{"id":2975,"date":"2014-03-25T08:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-03-25T12:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/graftonblog.com\/?p=2762"},"modified":"2015-04-02T13:09:38","modified_gmt":"2015-04-02T17:09:38","slug":"striving-towards-superior-customer-service-are-we-there-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/striving-towards-superior-customer-service-are-we-there-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Striving towards Superior Customer Service\u2014Are we there yet?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>\u201c<i>A customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.<\/i>\u201d\u00a0 <i>Mahatma Gandhi<\/i><\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s social economy, the key to standing apart from the competition is the ability to provide exemplary customer service.\u00a0 Although there are many tools, strategies and trainings available to help organizations provide exemplary customer experiences, it really boils down to engaging in three activities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u00a0Encourage compassion and empathy\u2014Put yourself in the customer\u2019s shoes.<\/li>\n<li>Find solutions instead of excuses\u2014People want to know what you can do for them instead of what you can\u2019t do.<\/li>\n<li>Go above and beyond\u2014Give people more than they expect from you.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Each and every employee within the organization has an impact on customer service.\u00a0 This includes the receptionist who answers the phone to the direct support professional who interacts with a client to the case manager who follows up on a request, the administrator who reviews a treatment plan, and the director who ensures that resources are available and so on.<a href=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/Customer-Service-bell.jpg\"><br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<p>We all know what good customer service and bad customer service is.\u00a0 We don\u2019t really need a formalized training to decipher the two; however, we do need to share customer experiences\u00a0(both wonderful and horrific) to help one another learn from our mistakes.\u00a0 Most of us don\u2019t take the time to put ourselves in the customer\u2019s shoes. \u00a0Instead, we are focused on \u201cprotecting\u201d the organization and following policies and procedures, many of which don\u2019t make a whole lot of sense.\u00a0 We want to make things easier for ourselves and our company as opposed to our customers.<\/p>\n<p>How then do we transcend this culture and learn from unhappy customers?\u00a0 \u00a0Well, we start by sharing stories and recognizing our contributions to dissatisfied customers.\u00a0 \u00a0In any situation where there is conflict, it is easier to recognize someone else\u2019s contribution to what went wrong.\u00a0 It is much harder to recognize our own contributions and mistakes, but that is where we need to start.<\/p>\n<p>Dissatisfied customers will vent frustration through blogs, twitter, facebook and other social media sites as well as face to face interactions.\u00a0 In an era where information is transmitted almost instantaneously, we need to be vigilant about going above and beyond in keeping customers satisfied.\u00a0 The cool thing about customer service is that satisfied customers will react in the same way when they are impressed with our services, and serve as our biggest champions.<\/p>\n<p>Service excellence is a consistent and premium attitude that begins and ends with each and every one of us.<\/p>\n<p>What are you doing in your organization to deliver customer service excellence?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cA customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.\u201d  Mahatma Gandhi<\/p>\n<p>In today\u2019s social economy, the key to standing apart from the competition is the ability to provide exemplary customer service.  Although there are many tools, strategies and trainings available to help organizations provide exemplary customer experiences, it really boils down to engaging in three activities:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,34,35],"tags":[39,65,66,119,129],"class_list":["post-2975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-evidence-based-best-practices","category-innovation","category-mental-health-services","tag-above-and-beyond","tag-customer-satisfaction","tag-customer-service","tag-quality","tag-solution-focused"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Striving towards Superior Customer Service\u2014Are we there yet? - Grafton<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.grafton.org\/striving-towards-superior-customer-service-are-we-there-yet\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Striving towards Superior Customer Service\u2014Are we there yet? - Grafton\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cA customer is the most important visitor on our premises; he is not dependent on us. We are dependent on him. He is not an interruption in our work. He is the purpose of it. He is not an outsider in our business. He is part of it. We are not doing him a favor by serving him. He is doing us a favor by giving us an opportunity to do so.\u201d Mahatma Gandhi  In today\u2019s social economy, the key to standing apart from the competition is the ability to provide exemplary customer service. 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