Anne Ohrt

My husband and I recently had the opportunity to build a new home in the area. We love our new home, but what we have not loved and, frankly, have been disgusted by throughout the whole process, has been the lack of customer service that we received from many of the vendors we worked with. If I was given the opportunity to complete a survey regarding the customer service we received from some of the vendors we worked with, many would have received scores in the negative digits.

The resounding theme throughout the entire overall house building experience was that prompt, thorough customer service was not an important part of their brands.

What does your customer service “brand” look like? Do you emulate that level of service in your everyday interaction with others? I can imagine that all of you who read this publication each month have some type of customer that you are responsible for interacting and communicating with. These customers might be your team members, other vendors, a classroom full of students, or members of the community.

Regardless of your customer’s relationship to you, your amount of responsiveness, your ability to earn their trust, your follow through, your quality of service and work, and your attitude all play factors into whether or not they believe you deliver quality customer service. Your “brand” then must truly match the level of customer service you are going to offer. Why else do you think referrals work so well? Because the customer service has been great and whatever work that was done was done well.

Take a moment to think of companies that are known for great customer service. What companies pop to the front of your mind? Disney? Amazon? Would you insert your company name next? Is it easier to list the companies that do not have stellar customer service?

The first customer service glimpse that an individual might experience with any company could occur as they apply for a job. Consider for a moment the average job seeker who is looking for a position and sends out 20 resumes. What does it say to them when they never hear back from any of those companies even acknowledging that they had received the resume? Would you want to work for that company? Why must candidates get lost in a seemingly black hole when attempting to find a job? What does your interactions with prospective clients say about your level of responsiveness?

I leave you many questions to ponder because your customer service brand must be something that is part of your company’s everyday mission, vision, and values and executed at the same level by all employee at every level in the company. You also must define what customer service means: prompt service, quality work, etc. If you have not defined this, then your employees will not have standards to aspire to.

If you already have a well-defined customer service brand, I encourage you to look for ways to continually improve it. Gather feedback from current customers, staff, and patrons. Ask them what you can do to deliver even better results. Push the envelope and be creative. If you gather feedback, make sure to review and implement. Don’t miss out on a chance to be great by letting your feedback collect dust.

It is time to put the customer back into customer service. As our world becomes more automated, don’t forget how important the human touch is. Help instill in our future and current work force that it is still important to do what you say you are going to do and keep the level of customer service high.

Anne Ohrt is human resource manager at Geonetric in Cedar Rapids. She can be reached at (319) 221-1667 or Anne.Ohrt@geonetric.com