How much difference would good customer service make in a business in China? I think I could confidently say customer service in China is still an undeveloped concept, and has not been applied beyond putting up signs to mark where such service should be happening.
Customer service is that "customer knows best" mentality, a way in which businesses interact with customers which shows the value of a customer to the business. Chinese businesses rarely show any value in their customers, and I can only imagine they would appreciate it if they were on the receiving end.
Or would they? If our implementation of customer service is the Wal-Mart concept of giving refunds for returned items, even if they were not bought at a Wal-Mart at all, just to keep the customer, well, Chinese would take even more advantage of that situation than Americans do. Surely, there is a balance between opening up your business's vulnerabilities and making customers happy with the services they receive.
Chinese restaurants usually offer at least two pretty girls in traditional Chinese dresses standing at the door just to say "welcome", but does anybody really care? Most Chinese stores have an army of personnel on staff, which usually end up following customers around and offering unsolicited advice. Is that what Chinese really want? Maybe they do, but it sure drives me up the walls! I just want to pick out my shampoo of the month, not hear what some random grocery store worker thinks I should buy!
What I am trying to observe is how much of this issue is a cultural difference. Do Chinese want someone to aid their shopping? Would they feel a restaurant is cheap and low-class if they do not have the dressy girls to welcome customers? If you gave them a free coffee for filling out a survey about your products, would that make them feel valued as a customer?
I guess there is not any one true statement, really. There may be many Chinese who want it the "standard Chinese way" and nothing else. These are the attackers of the Starbucks in the Forbidden City in Beijing. Then, you have those who want to have a coffee shop the real "cafe way" so they can have an authentic foreign experience.
In the end, though, I would guess customer service could only help. It is just human nature to want to receive something more than giving something. That is not a good aspect of human nature, but true, none the less. So, talking a Chinese business into developing their customer relations may be a hard road to take. However, good customer relations and service can give the foreign business an excellent innovation tool to have an upper hand over local businesses.
