Who Are Barclays' Customers?

Unit 10: Customer Service

E1- Who Are Barclays’ Customers?

Barclays offers a wide range of services to both internal and external customers. Internal customers are member of staff/colleagues that work in an organisation. Examples of internal customers in Barclays include: Small Business Managers, Customer Relations Team, telephone operators, Financial Planning Managers, Customer Service staff, Counter staff, Accountants, Consumer Relations Team, and Relationship Managers. External customers are the majority of individuals who lives in the local areas. Examples of external customers of Barclays include: disabled people, elderly, foreign people, parents, couples, widows, divorcees and students (from schools, colleges, and universities).

Internal customers

Barclays has number of internal customers who works for them, and also does banking with them. About 5% of accounts belong to Barclays’ staff. It is very important for Barclays to have internal customers because, without them, the financial organisation will have difficulties to meet the needs of external customers. For example, if you image the organisation as an iceberg, only 1/10th is above the water (the external customer), but 9/10th is hidden below the water (internal customers) which, is supporting external customers. This good example of importance of internal customers was extracted from the following website: . So, if you remove the bottom half of the iceberg (internal customers), top half of the iceberg (the external customer) will sink- in the other words, the whole organisation will come to an end. It is important for Barclays to treat their internal customers in the same way, as they treat their external customers.

The advantages of having internal customers to employees:

Better working conditions
Better job satisfaction
Less stress
Having the ‘feel good’ factor
Being part of a good working team

The advantages of having internal customers to the organisation:

Less waste and stoppages
Improved communications
A happier workforce
Fewer problems
Increased customer loyalty
Better service to external customers

The advantages of having internal customers to the external customers:

A higher, sustained level of service
Faster responses times
Knows that the organisation cares

As a result, internal customer care is based on good manners, knowing where your job fits in, working efficiently with colleagues, working as a member of a team, and respecting colleagues’ needs and rights.

Organisations, such as Barclays believe that, there are three kinds of attitudes and behaviours towards colleagues that would be essential for quality internal customer care:

Caring for colleagues- this would include: making individuals feel good- this will help them to work better, they would become more cooperative, responding reasonably to their needs, and accepting a sense of shared responsibility
Cooperating with colleagues- this would include: can get things done more easily and quickly, things will not get left when a colleague is absent or ill, and doing things without waiting to be asked ...

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Organisations, such as Barclays believe that, there are three kinds of attitudes and behaviours towards colleagues that would be essential for quality internal customer care:

Caring for colleagues- this would include: making individuals feel good- this will help them to work better, they would become more cooperative, responding reasonably to their needs, and accepting a sense of shared responsibility
Cooperating with colleagues- this would include: can get things done more easily and quickly, things will not get left when a colleague is absent or ill, and doing things without waiting to be asked
Communicating with colleagues- this would be include: information reaching those who need it, a better understanding of what is needed, quicker reaction, sharing ideas, and sending information quickly and accurately

An internal customer has number of rights and responsibilities in an organisation. If an internal customer is not taking his or her responsibilities very seriously, it will have a major impact on the external customers, and will affect whether they can come back, and do business again. If a situation like this occurs, Barclays will have bad reputation, poor customer service, and will lose most or all of their external customers.

The rights of the internal customer are as follows:

To be treated with good manners and respect
Receive the information and support required
Be trusted
Express views and opinions (they should only relate to work)
Ask for help and receive it
Refuse demand which are unreasonable
To make mistakes
Care about customers
Be treated equally and fairly

The responsibilities being an internal customer are as follows:

Believe in the kindness of colleagues
Listen to the views and opinions of colleagues
Be approachable
Share decisions about work
Provide help as and when this is needed
Avoid making unreasonable demands on colleagues
Treat colleagues fairly
Learn from mistakes and do it right the next time
Meet customer needs
Being flexible and provide support
Work to good standard

External customers

Barclays has number of external customers, who does not work for the organisation but, do banking with them. There are number of different types of customers, who do banking with the organisation, e.g.:

Foreign people
Elderly people
Blind people
Deaf people
Children
Physically or mentally disabled

I have already explained each of these customers in detail, on pages 4-6.

Now, I am going to describe the main characteristics of different types of customers:

An aggressive customer
An assertive customer
An nervous customer
An submissive customer
An angry customer
A complaining customer
An elderly customer
A foreign customer
A blind customer
A deaf customer

An aggressive customer

This type of customer demands what they want with little or no concern for others. They can be angry, self-righteous, cynical, arrogant and patronizing. Their behaviour may show glaring and severe eye-contact. They would say: “You must…” or “There is no alternative…” Their thoughts are: “I must be in control”.

To deal with this customer, staff member should always remain pleasant and calm.

