John Lewis Partnership Tops Poll in Excellent Customer Service

Online, October 2, 2010 (Newswire.com) - October 4th marks the start of National Customer Service Week and customer experience auditors The Mystery Dining Company asked 317 individuals their thoughts on what makes great customer service.

Unprompted 1 in 5 individuals named either John Lewis Partnership or Waitrose as the company that immediately came to mind when thinking about someone who provides excellent customer service. In second and third place were Virgin-related companies (8%) and Marks & Spencer (7%). Local, independent hairdressers, beauticians and gyms also received strong support.

Although the retail sector dominated when it came to the performance of individual companies, when asked which sector generally excelled at customer service the hospitality sector triumphed (40%). Health and Beauty ranked second (25%), followed by Retail (14%) and Travel (8%), with Leisure and Finance sectors tying in 5th place, followed by the Motor industry and finally Utilities companies.

When it came to what gives different businesses the edge in making customers feel valued, 7 out of 10 people said it was friendliness and warmth of staff which transformed customer service from good to excellent. However, the most important characteristic for an individual was deemed to be intuitiveness (ie. knowing when and how to help) rather than a friendly demeanour, ability to list or speed.

Customer service goes hand in hand with a business's reputation, and in many cases, profitability, according to Steven Pike, director at The Mystery Dining Company.

"Three quarters of the survey participants said that a past customer service experience would always or almost always impact on how they chose to spend money. Combine this with the fact that 51% said they would be prepared to pay more for good service and a further 42% indicate that they would consider it, there is a clear case for any business to continually review how they treat customers and, importantly find out what their customers actually think."

About The Mystery Dining Company

TMDC is the UK's leading auditor of guest experiences and the only one solely dedicated to the hospitality and leisure sectors. We have created an army of 2,500 validated assessors across in the country and a further 300 worldwide, representing a range of different social groups and these mystery visitors undertake around 1000 assignments every month to assess customer service in a range of different places, from fine dining restaurants through to pubs, cafes, hotels, events, tourist attractions and takeaways.

For more information visit www.mysterydining.com or find us on Twitter - @mysterydining.

ENDS

For further information contact Kate Zappa at Creatrix PR
Tel: 01225 423 400 / Email: kate@creatrixpr.co.uk