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On the one hand, we want it all - a vendor who can meet our information needs and treat us like fellow human beings. On the other hand, the citations tell a between-the-lines story of all the customer service out there that fails to live up to a pretty basic standard.
We all want to feel valued by the companies with which we do business, and we want our questions answered now (or, even, better, before we are aware of having them!). Yet global companies offer a range of products and services to purchasers with widely ranging needs and experience. Short of building product development and customer service teams that are omniscient and omnipotent, how can a company consistently deliver customer service that goes beyond satisfactory and into the realm that engenders undying loyalty among customers?
We offer these suggestions to companies, supplemented by the wisdom of Bureau van Dijk Electronic Publishing (BvDEP), the winner of the 2005 FreePint Award for Best Customer Service. Louise Green, the Marketing and Communications Manager for BvDEP, exemplified the qualities that customers cited among the company's strengths (cheerful, cooperative, responsive and committed to achieving a positive outcome) in providing this insight. In fact, upon hearing that her thorough responses via email obviated the need for a phone call, she responded, "I thought that might be the case, but I didn't suggest it. I didn't want to seem at all uncooperative."
Louise's response makes the point for all workers, anywhere, who interact with others. Customer service isn't just about your customers. It's also about anyone you interact with in a professional setting. Your boss. Your colleagues. Your partners. Your competition. Your subordinates. Your students. Provide them with great 'customer' service, and your future is yours to shape.
Learning from customers
Smart customer service involves listening to customers and responding to their questions, ideas, and emerging needs. That 'feature' you built into your software just might seem more like a 'bug' to a user. When customers complain, they're telling you about unmet needs. Do you learn from your customers, or simply tolerate them? Do you solicit their input, or do you dread their requests?
When the relationship works well, the vendor or service provider stands to benefit at least as much as the customer. Customers are the source of great ideas about product development, new approaches, and rising challenges that require solutions. Great customer service is an in-gathering system that collects valuable data and turns it into the raw materials for improvement.
At BvDEP, Louise reports, customer support staff have '... direct access to our programmers and product developers,' enabling them to get answers straight from the source on how to help a customer work on a particular technical problem. That close contact also enables support staff to share information about technical issues or design components from a customer perspective.
We users can be an unpredictable bunch, trying things with products that programmers can't believe we'd even think of. When our experiments cause things to go haywire, however, and they help us clean up the mess, they gain valuable information about what users really see in that interface and how they really dive into the content. A close liaising relationship between customer support and product development helps bridge the gaps between intent and experience.
Communicate
Learning involves two-way communication, and great customer service demands that a vendor push information outward to customers regularly and in a service-oriented fashion. No one wants to get constant product update announcements; many customers, on the other hand, may welcome periodic invitations to explore product features that will help them accomplish their business goals.
Communication is often mistaken for the medium that facilitates it. Emailing and telephoning is not communication; they are both tools that allow communication - connection between people - to happen. The most effective communication occurs between people who have some history and relationship, even if it's a virtual one.
"Our sales people manage their own accounts," even after the ink is dry on the service agreement, says Louise of BvDEP's approach. "Customers have a familiar point of contact who oversees their account and is responsible for their satisfaction."
Lest sceptics believe that this approach is mere rhetoric, note too that BvDEP support staff boast lengthy tenures with the company - an average length of service of 6 years in an industry that often chews up and spits out workers with gusto. Shaun Owen, who manages the support team, has been with the company for a decade. Thus, communication within the company is enhanced, as well as communication between vendor and customer. "It's much easier to impact our philosophy when we've still got people around who remember the value placed on our initial customers," explains Louise. "Customers appreciate the fact that they often speak to the familiar people even on the helpdesk lines."
What's more, BvDEP avoids automation at the customer interface. Call the helpdesk, and you speak to an actual human.
Educate
Many products that information practitioners use are complex - certainly even basic word processing systems require orientation and familiarity before their use becomes second nature. (Remember the first time you tried to email an attachment to someone?). When using a complex product, customers need formal and informal education to maximise their investment of time no less than money.
The current thinking in best practices for adult learning is that applied education situations are the 'stickiest' - they are more likely to be of recognised value, and they are more likely to stay with the user. At BvDEP, helpdesk staffers are recognised as educators, helping to answer on-the-ground questions about applications of the product to a particular user's situation.
