An article on customer service by Patricia Fripp, CSP, CPAE
In the throes and stresses of our workday lives, we sometimes
forget how our customers see us. One single negative contact
can ruin your reputation in the eyes of not only that one
customer -- but everyone he or she knows as well. After
all, word of mouth works both for or against you.
You need to make sure everybody in your organization knows
he or she is an important part of it. Each department depends
and dovetails into the other to produce quality in service
or product. Everyone makes a difference: the sales force,
the service technicians, the clerical staff, the PR department
all work together toward the same goal -- keeping the customers
satisfied.
A perfect example of how everyone makes a difference is
when I was in a Nashville hotel attending a board of directors
meeting for the National Speakers Association. After the
meeting, several of us went to the coffee shop to continue
our deliberations. Each of us asked for exceptions or additions
to the menu items; we wanted separate checks; and to make
things even more confusing, being speakers, we talked to
each other the whole time the waitress patiently took our
orders.
"My dear, all this confusion is going to be worthwhile --
these guys are big tippers," I said.
She said, "I'm not being nice for a tip. It doesn't even
matter if I get a tip or not. If we give you good service,
your group will bring back its business here and not to
the competition."
Isn't that a marvelous attitude from someone on the front
lines? I was so impressed, I wrote a letter to the hotel
manager congratulating him on his staff and especially the
waitress at the coffee shop.
I never received a reply. That waitress "wowed" me with
her service and her attitude; but the manager's lack of
response almost nullified her customer service savvy. Everyone
makes a difference. I think the manager and the waitress
should change places for a couple of weeks, she knows more
about good PR than he does.
As Paul Harvey says, "Advertising strategies work if everyone
knows about them, from the highest corporate executive to
the entry level worker."
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