I was recently sitting at a cafe, halfway through my meal, with an empty glass of water, when I looked up and couldn’t find someone to refill my glass. Finally I flagged down a server, but it wasn’t until my mouth was dry and my meal was now cold that I received the refill.
A lot of people define customer service as helping current and potential customers when they need or ask for help. And yes, perhaps that’s atype of customer service. Real customer service, on the other hand, is anticipating and fulfilling someone’s needs and wants before they request help.
When I was 17, I worked as a busboy at Brent’s Delicatessen & Restaurant in Los Angeles. As part of the training process, I was told very explicitly: If you see a customer’s glass that is even half-full and the customer hasn’t finished their meal (let alone received it), don’t ask if the customer wants more of whatever their drinking; just bring them another full glass. That’s real customer service.
The hotel mega-brand Hilton runs a Twitter account called Hilton Suggests in which they search out people on Twitter who are asking for travel recommendations. They respond to each tweet, regardless if the person is one of their hotel guests (most of them are not) and offer local recommendations, with directions and other relevant info.
That’s real customer service. (You may be asking yourself: Why would Hilton invest in helping non-guests? Well, ask yourself this: The next time each person who they helped is traveling again, which hotel do you think they’re going to stay at?)
Ultimately, you need to anticipate the needs and wants of your current and potential customers, and then figure out the platform (social media, blog, app, etc) and content presentation (text, visuals, video, etc) that will maximize your brand message.
Hilton chose Twitter because of its immediacy and real-time communication functionality. The toilet paper brand Charmin created a mobile app to help people find clean public restrooms. The software company Canva uses a blog to help everyday people learn more about do-it-yourself graphic design, the cruz of its software.
The bottom line is that the ability to foresee and provide real customer service creates a relationship between business and customer based on added value and positive experiences. Just like we spend more time with people who add more value and positive experiences to our lives, we spend more money with businesses which do the same.
Based in Tel Aviv, Josh is the Head of Marketing & Operations for BlockGroup.
