During a recent training session, I asked someone who is designated as a back-up to answering the phones who her customers were.  She was confident in her response, “I don’t have customers.  I don’t have anyone from the outside call me.”  I explained that customer service isn’t a job title, but a trait a person has.  It is about understanding who you interact with each day and being intentional about helping him or her to the best of your abilities.  It’s about serving people.  She caught on quickly and came to understand that her customers were most often people within the office and those from other offices who don’t pay for a service, but count on her to help with something. Internal customers are important. 

Recently, a manager suggested that we should remove a Tooty Customer Service score because the person who handled the call was not part of the “customer service department”.  I can understand being disappointed by a low score, but the focus should be on how to help the individual and team improve.  Not to erase the result.

Casting the vision for customer service in 2018

As a team, define who your internal customers are and agree to demonstrate excellent customer service to them.  Consider including:

• Response time to emails, etc.
• Answering internal calls professionally
• Using please and thank you

For your paying external customers,  you need to know where the calls are routed and who potentially will talk with them.  If you have people on your team who need to be better-teach them. It is the perfect leadership opportunity.

Maybe answering phones is a part of your daily duties.  Or, a customer call may be transferred to you or you might be asked to help-out a co-worker when it is busy.  Be prepared to serve and be grateful to serve.