As Valentine's Day is less than 24-hours away, one can't help but be inundated with over-used phrases such as "I love you!" "You rock" and "U R cute". These one-size-fits-all vernacular threaten the importance of the original connotation of these words. But, today's entry is not intended to be a lecture on romantic phraseology.
Rather, my focus today is on the related loss of the meaning of another phrase: Customer Service.
One might argue that in today's communication-oriented business economy, every industry must focus on customer service or else risk capitalist extinction. It seems that most businesses do understand this need, as evidenced in the popular "customer service" link on business web sites, the "dial 0 to speak with a customer service agent" on 1-866 or 1-800 phone lines, etc. But as often happens with something that has become so commonplace, with few exceptions, the true art behind the craft of customer service has turned into something mechanical, automated, and even worse...forgotten. Customer service is not a department within an organization. It is not a noun. It is a verb, the act of providing service to the customer. You know, the customer, that person whose purchase of your product pays for your job to exist and for you to receive payment from your employer/said organization.
Let me illustrate one exceptional organization which does, indeed, understand and put into practice the action words "customer service." Nordstrom.
In preparation for a trip abroad, I purchased a London Fog coat from Nordstrom's online department store. In a few days, the coat arrived -- perfectly packaged in tissue, on hanger, and wrapped in plastic to prevent wrinkles. After closer inspection, I realized that there were no extra buttons. Normally, I would not notice such a thing until it was too late (as in, a button popped off while I was sitting down to a nice dessert with a fashionista girl friend of mine); however, due to recent clothing blunder with another coat, I have become extra button obsessed.
Referring to the enclosed packing slip, I dialed the Nordstrom's customer service line and immediately was connected to a living person, Stephanie. She was very helpful and quick to apologize for the neglected buttons and even more quick to come up with a novel solution. She offered to contact the London Fog supplier and have them ship me a package of extra buttons to fit my coat. I agreed, thanked her, and Stephanie and I ended our conversation.
A week later, in the mail came a lovely letter from the London Fog supplier along with a package of buttons of all sizes for my coat!
Nordstrom is one of the businesses which takes to heart the concept of providing excellent service to the customer. Thank you, Nordstrom, for being my go-to purveyor of this now rare commodity.
