Page 14 - voices-2023-05

LET'S TALK
Defining Customer Service
Lorri Andersen, DTM - District 7 Director
What are your experiences and thoughts on good
customer service? Have you had one of these
experiences:
You’re in the grocery store checkout line with
one checker. The person in front of you has a
large cart and the checker calls for a price check.
You stand patiently, at first, as you wait with a
few items in your hands. By the time you get to
the checkout, you are in no mood to smile when
the checker says, “thank you for shopping with
us today.”
Or you’re at the bank on a Friday afternoon.
14 ONE COMMUNITY
There are one or two tellers and the people
being served at the counter have issues that take
longer than a normal transaction. You look to the
window on your left and see someone is quietly
counting money. You gaze at them, hoping
they will look up and beckon you to their open
window, and the next thing you know, they close
their window displaying a sign, next window
please.
Now standing in line when we don’t want
to does not necessarily mean the service needs
to change, although it often feels that way. At
the financial institution where I
work, one of the key indicators
on our company’s scoresheet is
our Membership Feedback scored
through our customer service
surveys. We also have internal
surveys, as well, where back-
office teams are graded on their
performance to one another. A
few years ago, we had an initiative
to read a book by Ron Kaufman,
Uplifting Service. I encourage you
[1]
to read this great book that defines
the why and the how of customer
service. Equally enjoyable and
rather humorous, is his YouTube
video on how he defines the five
levels of service. From outstanding