There are several reasons why we have a job and go to work. The number one reason, of course, is because we need to make money to support ourselves and our family. Most everyone would rather be playing one way or another.
A piece of the puzzle of life that doesn’t get explained to us is why some people make more of this money and others make less.
The answer has to do with the value we bring. If we bring more value, generally we make more money. The baseball player who gets on base more often, brings more value and will be paid a higher salary. The actor who attracts more viewers brings more value and gets a bigger contract. And more opportunities. The receptionist who is more pleasant and helpful with customers and accomplishes more work during the day brings more value and will make more money. The service advisor who takes better care of their customers will make more sales and thereby make more money. The technician who is more efficient, knowledgeable and focused on servicing customer’s cars better will earn more income. The lot attendant who stays focused, is customer detail oriented and looks for things that need to be done will be rewarded.
What we have to understand is that the customer is why we’re here. Without the customer we have nothing. There is no business, no company, no job. Without the customer we don’t get what we want which is an income to support ourselves and our family.
Great customer service comes from being completely focused on the customer. Yes, completely focused on the customer when you are speaking to them (that should be obvious). What most folks don’t understand is that they need to be completely customer focused when the customer(s) are not present.
The majority of workers are easily distracted from this all important, number one thing to which we need to be paying attention. Employees fall victim to all sorts of distractions which take their focus off the goal of delivering great customer service.
A short list of distractions are as follows: surfing the internet, shopping on the internet, looking up trivia on the internet, anything personal on the internet (either using the company’s equipment or our own personal devices); telling our co-workers of the drama that is going on in our life… my neighbor, my spouse, my children, my parents, my health, my… (fill in the blank); ongoing conversation about non-work related topics… sports teams and players, movies and celebrities, vacations and weekend plans; how to… build, cook, clean, craft, etc.
The list can go on and on…
Not that these things are not important to us. They are – that’s why we talk about them. The problem is that they distract us from the reason why we have a job, which is to take care of the customer.
Even when we are not directly interacting with our customers, there is a lot that can be done to make sure our customer’s receive great service.
In the dealership world we can be reviewing the history file, reviewing the next day or several days appointments and prepare, confirm the parts are here for specific customers, inspect the finished vehicles for quality and completeness, ensure the paperwork is done in advance of the customer arriving for pick-up, making sure the facility is clean, warm and inviting and easy for the customer to use. Again, this is a short list of the many, many things to be done which will enhance the service you provide for your income creating customers.
When you are delivering top-notch customer service to every customer, every time there will be very little down time. There are constantly things to take care of. Those who deliver truly exceptional service want to do everything they can, every moment they can, to take care of all the details. They are not going to leave anything to chance.
Pursue Great! In all you do.