Is anything more important–but less interesting to say–than “Customer Service?”The way I think about it is this: If you don’t have a focused aim (such as “every customer is going to leave here wanting to come back again–soon”) and instead have a generalized view of customer engagement (such as “we give good customer service” or “we have high service excellence standards”) you will hit your mark everytime–and that mark will manifest itself as vague “friendly service” –and what this really means is “general mediocrity.” I was perusing a book online today and came across this passage:
“If we served people the way we want to be served we wouldn’t have ‘situations.’ The problem is that most of us don’t want to serve. ‘Serve’ is a nasty word–something we did to make our way through high school or college. In the real world we think, it’s not by job to serve people below me!‘”
It’s true. Come on, take off that I’m-here-to-serve halo and admit it. Service is an important and necessary need, but it has an ugly reputation. So, let’s give it a make-over. First, let’s stop using the phrase “customer service” so much. Let’s stop saying we’re here to “serve.” How about we’re hear to “delight,” “intrigue,” “expand opportunities,” or–even better–OVERWHELM.
Let’s make it our aim to have each customer leave feeling overwhelmed, not underwhelmed–and feeling more than “well, I got the book (or form or sandwich or paycheck–yes staff are our customers too–don’t leave them underwhelmed) I was looking for.”
I propose this:
A new customer engagement motto:
WE OVERWHELM OUR CUSTOMERS IN NEW AND JUICY WAYS WITH EACH VISIT!”
Now that’s a motto that excites me, and I’d rise up to meet that challenge each day! How about you?