I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asks me, “Why is customer service so difficult?” or “Why are most companies so bad at it when it’s only common sense?”

Front line employees in nearly every industry make $6–$16 an hour. Yet, you typically don’t see many of these people flying first class, staying at five-star resorts, or driving a Lexus. However, we expect these same people to deliver world-class service to our customers who often experience these types of things. Common sense is relative to life experiences. Often, the challenge is created when management assumes employees know how to deliver great service in all situations when, in fact, most front line employees haven’t experienced real world-class service.

That doesn’t mean we are supposed to pay everyone $100k to perform front line duties. Nor does it mean we need only hire a certain class of people. The ability to deliver world-class service has everything to do with a person’s Service Aptitude. How I define Service Aptitude is a person’s ability to recognize opportunities and exceed a customer’s expectations regardless of the circumstances, the key being “regardless of the circumstances”. When the order doesn’t arrive on time, the power goes out, or we are short staffed, that’s when we need to be able to think on our feet and when our true Service Aptitude is revealed.

Most people enter the world of business with a very low Service Aptitude. But through the proper service (soft) training program upfront and continuously, one’s Service Aptitude can dramatically increase. Unfortunately, most companies spend 99 percent of their training on the technical side of the person’s job. And, typically, it’s because they hire reactively just to get the position filled.

Action Plan
To truly be world class, organizations must develop learning and training programs based strictly on service and soft skills that remove gray areas and personal interpretations. This is done before any training specific to the functions of the job. Companies must first decide what their customer service training program should be modeled upon and stick to it. Why reinvent the wheel?

Examples of customer service training are a Secret Service boot camp, which may piggyback new employee orientation. All employees, team members, should receive training manuals listing the company’s customer service standards or “non-negotiables.” All should be tested on these and required to get a certain score before starting training for a specific role—and before coming in contact with customers. This training should be an annual requirement with quarterly refreshers, ensuring continued awareness of a company’s world-class service standards.

A Service Aptitude Test should be part of your service training. An SAT is a multiple choice test that puts employees through the most common customer situations and tests how well they think on their feet. Sometimes the answer is obvious and other times not so obvious. Regardless, this test teaches employees how to effectively handle many difficult situations. It also shows whether a person is ready to come in contact with customers or if he or she needs more training. An even better idea is to use the SAT during the interview process to help determine if candidates are a right fit for your service culture.

John DiJulius, HFBE’s newest columnist, is the author of Secret Service, Hidden Systems That Deliver Unforgettable Customer Service. He is a keynote speaker and president of Minding your Business, a firm specializing in helping companies become world class customer service organizations. John is also president of John Robert’s Spa, ranked as one of the top 20 salons in the country. DiJulius, www.johndijulius.com, can be reached at john@johndijulius.com or 216-839-1430.