Customer service is an attitude not a check list. Just because we offer to help, say thank you, return the food, provide a refund or fix the problem doesn’t mean we’ve provided customer service.

People want to be acknowledged. People want to be heard. They want to believe you understand them and their situation. Customer services is the connection between you and your customer. It’s the emotional engagement. Check lists can’t create emotion.

Training your employees to say thank you, have a nice day, or how can I help you, isn’t customer service. Creating automatic return policies or having a good refund process isn’t good customer service either.

Taking back a broken toy with a bad attitude only makes the problem worse. Getting a customer who didn’t like their food a different meal with a sarcastic attitude just makes the customer more angry.

The problem is no response will solve the problem without genuine acknowledgment and a positive attitude. The problem created a negative emotional response. To fix you need to create a positive emotional response. A smile, acknowledgment, and a genuine connection to your customers is where your customer service starts.

Customer service is like any type of relationship. People want to be heard, they want to be validated.

To provide good customer service don’t create checklists. Don’t teach your employees what to say. Get them to emotionally connect and that starts with a genuine smile and acknowledgment of their feelings.