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.

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. 

'Tis the season of giving, but rather than just giving during this season, shouldn't we "give" to our customers throughout the year? And in business, what exactly should we give? Naturally, especially during the holidays, we rack our brains to come up with an idea for a nice, hopefully meaningful, present to give to our customers. While the thought and gesture put into giving a tangible gift should no doubt be appreciated by our customers, we can escalate our spirit of giving for a far better impact on everyone, including ourselves, by giving more regularly. Now don't be a Grinch- engaging in regular "giving" is not hard. Piqued your interest?  Let me break it down for you...

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. 

It's fitting to discuss "giving thanks" since we are in the midst of celebrating the many things we are thankful for during this month of Thanksgiving.  In business, the #1 thing we should be thankful for is our customers, which is rather obvious since they are the reason that we are staying in business, and they help us to afford putting a turkey feast on our tables (figuratively and literally).  It's a given that we are thankful for them, but do they feel appreciated?  Before I give you tips for taking your thankfulness beyond just saying "thank you," let me tell you about an experience that we are currently having with one of our vendors (crossing my fingers that they will read this and finally choose to be different)...

Customers come in all shapes and sizes.  Each has its own unique characteristics (and demands), and how you care for each customer is important not only for their satisfaction, but also for the morale of your team.  You have seen it before- just one customer can disrupt your company's entire day by making an unrealistic demand, and your team can be sent into a tailspin trying to figure out how to satisfy this ridiculous request and to make this customer happy.  Or, how about the customer that calls and asks for a solution, but has no suggestions for how and what should be implemented?  All of these details are then left up to you and your team, which can lead to uncertainty and a bit of insecurity since all of you might think you understand what is best, but you have nothing to guide you on how close to the mark you wil be.  Neither of these scenarios are fun, so for the betterment of our business and employees, you and I need to learn how to navigate through each type of customer relationship and characteristic.