I had a few frustrating experiences today, so I'd like to take a few minutes to talk about customer service, what is it, and what it means for a professional. The term implies some function that many organizations have formalized and passed on to a particular devision, but I would like to argue that customer service affects every part of our work, every day, no matter what your particular role.
Customer service is hard to define. One option, which I will propose (borrowed from http://www.customerservicepoint.com/customer-service-definition.html), is:
"A customer defines good customer service as how she perceives that an organization has delighted her, by exceeding to meet her needs".
You can insert the word "client" for "customer" if you prefer.
So if providing good customer service means exceeding your clients' expectations, then you cannot leave it in the hands of your "customer service department". Customer service happens in every transaction, and in every piece of work you put together, because in the end it affects your service or product.
And if everything you do indirectly affects your clients, then you have to take responsibility for doing the best job that you can on every piece of work that you do.
Today, I saw a number of people fail to take responsibility for things that were happening around them. A client waited for an hour and a half for someone to ask her if they could help her - and my then she had missed her scheduled appointment. Another client was referred to three different offices before being provided with the information he was looking for, because nobody took the time to ask him exactly what he wanted.
Incidents like those bother me, because they show a lack of responsibility, a failure to "own" what is happening and deal with it. There is nothing more frustrating for a client than "passing the buck". Don't pass the buck - be the one who takes the responsibility for figuring out where it belongs.
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