(Gulp) I know you: Reasons why you should maintain your customer service role

Last week I discussed some of the reasons why providing great customer service to your clients is important.  This week I want to discuss some reasons why you should continue to offer great customer service to the internal client (your coworkers).

No matter what industry you work in, chances are you have witnessed someone consistently be inconsiderate of other coworkers (or you may have been that someone).  This said person typically doesn’t adhere to the team player mentality and likes to play the lone wolf.  While being a lone wolf is not necessarily a bad thing, it can become bad when the wolf decides not to work well with others in the group. 

Another person who can be destructive in the workplace is simply the jerk.  This person may play well with others, but then decides to be uncooperative with a certain individual or group.  Sometimes there is a reason (whether justified or not) and sometimes they behave this way just because they can.  If this person has direct contact with clients, they may behave similarly with them as they tend to not have an off switch when they become agitated.

So what does it mean if you happen to know one of the two people above or you are one of them?  Well, if your industry is anything like the audio visual industry, there is a good chance that you will be working with that person in the future in another capacity.  One day they are sitting next to you and the next day you are buying from them (or they are buying from you).  Since the audio visual industry is rather small compared to other industries, people know each other from working together over the years.  And most of the people are passionate about what this industry stands for and they tend to stay in it, no matter what shape or form.  That makes it imperative that you treat everyone the same way you would expect to be treated: with respect.  Treat the internal client just as you would the external client.  People don’t need to be best friends at work, but they do need to work well with each other to get the job done.  Trust me, there are plenty of people that I have worked with that I would not have a beer with after work, but in the confines of the workday, we were the ultimate team to get the project done and provide the client with a fantastic service. 

If we all take the moment to review the problems we face with a rational though process, it will help to make the workplace environment more hospitable.  You may not like the person you have to deal with to fix an issue, but that doesn’t mean that the two of you can’t make it right.  It is easier to fix an issue and be done with it than to let it linger because you want to prove a point that the other person is wrong.  Maybe they are wrong, but is it really your place to point it out?  You never know if the person you choose to have a vendetta with will become your boss in the future. 

Considerable Customer Service

What comes to mind when you think of the phrase “customer service”?  Most people may envision a smiling person who assists you with your purchase or transaction.  This smiling person was knowledgeable, polite, and competent in providing you with your needs.  This assessment is correct; however, there is a lot more to customer service than assisting a customer with just one transaction. 

Customer service is the embodiment of the interactions that occur between the customer and the provider.  Customer service is something that should never go away, even after the project is completed. Great customer service is the reason why your customer will continue to do business with you and will have no qualms referring additional business in your direction. 

Recently my company provided a bid response for a large opportunity.  One of the requirements to be included in our submittal was client references of projects that were similar to the opportunity we were vying for.  This is not a rare occurrence, as we often provide references of similar projects to help showcase our capabilities.  After we provided our submission, my coworker and I were talking about this opportunity (we both contributed to our bid response).  My coworker said to me “I really hope that our references are happy with us”.  We went on to discuss that we know these customers are happy with us, at least they tell us they are, as otherwise we would not have used them for a reference.  We went on to discuss how a customer could be perfectly happy with the sales representative, but not be so comfortable with the installation staff (or vice versa).   We concluded the conversation agreeing that customer service is fluid and needs to continually happen with the customer and that it needs to flow from all positions within the company. 

You never really know if a customer is fully happy with you until they are asked from another source.  That is when the most honest reviews will surface about your workmanship and competency.  What you can do to help make sure a customer is happy is take the time to talk to them.  Confirm they are happy with what they have purchased or received.  Confirm the overall feeling that they received from your company is positive.  You want the customer to feel like you were their champion during the project and that you were looking out for their best interests in providing the best solution for their needs (which you should be doing anyway).  There is nothing worse than having a good customer receive bad service because you were rushing to complete the job, or you were having a bad day and leaked it out to the customer (whether they were the reason for your bad day or not).  There have been surprise instances (luckily not that many) where a customer who you thought was going to give you a glowing recommendation was actually not happy with your performance. 

Continue to follow up with your customers; show them that you care.  While there are a few customers who never seem to be happy, most customers will continue to do business with you if you provide the extra effort to show them they are important to you.

Morale and it's affect in the Workplace

Many of us talk about morale in the workplace, but what is it that we are talking about? 

Per the Random House Webster’s Dictionary (2001), the definition of morale is:

Morale, noun: emotional or mental condition, as of cheerfulness, with respect to work or a duty.

Per the Roget’s II The New Thesaurus (1996), the definition of morale is:

Morale, noun: a strong sense of enthusiasm and dedication to a common goal that unites a group.

Of the two definitions provided, I prefer Roget’s definition.  A workplace is a unity of people working towards a common goal.  Sometimes that goal gets lost during the process.  As most of us in the A/V world know, we are coming down the homestretch of our busiest season.  With this occurrence, everyone has a role to play and multiple balls to juggle.  Once in a while tempers fly and we have to be reminded that we are all working towards a common goal of customer service to the customer and to ourselves. 

There are many moments where we do not think of our actions and how they are perceived by others or how they affect the office environment.  If another coworker hears you flipping out on someone, they may label you as difficult. Most people remember the saying “If you don’t have anything nice to day, then don’t say anything at all” from when we were younger; it helps to try to keep that saying in mind when in the workplace.  Even if you are confiding to our best friend at work the juicy rumor we just heard, we are spreading negativity, and that affects the workplace atmosphere as well.

There are days where I leave my desk totally pissed off, either at myself, a coworker, or a customer, but I remind myself that I do like my job and my coworkers.  Sometimes that reminder comes later in the day, but it does surface.  If we can all take a moment to realize that our actions do affect others positively and negatively, we can work towards improving the morale in our work environments. 

Having a great morale in the workplace makes everyone have a more enjoyable experience.  Turning the morale around won’t happen overnight, and there will always be negative people in the workplace.  Give out more smiles and hellos during the day and most likely you’ll receive them back.  I certainly like to see smiles instead of frowns throughout the hallways at work!