Louise comments that the company is known for the helpfulness of its helpdesk - but it's not just her opinion. One of the FreePinters who nominated BvDEP for the FreePint Award commented: "Top-class telephone support for extremely difficult installations. They combined a light-hearted and friendly approach with knowledge that just seemed to be overflowing out of their heads. Every problem I came across they had a swift and accurate answer."
Customer support responds to questions, but it also offers opportunities to deepen a user's engagement with a product and a company by waking up the user's awareness of the multitude of ways the product can enable work to flow. That's an educational function, as much as a technical one.
In addition to ad-hoc education of helpdesk calls, BvDEP educates customers with web-based and site-based training, tutorials, and purpose-designed training manuals.
As anyone who has sat through a boring lecture knows, education is much more than subject knowledge. Training and education is a strategic investment in helping customers understand and best use a product.
Being a great customer
Relationships - even business relationships - must be a two-way street, if they are to be viable over time. A vendor-customer relationship works best when both sides take responsibility for useful and productive interactions. Part of getting great customer service is being a great customer.
Choose carefully
You can get clues about the kind of service you'll receive early in your interactions with a company. Pick vendors who exemplify in their sales cycle the kind of qualities you are looking for in customer service, and you are more likely to get those qualities throughout your relationship.
Warning signs that you are entering a bad relationship come early and often. Does the company share information willingly? Do its representatives seem genuinely interested in solving your problems, or are they just trying to make commission? Pay attention to those clues.
At a recent conference I attended on behalf of a client, I visited another vendor's stand to review an interesting looking product. The staffer at the stand literally grabbed the literature out of my hands, demanding to know why I wanted them. Odd, I know, but she had the idea that my 'exhibitor' badge might indicate that I was a competitor, conducting some kind of corporate espionage. While I was truly interested in the functionality of the product, and could have recommended it to many other clients, her behaviour suggested to me that this was not a company that was likely to deliver excellence in customer service, no matter how innovative their product. Somehow the culture didn't seem quite what I was looking for.
Be clear about your needs
It's very hard for a company (or a consultant or a colleague) to help you if you don't really know what you are looking for. Asking for one thing when you really need another (or not asking for anything when you really need something!) can get in the way of the kind of service you receive. You and the supplier will become frustrated, which is never good for anyone's relationship. We expect our suppliers of products and services to communicate clear and openly with us, peer to peer. To get good service, we have to be willing and able to do the same.
Be educable
So what if you aren't clear on what those needs are? If you don't know what you need, or even if you (think you) do, keep your mind open to the possibility of new information, new education, based on the vendor or service provider's expertise. Let a colleague share a new process approach, and be willing to try it, even if your own way has worked just fine for years. If education is part of giving good service, then being educable is part of being a good customer. When you ask for training, pay attention; don't check your email during the webinar. And show up if you reserve a seat. Stay on topic for the training programme; bring up off-topic questions during breaks or after the main programme.
And your piano teacher all those years ago was right - you also have to practice in order to get better. Schedule time to practice using new products and services, so that your training questions have a chance of not falling into the 'crisis' category. Training doesn't work if you don't apply what you've learned.
Conclusion
All relationships take time and effort to cultivate. Providing customer service and being a good customer are no different. Put in the time, and the relationship has a chance to deepen and grow. Neglect the garden, and the weeds grow thick.
Robin Neidorf is the founder of Electric Muse, a US-based research and communications consulting company that specialises in bringing information and communication together. She provides editorial support to FreePint by commissioning reports and articles, and working with authors to communicate their ideas as effectively as possible. Robin is the co-author of "E-Merchant: Retail Strategies for E-Commerce" (Addison Wesley, 2001) and the forthcoming "Teach Beyond Your Reach: An Instructor's Guide to Developing and Running Successful Distance Learning Classes, Workshops, Training Sessions and More" (Information Today Books, 2006). She can be reached at <editor@freepint.com>, or via her website, <http://www.electric-muse.com>.
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For the past four years, FreePint has sponsored a competitive award in recognising excellence in customer service. The award is announced and presented, along with an etched pint glass, at the gala evening of the Online Information event in the UK. 
