What differentiates exceptional customer service from good service? It could be to do with 'feelings' - how the recipient of service feels afterwards. If customers and clients walk away from an interaction with us with a warm, positive feeling then whatever we did is an example of exceptional customer service. In other words we 'delighted' them.

Delighting customers doesn't have to take much time or energy. It can be the little things that make the difference. For example, a Receptionist bidding farewell to a visitor with 'enjoy the rest of the day' or an unprompted offer of help when a customer looks confused.

A few years ago, a senior manager of a major supermarket chain addressed the staff saying that parking your car further away from the supermarket entrance when arriving at work frees up more convenient spaces for customers to park. It's also a subtle sign of taking 'customer delight' seriously.

“Great customer service is not rocket science. It is often just doing the simple things excellently”

CUSTOMER CARE FOCUS MAGAZINE

Here's some more examples of exceptional customer service:

- The insurance call centre whose Agents start to take calls as soon as they get to their desk, rather than an allotted time, so that ‘early’ customers are not disappointed.

- The employees who bring in magazines from home for clients to read in a dental reception.

- The actions of a department store assistant when a customer spilt coffee down herself in the restaurant. She asked her to choose a garment from the ladies wear department to loan, arranged for the dry cleaning of the soiled garment and returned the cleaned garment direct to her home the following day.

- A parcel delivery service who answer the phone on the first ring to demonstrate that they are the fastest delivery service.

- The employee who delivered an urgent order on her way home from work so that the Customer would not run out of supplies.

- The Contact Centre Agent who sent a customer a bunch of flowers after hearing that she was very shaken following a car accident.

- The service representative who frequently remembers previous conversations with customers e.g. “How did your daughter enjoy her camping weekend?”

Customer service - spread the love! What are your delighting service stories?

This topic is covered in more detail in our fully designed, ready-to-deliver course material on Exceptional Customer Service.

Bryan Edwards is Managing Director of ABC Training Solutions Ltd (www.abctrainingsolutions.biz) which delivers training and markets a range of fully-designed, ready to deliver workshops, self study packs and other training exercises for the busy trainer. He can be contacted on 07747 602215 or info@abctrainingsolutions.biz