By Aaron Vessup

As an expat in China, in the past four years I have found the term "Customer Service" to radically have changed from virtually no meaning, to having metamorphasized into several levels of meaning.

Whether the business is transportation, food, retail or communications, being knowledgeable about this term is a strong indicator of China's "readiness" for the coming Olympic year. I have found bus drivers and bus attendants to be quite helpful, despite my lack of Chinese lingo. Now, even subway stations have young college students, initiating assistance, and willing to lend a hand with directions because of their English speaking abilities.

This new phenomenon, Chinese youth English speakers, spearheading public customer service, is a wonderful change in my opinion. In most hotels, you will find the level of communication to be quite high, depending on the star-rating of the facility. In one particular hotel restaurant entrance, the young waiter eagerly repeated his welcome and request for me to come in and try the breakfast buffet. Once I had entered, and after being seated, he took the time to show me the various food offerings, explaining even the simplest items. He told me that it was rare that he had opportunity to practice his English, and he hoped that I did not mind. "Do you see anything that you would like to order, or is the Buffet satisfactory?" he asked. Ultimately, he had the cook make a special omelet for me, despite the fact that the time for those particular services had expired. I was impressed with this level of service.

Communications services in China have drastically improved, particularly the Internet and computer use facilities. Today public and private web access is commonplace, and speed less an issue. Postal service communications, however, is perhaps a hurdle that eventually will rise to be competitive with other service industries. Until recently, I have had occasional glitches with China Post: Things not being received that had been sent to me, or mail that mysteriously disappeared after being properly posted and sufficiently paid for, or so I thought. The other day, as I stood in line, a young college type came from around the counter and approached me. "May I help you?" he asked. "You'll need to find someone to translate that address into Chinese because the local postman cannot read English." I was stumped. This was the first time, after visiting at least 20 different postal centers, that I had been told this.

Customer services in most Chinese retail operations have drastically improved over the past four years. This may partly be due to the infusion of many young workers, or improved training of personnel in general. One problem area remaining, however, could be product knowledge or inventory awareness. Consider the following saga. I walked into a department store housing several camera outlets, with battery and camera in hand, needing to buy a battery charger. This was the final store after much run-around. One sales attendant immediately tried calling the brand catalogue center and told me where to go, however, I would have to take a long cab ride. Being pressed for time, I tried another vendor in the same store. "Sorry, we don't sell that model camera...!" said the clerk, however, I had already seen the same camera I owned in the display case. When I pointed this out, another sales attendant indicated that I would have to either buy a new camera or another battery. I was told that this store did not sell battery chargers. Pushed by my time constraints, I decided to purchase the identical battery I already owned and then see if it would work. Not so. The new battery needed to be charged. When I demanded my money back for the newly purchased battery, the sales attendant suddenly knew where battery chargers were on sale--a few shelves away!

Maybe customers would feel better served if (a) workers have more product-knowledge, and (or) if they are honest, rather than merely trying to make a sale. Maybe customers will feel better served if workers actually "work" for the customer rather than against, i.e. giving the client one less thing to worry about as opposed to one more. The customer will definitely feel better served when the attitudes of workers are cheerful, helpful, and place the comfort and safety of their customers paramount. Initiating positive conversations and help, as opposed to avoidance, is a very big part of what makes me feel welcome. In China, there are many rising stars in the customer service arena, and I am happy to discover more of them! Good business means many happy returns.

(Beijing Review September 18, 2007)