Who is the Customer?

Let’s answer some basic questions: Who is the customer? What is customer service? How do you create customer service excellence?

We define a customer as anyone that we serve. That means that there is no difference between our internal customers – serving our fellow employees and management – or our external customers that purchase our goods and services. The customer isn’t someone who exists only between 8am and 5pm. By encouraging and promoting this within your organization you reinforce the skills and attitudes of customer service excellence that are beneficial to your employees and to your paying customers.

We define customer service as the experience all of us want to have when we are the customer. It should reflect what our organization believes and the values that we share. The basics are being friendly, being good listeners and problem-solvers. In essence the same treatment we expect everyone in our organization whether it is the president or the front line person. 

We create customer service excellence in a three step process: first, everyone in our workshops share the importance of their job, the services they provide, the benefits that the customer and the organization gain. This builds esprit de corps, it motivates, and provides the big picture as to what we all do to make our organization a success. Second, they learn the psychology of interpersonal relationships as it relates to the work environment and the customer,  and third how to implement a psychological approach that enables participants to manage the customer experience through the skills and attitudes of the customer experience from the beginning to the end of the customer contact. Written by Desander Mas.