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“It’s the way I do business,’ I said. “It is just one of the rules that I’ve always lived by. Clients come first. So this week my blog is a little late. And so it goes.”

“I don’t think any of us see it differently,” said Kate. “I’ve been a sales consultant longer than I care to admit but I have to agree. One of the greatest problems with some of the younger sales people I’ve been training lately is that they have a different idea of timeliness and maintaining a schedule. I know I’m not alone in this observation. It is a key ingredient in some of the blogs I read regularly but more importantly it is feedback from the HR people I trust. Customer service is everybody’s job”

“What’s the problem?” Chris asked. “You know I’m a part of that cohort.”

Kate replied, “In simplest terms some have a self-centered attitude that gets in the way of being effective with customers. Not everybody in the recent college graduates has it but the numbers are sufficient for it to be cited as a common problem. The conjecture is that in college the individual was on their own schedule but showing up at a specific time doing the work and leaving at the close of the business day is a foreign idea. If something that basic is difficult for them to grasp you can imagine how difficult it is for them to put customers ahead of themselves.”

“You don’t have to be a college grad to have that kind of disregard for customers,” said Gail. “Have you tried to get a clerks attention in a department store lately? I timed a conversation between two young ladies who were supposedly clerks at the customer service department at a local store yesterday. It took them eleven and half minutes to even acknowledge me. And then the one that handled my return didn’t even apologize for keeping me waiting. She acted like I was interrupting her!”

“And theah goes the brand down a rat hole,” said Rob. ‘Every time a clerk keeps you waiting the brand takes a hit. Every time that person in the government office says you should take a number when there is no one else in the office you get a lower opinion. When the delivery truck for the local florist cuts you off in traffic their brand wilts a little. When anyone in the company that goes face to face with customers is not fully committed to making the customer experience positive your brand suffers.

Customer service is not a department, it’s a mindset.

Y’all can run a one man band or a big enterprise. The problem is the same. Relationships are built with customers one interaction at a time. One, plus another and another until you have a string of them. Y’all have to work at making that string one of pearls.”

“But how do you do it?” I asked. Woody Allen said that showing up is half the job. I can see explaining that aspect of working to youngsters with good attitudes. Whoops! I guess I got ahead of myself there because I assumed people would hire for good attitudes and then train for other skills.”

Kate injected, “That is what my contacts are resorting to. More and more they are having potential new hires do assessments– a kind of psychological test that gives you an idea of whether they will fit into your corporate culture and in some cases how well they match up to profiles of successful people in the areas you’re hiring them for. It’s working.”

Chris volunteered, “We’ve been working on hiring some new telephone sales people in the last few weeks. We reviewed the records for all of the current ones and found that one gal stands out in terms of number of closes and speed to close.”

“Let me guess,” said Kate, “She knows how to get to know somebody before she tries to sell them anything. She asks questions up front so the person she’s talking to knows their need is being put first. She presents the product or service in the caller’s terms and will tell you she lets them buy when they are ready rather than trying to force a sale.”

“Are you psychic?” Chris asked.

“No,” I said, “She’s just an expert, particularly at training sales people. The reason she is so well respected is that she knows how to hire good ones. She’s the one that taught me about hiring for attitude. Like Bubba said, It’s a mindset. Everybody has to have the same one. So you have to keep it simple. That’s what a mission statement is all about. But it only works if you hire people with the right attitude and train them in how to apply it. Customer service is why a company exists.

Jerry Fletcher and his friends will return next week. Jerry apologizes for being a little late this week.

Jerry is a Networking Ninja, Marketing Rainmaker and Contact Relationship Magician and if you find that intriguing, learn more at www.JerryFletcher.com

Jerry speaks professionally (so far on 3 continents) on Trust Based marketing Strategies that work on and off line. See videos of some of his signature stories at www.NetworkingNinja.com