The Lion King | 7
Ways in which excellent
customer service can be distorted
Cover Story
customer is ‘King’ and the reason for
the company’s corporate existence, so
she appreciates, respects and values
all customers and serves customers
with passion, zeal and enthusiasm. The
individual also has a good customer
service orientation.
Efficiency:
The ‘excellent’ individual
attends to and processes customers’
transactions on time, with a sense of
urgency because she respects the
customers’ time
Reliability:
The ‘excellent’ individual is a
person of truth and integrity. Her word is
her bond; promises made to customers
are kept.
Effective Communication Skills:
The ‘ex-
cellent’ individual relates to customers
in such a way that there is always mu-
tual understanding and no ambiguities.
Prompt Resolution of Issues:
Resolves
customer’s issues with a sense of urgen-
cy based on a genuine concern for the
customer and customer satisfaction.
Hitch-Free Business Operations:
Such
an individual ensures systems and pro-
cesses function optimally. She supports
smooth business processes, has a good
system maintenance culture and is
prompt to resolve issues that can halt
business processes.
Strong Customer relationships:
The indi-
vidual builds strong customer relation-
ships. She knows key customers person-
ally and always goes the extra mile to
serve and delight them.
Knowledgeableness and Competency:
The ‘excellent’ individual is technically
sound, competent and is very good
on-the-job. The individual is also well
read and has a good knowledge of
the industry she works in. The individual
is passionate about self development
and does not wait for officially sched-
uled training to deepen knowledge
and skills.
Innovativeness:
With a strong desire
for service excellence, the individual
always consistently reviews business
operations with a view to improving
Omission
Memory Lapse
Perception
Traffic Issues
Individual Difference
Oversight
Failure to follow
laid down service
standards
efficiency of business processes.
Perfectionism:
The ‘excellent’ individu-
al is careful and produces top quality,
error free output by paying attention
to the standard of every detail of the
working environment, observing the
highest standards.
Commitment:
The ‘excellent’ individual
is truly and sincerely committed to the
goals, objectives and the very essence
of the organisation, spreads only ‘pos-
itive’ energy within the organisation, is
hardworking and never gives up.
HOW TO BUILD EXCELLENCE IN YOU
Imbibing and consistently demonstrat-
ing the tenets discussed above will build
excellence in you and make you a role
model for other staff in the organisation.
When attention
isn’t paid to details
Poor customer
service delivery
Obvious errors that
could be avoided
Failure to remember
that a service
request is pending
Failure to manage
expectations well
delayed service
delivery or
non-service
delivery
Customer’s
perception of good
customer service is
not met
clogs in internal processes
Poor customer
service delivery
If the attitude is wrong, the customer
service delivery will be wrong
When service is impacted by negative
attitude of the customer service agent
