By: Randall Loui
I was recently asked what my philosophy was on customer service. The first thing I thought of was, “the customer is always right.” I thought of every job I’ve had and realized that customer service was at the core of all of them. From my literal customer service representative job that required folding jeans at JCPenney to my current position as art director at Mustang Marketing, serving customers has remained a goal across the board, but time has changed my approach to it.
I used to believe that customer service simply meant being a “yes man,” answering all of the customer’s needs with a positive and enthusiastic answer that always led to the word “yes.” However, I’ve learned that the word “why” can also provide just as much positive service to the customer — sometimes even more so than “yes.”
In a Lynda.com® interview with Debbie Millman, president of the Design Group at Sterling Brands, Millman explained that when clients request a brand redesign, she responds with the simple question of “why?” After asking this, clients typically retract their requests, realizing that their answer to “why?” has no real substance. Not only does this make her client feel as if she is personally invested in their venture, but it also reinforces their trust in the company and in her as a professional.
Something else that embodies my current definition of quality customer service is customer confidence, meaning having confidence in your abilities to help customers reach their goals. Steve Jobs once said, “We don’t hire smart people to tell them what to do, we hire smart people so they can tell us what to do.” Customers that can trust the advice that’s given to them and that feel as if their best interests are also the company’s best interests, will feel better than a customer who is read a polite script of standard responses from a 3-ring binder.
It’s easy to let personal gains and reputation management lead you to say, “yes, of course!” to just about anything. Plus, understanding a customer’s requests is an easier task than being empathetic towards it. As a result, for some companies, “yes” is the mantra — an outdated and poisonous one at that.
Instead, I encourage you to establish more of a “why” mantra by taking a deeper look into your customers’ desires, needs and interests than the surface-level “yes” motto would require. Building that trust and that working relationship — reinforcing the human connection between the work and its creators — that’s when beautiful results happen.