Service + Solutions: The Formula for Better Customer Interactions

The fundamental purpose of a business is to solve problems and serve customers. It is what drives a company’s effectiveness, sustainability, and ultimately their success. Every employee at the company should know the kind of customer that they serve and what problems they solve. These two things should be ingrained in the employee’s mind from the day they are hired, motivating their every interaction with customers. 

While profitability is a factor that must be considered in business, it should never be the primary or sole reason for a person’s actions. If you are taking care of your customers and offering them solutions, then revenue comes naturally. However, if your main focus is on getting money out of your customers, then you will likely lose sight of the organization’s mission, and your customers will quickly grow frustrated and take their business elsewhere.

This is important because what a customer says about their experience with a business has a significantly greater impact than what the business says about themselves. You can tell your customers that you care about them, but if they don’t feel that way, then your words are meaningless. No matter how great your marketing efforts and brand messaging campaigns are, you have to live into your mission, not just talk about it. The organization’s core values should be reflected in each customer interaction.

If a customer has a negative experience and brings this up to an employee at the organization, their focus should be on service and solutions. When an employee is unwilling to listen to or assist the customer, or their reaction is to become defensive, the customer’s negative feelings will not dissipate; rather, they will escalate. While many employees may believe that the loss of one customer’s business will not make a difference to the organization as a whole, this attitude can create a pattern of poor customer service, creating a compounding effect.

The key to positive customer interactions is to offer service and solutions, and if you are unable or unwilling to assist the customer, you should direct them to someone who is able and willing to do so. After all, if you are not solving problems, and you are not serving customers, you are not in business; you are just busy.

-Meghan Slaughter