China's service industry is lagging behind rising consumption and an increasing international presence, forcing businesses to improve customer service. However, many companies do not prioritize training staff. Two Shanghai companies, JETT and Project Communication, work to close this gap through mystery shopper evaluations, training programs, and management coaching focused on communication skills and cultural understanding. Their goal is to help businesses develop strong reputations for service to differentiate themselves in the competitive market. While demand for their services is growing, some experts believe more must be done to establish service standards and prioritize staff development in China.

1. 10 Monday January 24, 2011
ABOUTTOWN
TRAINING
Mystery shoppers exasperated foreigner
By George Wyndham and diners at work.
customer.
A
Photos: Courtesy of
n increased in- JETT
“She had the right
ternational pres- attitude but lacked the
ence in Shanghai service or language
combined with rising skills to deliver,” he
consumption, has forced said. “We saw an
the local service industry opportunity to start a
to evolve, but not quickly enough, say business in the niche
some experts. market assisting Chi-
Recent surveys of multinational na’s new generation Ben Keher (right) in the training
companies in China, conducted by of service staff, and to session. Photo: Courtesy of Project
the Institute of Finance and Trade provide a service and Communication
Economics, show that the slow devel- focus on an area that
opment of China’s service industry has convinced that a lack of motiva- helps them in their
become a major factor affecting the tion leading to high staff turnovers will daily working lives.” management manpower to implement
competitiveness of other key indus- continue to be problem for both for- While Dean’s focus is very much on their own service checks at a corpo-
tries including manufacturing. eign and local companies until service the front lines of the service industry, rate level. While frontline staff were
Local businesses have also continu- is regarded a priority. the managing director of Project Com- trained by independent companies,
ally struggled to shake off reputations “Many companies will spend munication, Ben Keher, is involved in their managers would not monitor
for poor customer handling and care. vast sums of money on advertising, service training on a more administra- this and high staff turnovers would
There are companies, however, mak- location and a huge opening party tive level. He told the Global Times continue. Keher suggested that be-
ing a business of assisting China’s ser- but neglect any meaningful budget that his company engaged in manage- cause of China’s large population, and
vice industry. The Global Times met for training their staff in customer ment training to companies which therefore large customer base, service
some of the city’s training companies service,” he said. “The issue is with the need their service standards improved. hasn’t developed as a differentiator as
and quality control assessors. low value that many companies place His coaching topics typically focus it has in market places like Japan and
on their service levels, but we have re- around improving communication, the Philippines.
Improving the experience ally noticed this change for the better, behavioral practices and cross cultural “There can be a ‘Why do I need
“It’s about improving the customer particularly over the past 18 months.” training. He said that he knows com- to make an effort with individuals?’
experience,” said Ed Dean, founder of Dean said he discovered his call- panies willing to offer up to 52,000 attitude,” he said. “There can be a dis-
JETT which specializes in delivering ing in 2004 when he was sitting in yuan ($7,899) for training sessions. connect between delivery and manage-
assessment, motivational and train- a Shanghai restau- “I try to go to the business and give ment over here and there is often no
ing programs for the development of rant watching them the resources to make reward for good service.”
China’s service industry. “By offering an uncom- long-term changes,” he said.
quality control checks, team building fortable “It can take days, weeks Affecting lives
and training programs, our company scene as a or even months. I’ll run a Keher told the Global Times he
aims to help businesses develop a waitress at- topic for no more than two was prompted to get into the industry
reputation for service and set them- tempted to days, then I get the team when he was working in the com-
selves apart from their competition.” serve an to go out and practice it in plaints department for the Insurance
According to Dean, his business the field. Then we come Australia Group IAG. He said after
targets clients ranging from hotels, back and evaluate. It’s severe bushfires one summer people
retail brands, restaurants, airlines, to all about learning on the who had lost everything were calling
property management companies, job.” him, and it was up to him and his
hospitals and health centers. “Any- The 28-year-old colleagues to explain that the company
where where customer service plays a Australian could not pay for anything.
pivotal role.” believes local “It was absolutely brutal and when I
“We try to assist companies where companies had these conversations I realized just
service can be a fundamental way to often lack the how important something like deliver-
differentiate against their competi- time and ing good service could be,” he said. “It
tion,” he said. “We sit down with the can greatly affect people’s lives.”
client, figure out the problems that
need addressing and then we send our
undercover consumers to make checks
over a period of a few weeks. The
idea is to continually evaluate
 The men who
politeness, attentiveness, ini-
tiative, and manners of the aim for service with
frontline personnel. Then
we report to the manage- a smile
ment who in turn coach
Keeping
their staff.”
Lagging behind
Dean said a major
the
difficulty, and there-
fore a boost for both of
these companies is that
China’s service indus-
try has failed to keep
customers
up with the rapid
development of
commerce. He said
the predicament
stemmed from
cool
staff not being
trained to deal
with customers
properly be-
cause, in China,
there are few
customer ser- Send your story ideas, press releases, review
copies and invitations to editor-sh@
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Dean remains