I recently visited a friend who was stuck in a hospital for the better part of 6 weeks. As you can imagine, it was not the most enjoyable experience for either of us. She was in pain and will continue to be in pain as operations continue and physical therapy attempts to get her moving. I was a mobile, healthy, happy person that was trying my best not to show her all that she was missing.
That is a hospital visit for just about anyone in a nutshell. The worst part of my day will be navigating a hospital designed by MC Escher and the worst part of her day will trump that by a factor of 10,000. And so goes the hospital visit. But this is a customer service blog and not a bad day blog, so let’s get to the juicy bits.
When I entered this maze of a hospital I encountered an information desk. I asked for help finding a room that my friend was staying in. I was kindly told by the associate that another associate, a volunteer, would take me to the elevator.
We can pause here and notice a few things done good and bad in my customer experience so far: 1) This hospital is so hard to navigate that live people are needed throughout at information booths. 2) These people so far are very friendly. 3) These booths are so underfunded they need volunteers.
Then it gets entertaining. The associate, a tall, young man who seemed nice said less than 3 words over the course of our 4 minute walk to the elevators. Those words were, “Here you go.” Nothing about how to find our way back, how is the weather or welcome to the most expensive place you will hate going. Awkward silence with a stranger is fine for elevators once inside. Outside of hard to find elevators, when you are the sherpa on this quest with a visitor it may help to offer a few words of encouragement. Otherwise the negative feelings that are constant within a hospital will be multiplied.
So I go about my visit and all ends well. Until I encounter the parking attendant in the parking ramp exit booth. I pull up in my car and say hello. I get nothing back. I hand her my parking ticket and valet coupon. I get a single word, “three.” I decide to challenge her a bit and ask for clarification, “dollars?” I ask quizzically. I get no reply. I give her 3 dollars and wish her well. She does not offer the same to me. So as we pull away, I joke to my wife, “I bet that job interview was rough! No words, just a small mirror hoping to be fogged.”
My wife of course, as is usual in my constant challenges to awkward customer service, challenges my perception. She exclaims, “Not everyone needs to be great at customer service. There are probably not that many people clamoring to fill the position of parking lot attendant.”
Though she may be right in that sense, to believe that customer service is a limited commodity is completely ludicrous to me. Customer service is a skill that can be learned and mastered and anything less than even a remote attempt at portraying good customer service is grounds for living your life in a 3’x3’ box for 40 hours a week. If you are incapable of having a conversation with someone, however short, that is unable to garner even a crack of a grin from most people, you should likely not be in front of customers. Mop floors, flip burgers, code software or fasten screws on an assembly line. But don’t you dare enter the realm of customer interaction with a complete lack of care or charisma. You give a bad name to the very establishment that pays your rent. More importantly, you will also give a bad name to yourself. Of the hundreds of people that you interact with on a daily basis, how many could offer you a job or knowledge that you do not have now? How many does it take? How many could make you smile? How many could you make better people because they met you?
Perhaps these customer service challenged individuals had a bad day. Maybe the hospital recently was bought and they received a 20% pay cut that morning. Regardless of why the customer service was terrible, the reasons for offering extremely satisfying customer service will serve you much better than moping about your day. Because of these extreme examples of failure to offer even acceptable customer service I challenge the respectability of this hospital. But it goes beyond hospitals. It goes to every business that ever has to deal with a person.
My suggestion is to be certain that the people you have communicating with visitors at your business are trained in the skills needed to offer excellent customer service.
It will never fail you.
James is a Business Coach and Mentor for Draw In Customers. He is constantly watching for both extraordinary and suspect customer service to get blog content. If you would like help with your current customer service, James is available. Simply email him at james@drawincustomers.com.
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