Practicing Extreme Customer Service

Customer service comes in three flavors, but most companies understand only two. The first of these is dissatisfaction. This one is easy. This occurs when your customers are simply not happy. They are displeased. They don’t like the treatment they’re getting. We are not talking about the quality of the product; we are talking about the quality of the service that they have received during either the purchase process or a follow-up after a problem has occurred.

One of the “disconnects” that I found within companies is the failure to understand the difference between satisfaction and the lack of dissatisfaction. Lack of dissatisfaction is apathy; I’m not satisfied, I’m simply there.

The second flavor is satisfaction. This occurs when customers are okay with their service provider, but not “wowed.” This is where problems begin in a quest for excellence, since customer satisfaction is too often the goal of companies. Again, this is a major “disconnect” since satisfaction should not be the goal. Satisfaction should be the norm, to be expected.

The third flavor should be your quest. This is customer loyalty, creating a customer who is going to stay with you (again, we’ll be referring to this as “owning” your customer). Often-times, owning your customer will require radical change in the way you do business, but the results will be radical as well. Unfortunately, the effort is not for the faint of heart.