This is an interesting question that came up in a recent conversation.
It comes from hospitality professionals who are tired, tired of trying to teach and train staff to deliver exceptional service whilst realising that for some staff it just is not working.
They still cut corners and they still forget the essential elements of the service experience.
These are the supervisors who have tried every angle, taught the basics in every possible way, delivered it to suit all different styles, and then incentivised and motivated endlessly but still, the member of staff just does not get it. It appears to both the customers and to the supervisor is that this person just does not care.
But then there are those members of staff who just do not appear to need to be trained they pick it up instinctively, they are always singled out by the customers as a great asset to the business, someone who made everyone feel special.
So the question is: is the difference just something people are born with?
We have all heard the maxim ‘the customer is always right’ in Germany ‘the customer is king’ in Japan ‘the customer is god’.
The purpose of these mottos popularised by the likes of Cesar Ritz (Ritz Hotels) and Henry Gordon Selfridge was to demonstrate to the member of staff that customers should be taken seriously and that they should be regarded with the utmost importance.
The problem is that, whilst of course, it is a fantastic statement, it doesn’t acknowledge that those of us providing services to customers also experience some very unpleasant sides to human nature, people who are rude, bullying, difficult, etc.
I have often had staff who have come to me on a busy night and declared ‘I shouldn’t have to be spoken to that way’ and it has been my task to deal with a customer who has often had too much to drink and in high spirits and often showing off by shaming a member of my staff.
I can see the point my staff are making - how can I argue that the customer is always right particularly when on the rare occasion a customer ventures into sexist or racist behaviour.
My responsibility is to the welfare of my staff and the decency and integrity of my venue, the customer is very definitely wrong!
The point being that what gets missed in the simple statement of ‘the customer is always right’ is that we are dealing with humans, with all the good and bad that comes with that.
But also, the world and society have dramatically changed since these ideas were popular in the early 20th Century.
We are much less reverent of anything or anyone these days.
We rightly, expect to be treated as equals to those around us whether they are customers or not and we quite rightly stick up for ourselves and others when we perceive that we are being mistreated or misspoken to. In a truly equal society, the customer cannot possibly always be right.
So, when we go about teaching customer service and still relate to these kinds of statements often, we are fighting a losing battle. ‘The customer is always right’ requires our staff to be reverent; to lose their own identity and to cow to any behaviour. It goes against our modern-day culture.
The problem with this approach then becomes that our staff does not respect that stance. They know that some customers are unfriendly and unkind and therefore variations on the customer is always right statement end up being very rude about customers.
The result is that a culture develops where customers are a problem and there to be dealt with.
Culturally we have had it ingrained into us that customers are a pain, they are difficult, and they should be fought against.
I have certainly visited lots of venues, shops and had phone calls to call centres when you can sense from the person dealing with you that they are ‘dealing’ with you. It is not a nice feeling and whilst the customer service standards may be met it is not good customer care.
So, if the ‘customer is always right’ is wrong then how do we get our staff to understand customer service?
Well, what I have learnt is that in our modern world where we are no longer reverent and where we all expect to be equal there is one simple way to explain how to deliver exceptional customer service and that is to stop calling it service!
It is customer care and there is a huge difference both in practical approach but also in psychology.
Customer care doesn’t ask us to bend and cow to our customers it asks us to remember that they, like us are human. That we are equal but in that equality, the needs of the customer are the same as ours. What we crave and need as humans is to experience belonging and kindness.
If we are training our staff to be kind (we can also need to train them to have boundaries) we are asking them to handle even the most difficult or challenging of customers with care and understanding.
When we do this then the attitude from staff changes.
We can deliver exceptional customer service by concentrating on customer care.
So are you born with customer care…
Yes! Every human is born capable of kindness.
