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sorry about that I confused myself there as well..
I come from a personal back ground of giving great customer service. I find the customers love to praise me for my efforts but lack the desire to tell my boss which normally only takes about a minute or less to find one walking around. Heck I have been known to chase down upper management to take a customer compliment call for an employee.
What I guess I a trying to understand is where does 'general good service' stop and when does exceptional service begin.
My company has set a high standard of great customer service as being the normal service. When we as employees go further then we have to its nice to have a customer not only tell us but tell the 'boss' as well.
I have a small list of names while I work of people who took time to compliment my service. That way if I ever get them again I can great them and let them know I appriciate that service they did for me. Not to beg for another complement but just to say, thanks. Even if I don't tell them thanks directly I will go the extra mile for them if needed just because.
I guess what I should ask is when does the 'exceptional' become the normal? for my employer what you will find exceptional from you local electric company phone in service we consider normal. Upbeat, friendly voice, Empathy, understanding, personal care, consideration, connection etc. all that plus more is the normal for us. actually that is an 2.5 on a 5 point scale with 1.o being tops. I normally along with about 90% of the company achieve 1.0-1.5 on the scale. so when does normal become extra special?
I guess what I should ask is when does the 'exceptional' become the normal? for my employer what you will find exceptional from you local electric company phone in service we consider normal. Upbeat, friendly voice, Empathy, understanding, personal care, consideration, connection etc. all that plus more is the normal for us. actually that is an 2.5 on a 5 point scale with 1.o being tops. I normally along with about 90% of the company achieve 1.0-1.5 on the scale. so when does normal become extra special?
Most service opportunities do not lend themselves to providing exceptional service. Exceptional service arises out of exceptional situations. If I am calling the local electric company phone in service for a routine type situation (whatever that would be), and got an extremely, pleasant and responsive person, my response would be to be extremely polite and pleasant back. If I called with an unusual problem or a difficult situation which caused the phone in person to have to "think outside the box" and she, instead of transferring me to yet another operator in a department she thinks is appropriate, puts me on hold while she find out the correct answer, comes back explains the situation, the situation is solved and then the next day someone calls back to make sure I am not having any further difficulty, THAT would be exceptional service.
Most service opportunities do not lend themselves to providing exceptional service. Exceptional service arises out of exceptional situations. If I am calling the local electric company phone in service for a routine type situation (whatever that would be), and got an extremely, pleasant and responsive person, my response would be to be extremely polite and pleasant back. If I called with an unusual problem or a difficult situation which caused the phone in person to have to "think outside the box" and she, instead of transferring me to yet another operator in a department she thinks is appropriate, puts me on hold while she find out the correct answer, comes back explains the situation, the situation is solved and then the next day someone calls back to make sure I am not having any further difficulty, THAT would be exceptional service.
I agree with all you and everyone says. what I am trying to understand is... when a person calls let say to place a order with a company for lets say shoes. and that person ask the rep to look up various shoes, compair size style prices etc. Answer questions like "are the pretty, will they go with my pink polkadot dress, are they dressy too casual and more. the rep does all that with pleasent kindness, fun, and a willingness to assist. Is that ordinary customer service or above?
You see my troubles in trying to understand excellent customer service comes from the fact that what you describe above is our standard customer service... or it is suppose to be.... we then go above that. So what is excellent customer service if the set standard is already excellent customer service in your books what then can be done above that?
Well, not to be difficult or harsh but it seems that you work for a company that prides itself on good/excellent customer service. Good for you. The fact that you have a job there speaks for your competency/good attitude. However, you seem a bit bent out of shape that you don't receive enough commendations from customers as a result. The fact is, you're probably not going to and giving responses such as "don't tell me, tell my boss" don't help (I'm hoping you didn't actually say that, that you were verbalizing what your thoughts were at the time. Customer service, in general is a difficult and often thankless job. Either you enjoy it and are paid decently enough and you like the company enough to stick with it and perhaps get promoted at some point, or you hate it and need to find something else to do. That's pretty much it. There is nothing you can do to force your customers to call your boss and gush about how great you are.
Kerowyn, I'm going along with Maciesmom -- sounds like you work for a place with very high standards. That's wonderful but does make it difficult for you to exceed the bar when the bar is already so high.
Maybe the place to shine, in your situation, is in how you resolve problems. If someone calls in with a complaint (or is just a Grumpy Gus), can you turn them around and get a smile out of them? Can you have them hang up not just satisfied but feeling well satisfied at the resolution of the problem? Again, you probably can't do anything to encourage them to contact management but maybe they will do it of their own accord.
After a sucessful resolution, I make it a habit to ask for the supervisor if it is over the phone or to speak with the manager when a store clerk goes out of their way to assist me. The last time was a pharmacist in a chain store who helped me take on the insurance company. Not only did I speak to the store manager, but I called the headquarters and spoke to the personnel manager there as well about the valuable employee they had.
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Jobs are so difficult to get and keep during these hard times. I always make sure that I inform the boss (sometimes by writing a letter) if someone has gone out of their way for me.
__________________ ******************
People may not recall what you said to them, but they will always remember how you made them feel .
So, what you're looking for is a pat on the back from your boss? I'll remember that. If I heard "Don't tell me, tell my boss.", that would be the LAST time I offered a compliment to that person OR the boss.
People don't compliment to further your career. They compliment to let you know personally they appreciate the assistance you have given.
What is the problem with YOU knowing you did a good job?
Nothing...but "thank you"s or compliments for doing what is, essentially, my job matter little--unless it benefits me come review time. If I consistently have customers telling my boss, or corporate, how helpful and understanding I am, I'll get a raise--otherwise, they may not see what kind of job I'm doing and assume that if I'm NOT getting compliments, then I'm NOT doing a good job.
Personally, I don't tend to compliment someone for doing what is expected of them.
I wrote a letter to Discount Tire corporate praising the service I got. They were really happy to hear about it.
Basically, my tire was flat, I went in there, they fixed it for free right away (even though I had not bought the tires from them originally), and that patch lasted as long as that tire did.
When it came time to get new tires for the truck, guess where I went...
After a sucessful resolution, I make it a habit to ask for the supervisor if it is over the phone or to speak with the manager when a store clerk goes out of their way to assist me. The last time was a pharmacist in a chain store who helped me take on the insurance company. Not only did I speak to the store manager, but I called the headquarters and spoke to the personnel manager there as well about the valuable employee they had.
Oooo you've reminded me. I recently had a situation with a pharmacy that the pharmacist went well out of his way to resolve. It is a locally owned store, part of a tiny chain. I've since done ALL my pharmacy shopping there, bypassing the larger chains and supermarket pharms because I want to reward THAT store with my business.
However, I've neglected to actually tell them that. I told the pharmacist personally but not headquarters. I have work to do .
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