Customer service excellence is becoming the key differentiating factor for any industry today, said Silah Gulf customer solutions and quality manager Nada Al Gassab at a major workshop held in Bahrain.

Addressing delegates at the 'Customer Excellence' workshop held in the InterContinental Regency Bahrain on Monday, Al Gassab said, "Our contact centre is essentially the key representation for a company that people judge."

"People call the help desk or enquiry service when they have a query or a problem and by correctly identifying the problem and taking a unified approach to resolve the issue, we can instil confidence in our customers."

Al Gassab is the first Bahraini to be certified by The Call Centre Industry Advisory Council, the first and only standardised and accredited certification for call centre executives, managers, and professionals.

"It's important not to be just polite but to actually solve the problem," the expert said. "Following up on issues to see if they have been solved to the customer's satisfaction is also very essential," she added.

Al Gassab said the best way to motivate the contact centre staff was through added value benefits such as additional training and workshops, better parking spots or even, additional coaching with the team leader.-TradeArabia News Service