. As on old boss of mine used to say, “better than a stick in the eye” is not a great customer service slogan. Too many factory managers (and govt officials) mistakenly believe that good enough is just that, good enough. Things won’t get better until this attitude is overcome.Many people blame 40 years of communism for the bad service attitude, and it certainly had an impact. But look how fast capitalism came back when given the right opportunity. I think that there is more to the (lack of a) service attitude than just some structural issues that are being quickly and consciously removed.Another part of the equation is something that we foreigners and foreign companies are actually causing ourselves—high demand (for less than average service) squelches the need to improve the service quality. Foreign companies are pouring record numbers of FDI into China year on year and with this much money coming in, you get the attitude from many that “Hey, we must be doing a pretty good job—just look at all the money rolling in.” I have had many factories look at projects of mine and say: “Your standards are too high, we don’t need your business.” There is no incentive to change if the current system is helping people rake in cash hand over fist—in fact it makes the problem worse.Finally, a side-note to service and the big East-coast cities. If you don’t know already, these showcase cities are not “China.” Ok, they are one of the many China’s that do exist here, but they are not most people’s China. They are A-typical in terms of education, exposure to the west, housing costs, salary levels, developed infrastructure and just about everything else. I have client after client come to Shenzhen and marvel at how “developed it is. And they’re right, it’s amazing. But Shenzhen is not where 90% of their products are made and it’s not like 80% of the rest of the country. In terms of service Hong Kong is not China. Shenzhen is better than Shanghai, Shanghai is better than Beijing and these cities are years ahead of most of the rest of the country.Business people come to Hong Kong and Shanghai and Shenzhen and see fantastic airports, stay in great hotels, have drivers pick them up and drop them off, have factories cater to their every whim and get great service through out a 5 day trip here and think, “Damn, This is just like at home—maybe better!” But it’s a show—and maybe that’s good enough for the twice a year businessman or even the Olympics. But it’s not a service attitude that you can find for an extended period of time or across a large percentage of China.Is it getting better? Absolutely. Gone are the days of a store clerk standing next to the product you want to buy and telling you “meiyou,” we don’t have it, because he doesn’t want to work right now. Are there industries and companies that are world class or working to be world class? Sure, but great service is still a pleasant surprise and nowhere near an expectation.Need to improve customer service in China? Start with the basics, understand where you’re service people are coming from. While their experiences and even standards of good customer service may be low, even in the interior of China people can tell you about a good customer service experience they’ve had—capitalize and build on that.Set top-down goals and standards that are realistic and measurable.Have teams (bottom-up) create own their own steps to accomplish and monitor the corporate goals.Teams and individuals need to hold each other responsible rather than being forced to have a good attitude from above.Having a goal or standard of “less bad” service is actually not a goal or a standard. LCD is not acceptable and just gets you more of what currently exists.Whether it’s though teams creating their own goals or some other system you have to have frontline buy-in. If there is not buy-in at the point of interaction, then what’s the point?Corporate incentives need to target group achievement of their own goals and, AND “small” individual actions that make personal connections and a personal difference.Understand that it’ll take time. Lots of time.Finally all of your efforts and plans will be for not unless you, the people at the top, are giving the service to those working for you that you expect them to give to customers.