One of my pet peeves has always been ‘bad,’ ‘customer’ service (even before I became an entrepreneur). This is due to my sense of what is right and wrong, what is fair or not fair, just or not just, or balanced versus unbalanced.
At some point each of us on this planet is either the customer or the one responsible for delivering customer service. When it’s our turn to be the customer, we generally tend to want and demand fabulous, 5 star ‘customer service.’ Therefore, when its our turn to be the one delivering the customer service, I am of the belief that we should give the kind of customer service that we would want to receive. Giving fantastic customer service really isn’t difficult to do when the customer is viewed as a value embedded human being first and a customer second.
I don’t look at our prospects and customers as ‘worker disembodied beings,’ who don’t go home to families and personal lives, or who don’t have feelings.
I am in fact hyper-aware of this fact. We can read the headlines in the news to see that people around the world who we have grown accustomed to looking at through the lens of their brand, are often times lonely, mentally ill, suffering, etc. – (Reference: recent suicides committed by persons like fashion designer Kate Spade, and Anthony Bourdain, and others.)
When you call our company phone lines, or when you interact with us, I want you to hear genuine warmth as we welcome you. Yes, you have a job to do, and yes we have a job to do, but we are so much more than our jobs and what we do to make a living.
I wasn’t always a CEO or an entrepreneur. I’ve been a Receptionist before. I’ve cleaned people’s apartments before. I’ve waited tables before. I’ve been a secretary before.
In each of those positions, I was always a person first and a worker second. In life, we do what we have to do to make ends meet, until we can do what we want to do to earn a living. In addition to working service oriented positions, I know what it’s like to need someone to be kind to me for kindness sake, even while I was ‘working.’ I know what it’s like to feel like my ‘job,’ was the only sanctuary I had to go to at a given moment in time.
When you hear the smile in our voices, please know that we are simply cognizant of the fact that it’s our turn to serve. We want to serve well, and we recognize that we aren’t just serving a ‘worker.’ We are serving a person.
If we get the privilege of having the opportunity to make a difference in your day, we will. That’s our ‘customer’ service policy. ***I dare assert that ‘customer service,’ is at its best when said service is viewed as an extension of ‘service to humanity.’***
To experience genuine customer care, feel free to email me at: candacec@theintelligentsia.co or give me a call at: 703. 661.9898 or Toll-Free at 1.833.777.7993
