Let's make customer service fun. Why?  Because you do better when it's fun, and if you aren't having fun, it's time to evaluate why.  Now the "why" could be for a lot of reasons outside of customer service, but I just want to focus on service.  How exactly do you do better when you are having fun?  Many reasons, but the biggest are that it leaves a lasting impression on your customers so that they want to return for more, and you feel so good doing it that you want to do it more! 

Law Number XLV: One should expect that the expected can be prevented, but the unexpected should have been expected.

-Norman Ralph Augustine, Augustine's Laws 

 There are tons of aphorisms surrounding this topic: "expect the unexpected" is a particularly common one.  Or if you've come in contact with any of NASA's safety discussions (or heard it from Donald Rumsfeld), you know about the "unknown unknowns."  What this all boils down to is that risk presents itself to us in the form of what we know versus what we don't, what we expect and what we don't.

Everyone has good days and not so good days, right? It's when the not so good days start to pile up that we need to remind ourselves that those days can become the greatest teacher with the greatest lesson, unless we get in the way of the lesson. How many times did you learn the lesson the hard way or miss the lesson completely? Yeah, me too. When I start having a slew of not so good days, it really helps me to check my attitude at the door. 

"A bad attitude is like a flat tire. If you don't change it, you'll never go anywhere." Unknown

Trust.  Such an important topic because I have been witness to countless situations and experiences where it was lacking.  For example, the time when I made a big purchase from a charismatic vendor who then stopped communicating with me after the check was received.  Or, the time when I was surrounded by leaders making big decisions, but not one of them could walk their fancy talk. In both situations, I lost trust (and respect) for the leaders and their companies, which means that ultimately my relationship with them also soured.  How do you think this translates to their bottom line? 

For many home-based workers, the chief advantage of the home office is that it lets them achieve a more equitable balance between work and family.  The key word here is balance.  

Once of your most difficult tasks will be to convince loved ones that you really are working.  Even the most considerate family and friends may suffer from the common misconceptions about home-based work--you're available any time and you can drop whatever you are doing.  Make it clear that you are earning your livelihood, not indulging in a hobby.

- Emily Post's The Etiquette Advantage in Business

Our last couple of articles have been about some extraordinarily sad service mishaps. Service mishaps that should not have gone the way they did ~ and in some cases are still going on! They were not hard things to fix or manage, by any means. So the question remains, why do some companies/businesses understand the basic fundamentals of producing good customer service exchanges, while others struggle with these basics?