REALLY? Excellent service is possible. But why is excellence in customer service important? That may appear to be a difficult question. But the answer is simple. EXCELLENCE in customer service is important because it is essential to the success of any business.
On a deeper level, each person in the company has the opportunity to affect the lives of everyone they serve; so excellent service is about changing lives one person at a time. Have you considered the message you want to leave with each person you serve? What do you want them to know? Would you say that one of the following attitudes best sums up the message you do not wish to convey?
- I’m tired!
- I hate my job!
- I hate customers!
- My life is crappy!
- Their lives are crappy!
- I don’t like my product or the service my company provides.
- I don’t value the product or service we provide.
- I want everyone to know this is just a job!
Whether you know it or not each time you encounter a customer/client you are sending a message. What message did you send in your last customer service interaction? Do you have a working definition of what good customer service looks like? The best definition of excellent customer service I have found was developed by Doug Howardell of the ACA Group. According to Doug, “excellent customer service is the ability of an organization to constantly and consistently exceed the customer’s expectations.”
With that in mind, another question needs to be answered. How can you provide excellent customer service when one or more of the attitudes mentioned above is a reflection of how you feel? Maybe you don’t see an item on the list that best sums up how you feel. The list could be much longer. But the bottom line is that the service isn’t about the company. That is a major misconception. Sure, the company gets “blamed” for poor customer service, but no matter how good or bad the company may be, the service you provide is about you.
Each time you provide a service, there is an opportunity for you to shine. REMEMBER, when you shine everyone in your company benefits! Sure the world will forever contain unreasonable and unruly customers, lousy co-workers, and unprofessional bosses. However, every company deserves someone like you!
Be a light, a game changer, an atmosphere setter! Excellent customer service is simply about you. Your DECISION to be the best you at all costs. You need to recognize the power you possess each time you grace someone with your smile, attention to detail and unwavering commitment to excellence. If companies want customer service to improve they will need to get comfortable with the fact that the major change must occur in the person providing the service. So…why talk about customer service? It is simple! We were put on this earth to make it better, so why not do your job by making sure that each time you serve you give all you have to ensure excellence! Be the example of excellent service that person needs to see.