Customer service? We don't give no stinking customer service! (an excerpt from "The Dog Walker & Pet Sitter Bible")

“In the old days, dealers knew your name, what you drank, what you played. Today, it's like checkin' into an airport. And if you order room service, you're lucky if you get it by Thursday.” - Robert DeNiro in the movie “Casino”

You don’t have to go very far to experience bad customer service. Just think about it for a moment. How often do you receive good customer service? When you call your cable company? When you go out to dinner? When you call your property manager? If you routinely receive good customer service than you’re in the minority because polls show customer service has become very poor in this country. Because I provide customer service to my clients for a living, I have a unique view to judge the customer service I receive. I am routinely dumbfounded at how poor it usually is.

So what can you do about this with your company? A lot! From the very beginning you can set a tone with your company of providing a high level of customer service to separate yourself from your competition and from the expectations of many of your clients. Astound your clients with the high quality of customer service you provide. This doesn’t mean you should let clients walk all over you; it just means when a client has a legitimate complaint or concern make sure you address it in the manner you would like your own concerns answered.

Every time I have a bad experience with customer service, and they are plentiful, I promise myself that I need to offer better service with my own clients. If there’s anything good about how bad customer support in this country has gotten it’s that it will be easier for your company to stand out with good customer service.

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