Yesterday, my Fresh Start was about the importance of going to service gemba ‘to listen’ as well as ‘going to see’. I asked people to listen carefully for the long list of “I can’ts”…service reps telling valued customers about what they ‘couldn’t’ do for them, how they couldn’t help them. Today, I’m asking you to ‘go listen’ again. This time, I’d like you to note how often service reps tell customers about your company’s requirements and about your processes they need to follow if they want service. And the reason I want you to do this, is because it’s really easy to forget that service is about what we can do for other people – not what we need other people to do for us. As much as customers don’t want to hear the words “I can’t”, they also don’t want to hear that the reason you can’t help them is that your internal process doesn’t allow it. Fabulous customer service isn’t just about treating customers nicely and kindly, it’s about creating the underlying service processes that put your customer’s needs first.