An assertive customer

This type of customer clearly asks for what they want in an unthreatening manner. They are direct, open, stable, and relax usually with a firm clear voice. They would say: “I think…”or “I feel...” This type of customer listens to what the staff member have to say about a product or service. They usually make up their own mind. They have their own opinions but, thinks about the opinions of others.

A nervous customer

This type of customer may seem disturbed and nervous. They may show this by putting their hands in and out of their pockets, and fiddling with something, such as a clicking pen.

A submissive customer

This type of customer may avoid eye-contact and not look directly at the other person. They will know they need a specific product but, may ask staff what they suggest they should buy. They may not be able to make a decision, after listening to staff’ advice, and may want staff to make that decision for them. They would say: “er…er…” or ramble and hesitate.

To deal with this type of customer, staff members should ask questions, so that they will know what kind of product will be best for their needs. Staff members should always find out what is best for their customers so, as a satisfied customer, they will come back.

An angry customer

This type of customer is demanding or abusive. Staff members should listen to what customers say, at all times. Staff members should be sympathetic, and should never criticise their (customer’s) statements and actions.

To deal with this type of customer, staff members should always remain calm. Remaining calm will help this type of customer to calm down, too. If it is a face-to-face conversation, take the customer to one side, if the individual is disturbing other customers. If staff is having difficulties to calm down the customer, they should call for their supervisors, for help.

A complaining customer

This type of customer can be aggressive, for one of the following reasons:

Perhaps the customer is uncertain of themselves
Perhaps the customer is shy
Perhaps the customer know they damaged the product themselves, and are trying it on

To deal with this type of customer, staff should listen to the complaint without, disturbing the customer. Staff should remain calm and this will calm down the customer, too. If the customer is very upset, staff need to apologise to them but, should not accept responsibility. If the customer is still depressed, staff should follow the complaints procedure.

An elderly customer

Staff should treat elderly customers as they would do to other customers. Staff members should always make themselves available, if they ask for help.

A foreign customer

It is sometimes difficult for staff members to understand foreign customers because, of their heavy accent and how fast they speak.

Staff members should listen to the customer patiently and should use easy-to-understand language, without using specialised terms and jargons. If it is a face-to-face conversation, staff members should allow customers to direct them to the product they are interested in. Staff members should write down anything that their customer can not understand, such as price so they can read it. If the communication is taking place over the telephone, staff members should send the information that they (staff member and customer) have been taking about to the customer, who will check it out.

A blind customer

If a blind customer comes in alone, staff should help and provide guidance to the person. If it is a face-to-face conversation, staff should not raise their voice to a blind customer because, it is wrong and the customer is not deaf but is blind. Staff members should tell their name as they approach to a blind customer. Their voice will guide the blind customer. If the customer requires help, staff should guide the customer with light pressure on their free arm.

A deaf customer

If it is face-to-face conversation, staff members should look directly at the customer when they speak slowly and clearly, for them to lip read. If the customer asks a staff member to raise their voice, do so. Staff should use a notebook and pencil to write down anything important for the customer to understand.

External customers are more important than internal customers to Barclays because, there are more external customers doing banking with the organisation than internal customers, and external customers is the reason many organisations provides goods and services.

Barclays need to satisfy the needs of customers so that, they can come back to use the service, again. This is known as repeat business. If an organisation does not satisfy the needs of customers, customers would become dissatisfied with the product or service, and will likely to complain about this to the organisation.

I have listed some of the things that customers often complain about:

Services:

Not as advertised
Delayed
More expensive than estimated
Injurious to health

Products that are:

In wrong size or colour
Adversely affected by washing or cleaning
Damaged or not functioning very well
Dirty or scratched

Organisations, such as Barclays have a procedure for dealing with customer complaints quickly, and efficiently. Barclays has a customer complaint policy which is displayed on the website. It is .

Small complaints are dealt by staff members, for example, a customer complains that his or her fries are cold. More serious complaints, for example a customer complains that his beer contains a fly, must be referred to a senior manager.

There are six golden rules for staff member to remember when, dealing with unhappy customers:

Show concern for the customer’s feelings- staff should be sympathetic and listen
Note down any important details for the customer
Do not make excuses or try to cover up
Never lose your temper- it will only infuriate the customer more
Always inform the customer clearly about how the complaint will be dealt with, how long will it take, and who will handle the complaint- this will show customers that you care
If a customer is abusive or threatening, staff should seek assistance from senior staff

Barclays knows that every customer have different needs because; everyone is different from one and another. For example, the needs for a wheel chair user would be, to have easy access into branches, and to have large and clear signs for the individual to see and read.

Even though, we are all different and we have different needs, we have same desires when we visit Barclays Bank, e.g.: