In the grand scheme of things, service is service, right? Or is it? The degrees to which successful and unsuccessful service is delivered has varying effects on the outcomes. The service industry provides many levels of delivery outcomes. The range can be dramatic. For example: a rude cashier at the 7-11 is annoying while a rude floor nurse not focusing on details is far from annoying- the outcome of this lack of service can be life threatening. So the questions is, "Is it right to expect less from the cashier than we do the floor nurse with regards to service?" The universal answer has arrived at "yes," but perhaps therein lies the service mishaps. How can we develop consistencies in service expectations?  Let's take a look at three industries with separate service challenges, their insights, and comments to three questions. From their perspectives and expert opinions we should be able to gather some overall standards which should be applied across every employee role in every industry.

Hey, despite my many research-backed rants on why you should spend more time with customers, the bottom line is that there is a limit, and you need to be concerned with getting customers what they want in an efficient manner.  The trick here is that this should also be applied when realizing when you simply cannot help a customer. If you don't know the solution to a problem, the best kind of support member will get a customer over to someone who does.  Don't waste time trying to go above and beyond for a customer in an area where you will just end up wasting both of your time!

- Gregory Ciotti for HelpScout 

Lately, to my disappointment, I have not encountered near enough notable customer service exchanges. In fact, quite the opposite ~ until the other day! My daughter recently had surgery and her surgical pre-op nurse demonstrated service at it's finest. It was obvious that this person operates naturally from a place of compassion, but she was also textbook perfect with her service delivery ~ and in my world, with what I do for a living, I don't use that "perfect" word very often. 

In keeping with the hope that the holiday season provides the platform for lots of laughter, I decided to get some real perspective on Customer Service.

Anyone who has children in their life can attest to the joy that the innocence of a child can bring. Some of my favorite memories with my girls was when their words would simply ground me. In their little minds, whatever the situation, it wasn't the complicated mess I felt or created. Aw, simplification- just the best! 

So for your enjoyment this week, when we asked a group of Kindergarteners (5 and 6 year olds) questions on customer service, we received some great insightful answers. Their views on what good and bad customer service looks like comes from a very non-complicated place of understanding. For them, it's about feeling good, getting what you want, people being nice, and using friendly voices. What could be any easier than that? Perhaps there are real lessons here about simplifying the customer experience through these basic understandings. 

We learned pretty fast that hugging a customer doesn’t always result in great customer satisfaction. It really comes down to aligning your service with the specific expectations and aspirations of the people you serve.

-Rob Hibbard, VP with Enterprise Holdings [Enterprise Rent-a-Car]

Customer service is measured by how you "show up," and how you present yourself in graphics impacts your service impression.  So what if you aren’t a Graphic Designer and have zero experience with editing image files and creating something that is visually attractive.  I have a simple solution for you that requires very little learning, and it does not depend upon the use of expensive software. Microsoft PowerPoint (yes, PowerPoint!) gives you just what you need to do some very basic design. What’s better? In less than 6 minutes, I can show you how to do some of the basics in 3 very quick videos.