What do Germans value more than other nations when it comes to customer service? Which cultural
dimensions are responsible for this?
👉 Germans want quick and clear answers and solutions - convoluted excuses generate reluctance
👉 Germans also put up with negative information, but then want to know the facts behind it
👉 Punctuality and efficiency are crucial
👉Germans value the protection of their personal data
Isn't that what everyone wants❓Are those not Stereotypes
No and yes.
In addition to the factors that are relevant for customer satisfaction in one way or another in almost
all countries ( speed of response, friendliness, solution expertise), there are differences:
In Japan, it is impossible to say “no, unfortunately that's not possible” without disrupting the
harmony that is so important there.
Other nations place more value on expressions of respect or empathy: in France, it is essential that
the customer has the feeling of being important and that he or she is not served in a standardised
manner.
The British place more value on common sense and flexibility. For example, the justification “That's
the rule” would usually show German customers that further argumentation is pointless, but would
provoke the response from British customers: “What if the rule doesn't make sense?” (incidentally,
my experienced colleague Sebastian Rosche claims that this used to be the case with German
customers.
Und natürlich sind das alles Stereotypen. Ich weiß, denn bei jeder der obigen Vereinfachungen sträuben sich auch mir die Nackenhaare😬. Dennoch die Existenz (und auch die Ausprägung) dieser Unterschiede entsprechen eben auch dem Kenntnisstand der Forschung von Kulturdimensionen.
Was sagen also die Forscher, warum wir Deutschen so sind? Die Deutschen unterscheiden sich in drei relevanten Kulturdimensionen stark von vielen anderen Ländern:
1️⃣ Germans (along with Americans and Swedes) believe more than others in the importance of rules
and principles (it is not for nothing that the categorical imperative was established by the German
philosopher Immanuel Kant). In technical jargon: they are universalists and not particularists. This
makes them more predictable and more accessible to facts, but also more principled. A friend who
sells hotel furniture from Spanish manufacturer Kettal told me: “We supply the same products to
every country in the world. The complaint rate due to scratches and small defects is by far the highest
in Germany and Switzerland.” If I now imagine that after two weeks of hard hotel operation, this
furniture will have signs of wear anyway, then for me this is a good example of the Germans'
insistence on principle - not nice . But the positive side of this characteristic is that Germans are
less likely to insist on the “extra sausage” which can be understood as special treatment .
2️⃣Germans have a sequential understanding of time (rather than synchronised). Accordingly, correct
sequencing, honouring time commitments and punctuality are relevant. Spontaneity, improvisation,
and multitasking are less in demand and desirable.
3️⃣ We Germans also make a clearer distinction between work and private life. The Americans and the
British are similar in this respect. Accordingly, Germans attach great importance to the protection of
privacy and therefore also to data protection. Not only was Germany the first EU country to transpose
the GDPR into national legislation, it also imposes high fines for its implementation. Various surveys
throughout the recent years have consistently shown that Germans overwhelmingly welcome the
GDPR - even if they are sometimes critical of its implementation.
Warum beschäftigen uns als Kontakt-Center nun solche kulturellen Unterschiede? Weil wir die Kundenberater der von uns beschäftigten Offshore-Locations auf den Umgang mit deutschen Kunden vorbereiten müssen. Sonst sind Probleme und Eskalationen vorprogrammiert💥. Wer glaubt, es käme beim Offshoring nur auf die Sprachkenntnisse an, wird keinen erstklassigen Service liefern können. And because we provide customer service for our German clients in over 15 countries (including the
aforementioned Japan, where the clocks tick differently).
We cannot expect to make everyone happy with the “German approach”. Customers in every
country have different values and therefore preferences, and these must be considered. A converging
world does not necessarily lead to cultural convergence, but often to demarcation. Intercultural
intelligence (i.e. reflecting on one's own values and respecting other values and bridging differences)
is essential for success in a world with ever more international interaction.
𝘐𝘯 𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘮 𝘉𝘭𝘰𝘨-𝘈𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘬𝘦𝘭 𝘸𝘶𝘳𝘥𝘦 𝘒𝘐-𝘜𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵ü𝘵𝘻𝘶𝘯𝘨 𝘯𝘶𝘳 𝘻𝘶 𝘡𝘸𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘚𝘶𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘻𝘸. 𝘙𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘵𝘻𝘵
