We've all experienced subpar service at the hands of an apathetic employee or an unobservant manager. You don't need us to tell you how frustrating it is to be on the receiving end of bad customer service, but unfortunately for the company on the other end, a consistent habit of this type of service can be its demise. Unless you're dining at Dick's Last Resort, no one wants bad customer service. When you give your money to someone for a service, you expect the experience to be worth your money-- not just in the quality of the object, but in quality of care. Going the extra mile for your customers by giving them good, convenient, and reliable service is what's going to keep them coming back for more.
Take Starbucks for example. Their coffee isn't the finest on the market. No one goes to Starbucks and thinks: “Wow! This is the best coffee ever!" I mean, it's good, but it's not the best. One reason for that? Starbucks built their business on Customer Care, rather than on the drinks produced. Their goal is to serve customers politely and with a smile. They are convenient and reliable in the sense that there's a shop on every corner, and you will receive a consistent product no matter where you are. If you order a caramel latte on Pike, it will taste the same as your caramel latte on Fremont (or even Hong Kong). On top of that, they serve their drinks extremely fast. Customers leave feeling happy about the product they receive, and they don't feel that they wasted their time waiting for their drink. They are in and out, and in that fleeting time, Starbucks employees leave an impression on their customers that keep them coming back again and again.
Good customer care is hard to obtain when you're dealing with multiple people in multiple branches. Business owners can't be at all locations watching all the employees to make sure they are living up to the customer service expectation that has been set. So how do business owners and managers create a trustworthy environment that ensures that their employees will be treating customers with the utmost care?
They usually do at least one of two things. The first: they set goals for their employees. Promotions, raises, and benefits will be given upon good work. The second, and probably most important, is employee care. If they want their employees to care about their job and customers, they have to show that they care about their employee's well-being. They do this by creating relationships, mentoring, and offering services or help to further their employees in their life-long endeavors. When employees feel like they are a person that matters to the company, they will likely take their job more seriously and work harder, meeting the standards that have been set by their higher-ups.
Care, whether customer or employee, is extremely important to the growth of a company. If you are the genius who created a food chain that seems to specialize in treating people badly, carry on. But for all the other businesses, it's our job to make people's day a little bit easier. If we make them happy, they will likely return the favor in how they work or how they buy.
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