Today you can count yourself fortunate to get served, never mind delighted with the service you receive. Everywhere I go I am appalled at the level of customer service – now there are notable exceptions, but the vast majority of companies and organisations have gone to hell in a handbasket when it comes to World-Class Customer Service.

A few recent personal examples – the Vodafone shop in Sydney, Australia where the assistant kept chatting to who knows who, on her mobile phone, the entire time she served me. The York, UK taxi driver who played his car radio so loud he could not hear where I wanted to go and when asked to turn the radio down a bit became aggressive and abusive.  In Dubai, the Emirates Business Lounge Assistant who refused to accept my recently out of date Business Lounge Card because they did not have an electronic card reader that would have accepted the card (the account was valid). She did offer to let us in the Lounge for $40 each, no thanks. I am sure you all have your own customer service disaster stories.

During the 1980’s and 1990’s customer service became a great differentiator between good and bad companies, but today customer service is too often seen as window dressing. When electronic systems improve your customer experience then fine and dandy – but it is people contact, whether on the phone or face-to-face, that makes the real difference. Computerised systems mask the differential – try taking away the system and many companies would fall flat on their face.

Teaching World-Class Customer Service at school should not only be compulsory, but should be an essential part of a young person’s development – demonstrating both in case studies and personal projects the difference that World-Class Customer Service makes in today’s fast-moving electronic world. Teaching children how to perform World-Class Customer Service would make life not only more pleasant, but outstandingly so.

Many Private and Public service organisations have long ignored the benefits of world-class customer service in preference to an employee-first culture. Organisations have abandoned world-class customer service in favour of software that makes for a better customer service experience, because it’s easier and does not depend on employee performance!

Unless something is done, World-Class Customer Service will go the way of the Dodo bird and become something quaint that a previous generation used to do.  But they will miss that special feeling that world-class customer service brings – the employee who not only delivers great service but also ensures that everything possible is done for the customer. The employee who follows-up of their own volition to ensure that the customer’s experience is the best it can possibly be and is done with a genuine smile – that employee has made a real difference in someone’s life – not just completed the sale!

We should honour people who provide World-Class Customer Service because they are distinctive in a world that is moving towards sameness.  Just think of how great an experience your local National Health Service, Local Council Authority, Vodafone Shop or Airport could be if they only learnt how to provide and execute World-Class Customer Service?

Imagine a Health Service that provided you with a choice of appointment dates to suit you,  with same day test results, and with a personalised medical service designed to meet your needs, quickly and responsively.

Or a Local Authority that made living in your area a delightful experience with low council tax, super services and fewer regulations.

How about a Vodafone Shop Assistant that listened to your needs and helped you design a package that suits you – rather than their local sales targets.

Heaven help us if we could get an Airport designed for passengers – where we could feel comfortable and safe without feeling like we were the terrorists.

If you want to make a difference – try providing World-Class Customer Service – it is not the easiest way, only the best way!  World-Class Customer Service puts customer first and is identified by such customer comments as – “extraordinary, outstanding, unique, unprecedented, remarkable and phenomenal.”

Now does that describe what you experience out there every day? Try and have a good one!