From time to time organizations are called on to provide assistance and advice to those people who buy or use its products or services. This can include people who work for the organization as long as they also purchase goods or services from the organization.

The prime motivation of this action of helping or doing work for someone is most likely primarily the monetary compensation received from the organization.   The customer must be dealt with because that is the specified task they are paid to do.

Company or Client

The biggest challenge in customer service is balancing the needs of the organization against those of the customer.  Loyalty to the company is imperative but effective customer service requires more than simply empathy.  The customer must be satisfied.

The most successful organization have empowered their front-line employees allowing them to act logically (within reasonable constraints) rather than simply preaching the corporate gospel, particularly when it does not make sense to them.

Using Common Sense

I recently encountered an example of a lack of common sense in a customer exchange with BMO (my former employer for 33 years).  The customer service representative I was dealing with blindly insisted on something that made no sense.

I insisted on speaking to her manager.  She reviewed the case with her boss and told me the manager would review and call me in 15 minutes.  They did not.

Ultimately the situation was resolved to my satisfaction, what I was proposing was accepted as totally reasonable, but the hoops I needed to go through left a pretty bad taste in my mouth.

Find the Balance

Disaffecting customers through blind stupidity is caused by a lack of empowerment.  The risk of not acquiring or retaining a customer needs to be balanced against the blind adherence to policy (or what the service provider thinks is policy).

Organizations with top-flight customer service understand this and enable their employees to do what is right without jumping through a series of silly hoops.