Customer service is a topic that strikes a chord (often a sour note) with many. Some industries, such as air travel and cable / internet providers, are riddled with complaints about poor customer service. Their reputations for mistreating customers are the stuff of nightmarish legends. Other industries or companies are known for their excellent customer service. Apple. Ritz Carlton. Mercedes Benz. These companies consistently provide customers with five-star service. In fact, Ritz Carlton prides itself on delivering six-star service! Regardless of what a company does, builds, makes or provides, the ability to meet the needs of the client or customer is key.
However, if you ask most business people to identify their ‘customers’ or ‘clients’, 99% will inevitably point to the folks spending money to purchase their products or services. Those are the ‘external customers’. Most will not identify their own colleagues and coworkers as ‘customers.’ But, indeed, many of the people who work for a mid-sized or large company don’t actually deal with the external customers or clients who are buying the products or services. Most of the staff of any company are actually ‘behind-the-scenes’, cogs in the machinery that allow companies to function, such as accounting, marketing, HR, IT, production and operations. These people seldom, if ever, speak to or meet an external client or customer. Instead, they provide services that make it possible for others in the company to meet the needs of the external customer. They service the ‘internal customer.’ Unfortunately, internal customer service is even more replete with bad service. Yet, the internal customer is as important as the external customer. Why is that and how does one go about improving a company’s internal customer service?
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