ABC's of Customer Service

If you want your staff to remember the essentials of customer care, there’s no better way to teach them than with the ABC of Customer Service..

A is for Attention to Detail. Because when customers know you care passionately about the little things, they’ll know you care a great deal more about the big things.
B is for Benefits which is all your customer wants you to tell them.
C is for Complaints, your free marketing service.
D is for Dedicated staff, because when the team is fully engaged, customer loyalty goes up by two-thirds.
E is for Empowerment which means trusting and training your staff to do whatever it takes to thrill the customer.
F is for Feelings. As the Scottish Life advert says: “Make each customer feel like you’ve held the door open whilst laying your jacket across a puddle and then rescued their kitten from a tree.”
G is for Going Out Of Your Way, just like the engineer who took a 50-mile detour on his way home from work just to deliver a phone to a customer who had been waiting all day for it.
H is for Hi-Tech, Hi-Touch, because when things get complicated, that’s when people want the personal touch.
I is for Ichiban, the Japanese word for “wanting to be the best”.
J is for the customer Journey, which you must know every inch of.
K is for Kaizen, another Japanese word which means “continuous improvement”.
L is for Loyalty, which you buy by engaging their minds and piercing their hearts.
M is for Moments of Truth, those hundreds of opportunities every day to turn their heads.
N is for Now For Something Extra, that ends every customer interaction on a high.
O is for Observing your customers’ needs before they know them themselves.
P is for the Pride that staff feel when they know they’re in a valued profession.
Q is for Quality: of product, of service, of manners, of courteousness.
R is for the golden Rule: the customer is always right, even when they’re wrong.
S is for Sincere Smiles, that aren’t false but melt the coldest hearts.
T is for Tact, the one thing your customers will notice but you must pretend not to.
U is for Under promise and Over deliver, the simplest way to make someone’s day.
V is for adding Value because there’s nothing so precious as your time, your care and your attention.
W is for the Wow Factor, when you stop them in their tracks.
X is for eXtraordinary service that is out of this world.
Y is for Your Mum Was Right, because it’s all about respect.
Z is for a good night’s Zzzzz’s after a great day’s work.

Practice these attitudes and skills, and you’ll love your job and your customers will love you.