WRITTEN BY:

Jaquie Scammell, award-winning author of The Future of Service is 5D, Service Habits 2nd ed. and Service Mindset.

I am the customer who walks into a retail store and patiently waits for the staff to finish their personal chit chat before they notice me and ask if I need some assistant.

I am the customer who walks into a fashion store and seeks out a shop assistant who is sitting behind the counter or back storeroom scrolling on their mobile phone.

I am also the customer who never returns after these experiences, simply taking my money elsewhere, not rewarding poor behaviour by giving my hard-earned cash to a brand. Harsh? Sure, but I am not alone, and this is a way too common story for many customers who shop for a product or service.

We are very quick to look for what’s wrong in a service interaction or worse, we have become accustomed to poor service and simply expect service interactions to be average. But perhaps there are more pockets of service excellence than we realise, we just don’t look for them enough.

And don’t get me wrong, I am not living under some rock or in some delusional bubble of optimism and positivity…. I can see that customer service in Australia doesn’t exactly evoke the same enthusiasm it perhaps once did. The impact from COVID-19 with the decline of people’s soft skills, the demand for more technology solutions driven by the appeal of AI, resulting in less human contact, and the relaxed somewhat complacent attitude of Australians, are just some of the reasons why mediocre customer service appears to be rampant.

So how do we break this service spell that seems to have a hold on us and what’s the reset needed to bring back better daily interactions with service staff?

I’ve heard it said by the father of the positive psychology movement, Martin Seligman.

“Build what’s strong instead of fix what’s wrong”. Maybe there are strong examples of service excellence right under our noses and we are missing them, because, yep, you guessed it, we have not programmed our mind to spot the good service interactions.

From 7th to 13th October, the world celebrates Customer Service Week, traditionally a workplace initiative to boost morale, raise awareness and recognise the frontline staff who serve customers each day.

In previous years International Customer Service Week hasn’t really taken off here in Australia, and maybe this is partly due to the fact that customers haven’t been involved in the conversation, the very recipients and judges of what average and excellent service looks like.

So an invitation to anyone who is wanting to see better customer service in Australia, is to go on a fact-finding mission over the duration of Customer Service Week and notice the pockets of service excellence from your local barista, the agent in a call centre, the lady who serves you at the dry cleaners, anyone who is a service professional, going above and beyond in the way they serve you. And when you notice these shining stars, tell them and show them you appreciate their service.

Here are three effective ways to show someone you appreciate their service:

  1. Smile at the employee and tell them they are doing a great job
  2. Be specific when you thank an employee for serving you who has gone above and beyond. For example, thank you for always smiling, thank you for being so efficient with my request or thank you for making my day easier
  3. Reward them with a tip if appropriate, give them a rating or write them a good review

Customers are a huge part of the way forward in wanting better service in Australia. As long as we stop rewarding poor service when we get it and start praising and rewarding excellent service when we experience it.