The Different Levels of Customer Service

Believe it or not, as a manager you have a responsibility to ensure that your team delivers top knotch customer service at all times. No one is excluded, whether he deals with the public or not.

What most people don’t realize is that everyone is responsible for a certain degree of customer service. You may not have external customers, but you certainly have internal customers. For example, if you work in the human resource department you are responsible for giving great service to any employee expecting payroll or training. If you’re in accounting you may find you are responsible for providing great customer service to department heads needing financial reports. Get the point?

According to Andrew Gibson there are three main levels of customer service. They are the expected level, the desired level, and the unanticipated level.

I think they each speak for themselves. The expected level is the minimum quality level you can get away with and still say you did your job – the bare bones. The desired level is the level of customer service your customer wishes you would give, even if it means you go above and beyond every once in a while. The unanticipated level of customer service is the one in which you go above and beyond the call of duty, do a stellar job, make your customer incredibly happy, and continue to do so.

Of course, the unanticipated level of customer service could, in truth, go the other way – but we’re going to focus on the positive here.

So, if you had to choose the type of customer service you deliver to your “clients,” on what level would you fall? Did you even realize you had a responsibility to provide customer service, or to ensure that your team does so? If not, it’s time to step back and evaluate your team and its focus!

Thanks again,

Sean

Sean McPheat

Managing Director

MTD Training