The Importance of Recognizing Service Levels for Customers

Despite common belief, it is your responsibility as a manager to ensure that your team always provides stellar service to customers. Those who interact with the public as part of their job or those who do not are both welcome.

The majority of individuals do not realize that serving others, especially customers, is a shared responsibility. Even if you don't deal with customers on the outside, you almost certainly deal with them on the inside. If you work in human resources, for instance, you have a responsibility to help any employee who needs assistance with payroll or training. If you work in accounting, you might be responsible for providing stellar service to department heads who require financial reports as part of their jobs. Do you understand it now?

There are essentially three tiers of support available to customers, as described by Andrew Gibson. The three tiers are known as "expected," "desired," and "unexpected."

Expected level

In order to receive praise for a job well done, you need only meet the minimum standard set by the market.

Desired level

The level of service your customers expect from you is the one you should strive to deliver, even if it does require going the extra mile on occasion.

Unanticipated level

Going above and beyond, performing flawlessly, making the customer extremely happy, and continuing to do so is the unexpected level of service.

In reality, the unexpectedly high level of customer service could work in the opposite direction, but for the sake of this discussion, we'll focus on the positive.

If you were to choose the level of customer service you provide to your "clients," where would you fall? Did you know it was your job to make sure your team provided stellar service to clients? If not, take a breath and reevaluate your group's goals!