Back in my retail years, one of the common questions I would get asked by a prospective employer is: “What did you like about your previous position?” Well, being that I worked in customer service in all my previous positions, my answer was always, “I liked that every day was different.”
In customer service you just never know what the day is going to bring. You could have a crazy busy day or you could have a day when only ten people walked into the shop. But what I liked most of all was that I met so many different people from all walks of life. Perhaps that’s why I’m such an open-minded person. Since I studied psychology in college, I was fascinated by how people shopped and why they shopped the way they did. Everybody wanted something different or they wanted what everybody else had, but different. People had different tastes and opinions about what quality is and isn’t. It was absolutely fascinating to me for some reason. There was never a boring day, that’s for sure.
What do you like about working in customer service?
Excellent post, Maria. I see this type of thing all the time. People forget they have 2 ears and one mouth. Of course we don't know how well this real estate agent knew their client, but it is safe to say that in general, people make a lot of assumptions about what is and what isn't important to their customers.
Why is it so hard to just ask for feedback and have a dialog rather than blasting through some paperwork. Dialog and interactions create understanding. Understand creates relationships. If someone takes the time to understand me, I have to respect that, and do some understanding of my own. This creates a relationship. Once a relationship is formed, we can now have customer experiences that transceds the current task at hand. At this point, we are no longer doing business as strangers. At this point, we can actually *move* people, and that creates an experience that is priceless. None of this can be accomplished without a dialog.
Posted by: Eric Mills | August 21, 2006 10:09 PM | Permalink to Comment