All too often, we hear the words “customer service” thrown around and most of the time, unfortunately, the service falls short.
The fact is that in too many areas, we have gotten used to serving ourselves a lot of the time.
This means that we scan our own groceries at CVS.
We buy stuff on the Internet that magically shows up at our door.
And, we use self service kiosks at the airport.
All of these points of contact happen without another person being involved.
But what happens when we do come in contact with someone?
It usually fails to live up to even the lowest of expectations.
I’ve seen both sides of this equation in recent weeks.
On the good side, I went to Graffiato in DC on Friday for lunch with a friend. Great service, personable, nice, not intrusive.
On the bad side, I bought groceries at one of the local Giants recently and I had one cashier tell my son that he needed to go to another line because she was going on break while I was grabbing a newspaper. And, I had the person checking me out, watch me as I bagged my own groceries.
The fact is that both of these experiences tell you something.
In the case of Graffiato, that experience tells me that they value me and that my coming into the restaurant was important to them.
On the other side, the Giant most definitely told me that they could care less if I were there or not. And, that I’m just a pain in the ass to whatever else they had going on.
Look, I get it…both of these jobs are tough.
But the thing is, competition is tougher and tougher, so every time you touch someone, you have to give it more of your effort.
If not, you are going to tell your customers a story.
Maybe it is a good one, or maybe it isn’t a good one.
The thing about it is, you don’t always get a second chance to retell the story either.
And, with more and more of our connections happening without a person involved, the times we do have personal live contact is a chance to really differentiate yourself from everyone else.
If you don’t, someone else will.