Column: Nancy VanderWaerdt, Guest Column

Over the past years in building a business and coaching a company program, I have had the opportunity to study several aspects of business including customer service. It was my privilege to work with other community business people on the topic of customer service. I am going to share with you a small portion of that workshop.

Is customer service an art or a science? The answer is yes.

It is a science as providing excellent customer service is recognizing and understanding the different personalities and behavior styles that your customer has. We are who we are by nature, and there is no right or wrong style. It is in understanding yourself and how you are as well as realizing the beauty and uniqueness in others that makes the relationships with customers such a joy in life.

Some shoppers will go from store to store to find exactly what they are looking for — the feel, the fit, the color, the style, the fabric, the buttons or zipper, all of the many details that make it what they want or need and they want all of the information.

Other shoppers also know exactly what they are looking for, and they see it and might try it on. But generally they know it is what they want or need and just take it, pay for it and are on their merry way.

Providing customer service to these two examples is different in many ways but similar in some. The first customers in the example take patience as they want all of the information, and they want their service provider to realize that they want the information. They also might buy it now, but they also could come back later.

The service provider needs to let them know they want them to purchase from them and if there is anything else they need to know or would like. They probably will be back.

The latter customers in the example just want the item and the price and quickly wants to pay and go. They have done the research themselves. If you give this person too much information, they may leave and purchase the item elsewhere. They want to know you understand how they buy. The science is to recognize the different styles and provide the service they want. It is in honoring the differences that makes excellent customer service.

Another part of the science is found in a quote by Mac Anderson of Simple Truths materials — www.simpletruths.com — when he stated that “customer service is not a department — it is an attitude.” The challenge here lies in maintaining a positive attitude with all of the differences in customers, balancing your own life and work, the pressures at the store or office, not having the exact item or solution a customer wants at the time, even weather changes can influence a person’s attitude, customer and service provider both.

Again it takes knowing yourself and remembering that the customer comes first and to take a deep breath to calm down and think what is the positive response to what is going on. Again this is not easy, but it is well worth the time and effort.

The science of listening is another key part of customer service. Peter Drucker stated that “the most important thing in communication is to hear what isn’t being said.” And Alfred Brendel reminds us that “the word ‘listen’ contains the same letters as the word ‘silent.’”

One of the activities the participants did in the customer-service workshop provided through the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce was to list all of the elements of a great customer-service experience that they had had. The list included the elements of listening and recognizing customer needs. Customers like when the associates could read them — had instincts to know what they wanted, eye contact was direct, asked what the customers wanted and then listened, went over and above what was stated. The associates could read them both verbally and nonverbally.

It is a science to be a good listener and not always easy. Remember the childhood game where one person started by whispering in one person’s ear a “secret” and then passing it on to the next and then the last person had to state what they heard? It usually was not even close to the original message. Henry Ford puts the challenge in listening by stating “if there is any one secret to success, it lies in the ability to get the other person’s point of view and see things from their angle as well as your own.”

What a wonderful world this would be if we each understood each other and truly listened! Again it is hard to truly hear what others are saying and sometimes what they are not saying. A science.

The art of customer service comes when you look at the heart. It is putting your personal signature on what you do for others. Being creative in your own way of taking care of others. Honoring that uniqueness in each person that you work with as well as each person you meet and serve.

It is that extra smile, the greeting by name, the thank you and appreciation when a customer leaves. It is making them feel like they are No. 1, and they are the only person who matters at the moment you are with them, being honest with them, solving problems and really going that extra mile for the customer. These are some of the elements the Albert Lea-Freeborn County Chamber of Commerce group shared as being important to them. In the book “Positively Outrageous Service” by T. Scott Gross, he states that serving outrageously is another way of saying “I care.” I would like to change it to “I care and really mean it,” saying it from the heart.

There are so many different aspects of customer service. It is not easy, but it is so important to any business and to life in general. Some of the simple things anyone can do is just recognize a person with a genuine smile and offer to help them. That alone would go a long way toward customer satisfaction. I would like to conclude with what I shared with the Chamber of Commerce group, some thoughts from Barbara Ganz who as written a beautiful book called “The Simple Truths of Service”

Great service:

Inspires stories

Uses outside-the-box thinking

Is a choice

Starts with a clear vision

Requires that everyone catch the vision

Surprises people

Begins with everyone

Goes the extra mile

Brings the customer back

Comes from the heart

Make it a great day! Enjoy life!

Nancy VanderWaerdt is a State Farm Insurance agent in Albert Lea.