Many Americans working in Europe, or with European companies, complain about the slow customer service. Specifically, issues like not quickly answering emails and general unresponsiveness to the customer come up a lot. Having started and run my own European company for several years I freely admit to sharing this belief on occasion. With many years in the rear view mirror my views have started to change. The differences between the U.S. and Europe are still there, but the reason is not lack of customer service over here. I would summarize the differences in the phrase "the customer is always right". This comes close to gospel truth in the U.S. but is not valued so highly in Europe. Some reasons why this is so:
1. Social cohesion. This is extremely important in Europe and is seen in many different places. For business, the importance placed on social cohesion manifests itself in a desire to minimize the excesses of the free market. As such I believe that a strong belief in "the customer is always right" would be perceived as instituting elitism and as contrary to the goal of social harmony. This prevents customers from acting like they are always right and the effect spills down. Lest we criticize this from our lofty American perch, we try to accomplish the same thing via the political system. Excess oil company profits ring a bell?
2. Time. Europeans simply have a different view of speed and time, a clear part of customer service in the current global economy. I think the reasons are again cultural, stemming from fundamental differences between European and American societies. Again this drove me crazy during the first years of my business. I have since changed as I learned that taking time on some decisions allows that all important consensus to build up; this, as I noted elsewhere, is crucial to certain aspects of European business. That said I do believe that some parts of the European business sector will just not be competitive if time and speed are not looked at.
