3.03 Get the guidelines

Just about any occupation or industry you can think of provides customer service in some form or another. Doctors provide health care to patients. Hotel clerks provide registration, checkout, and wake-up calls to travelers. Advertising executives provide promotional materials to companies. Police officers provide public safety to local citizens. All employees can establish a customer service mindset, even if they don’t deal directly with customers on a daily basis. Here are a few guidelines for demonstrating this mindset:

  • Consider customer needs. Approach every job task with the goal of satisfying customers’ needs. This is often easy for salespeople or cashiers to remember, since they see and talk to customers all the time. However, other employees should adopt the same attitude as well. For example, a loan processor may never meet the clients s/he is preparing documents for, but her/his job tasks are vital for creating customer satisfaction.
Be accurate
  • Be accurate. Perhaps there is a reason why the word take appears in mistakes. You see, customers who are upset over mistakes often take their business elsewhere. In addition, having to correct mistakes takes away time you could spend on other essential job duties.

Employees in every type of position must double-check their work for accuracy. Even employees who don’t deal directly with customers will still have “internal customers” to please. For instance, the accounting department is likely responsible for providing accurate and up-to-date financial reports to top management. Accounting employees must keep the needs of these “customers” in mind when completing their work.

  • Be efficient. In today's fast-paced world, customers don't have a lot of time to waste. Therefore, all employees should be prepared to do their jobs in a quick, effective manner. Some things that can help you do this are:
    • Developing and mastering each and every skill necessary to do your job
    • Knowing how to operate any equipment you have to use for your job tasks (computer, printer, specialized machinery, etc.)
    • Becoming familiar with all of your business’s products, even the ones you don’t work with directly
    • Keeping your work space organized for action

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