Take this quick survey:

1. Across industries, is customer service better or worse than it was 20 years ago?
2. What is the level of customer service in your industry?
3. …How about in your company?
4. How good is your own delivery of customer service?

J.D. Power & Associates conducted a similar survey of thousands of people from all walks of life, and this is what they found. See how it compares with your answers:

1. Over half of respondents said that the quality of customer service they receive is on the decline.

However, it seems we find that this decline is someone else’s fault. Here are the rest of the results:

2. Two-thirds said their own industry gives good customer service.
3. More than three in four say that their own company gets it right.
4. Just about 100% of those surveyed report that they personally treat their customers well.

Makes you think, doesn’t it? Who are these lousy customer disservice providers, and why don’t they answer surveys?

Hmn… I suppose it’s possible that J.D. Power & Assoc. simply couldn’t find them. But I’m not so sure. What I take from this instead is that we are all too easy on ourselves when it comes to judging the service that we provide. It’s understandable: we’re only human, after all. Most of us don’t mean to let our customers down – our personal pride wouldn’t allow it!

But what about unreasonable customers? Some people – and thus some customers – are just jerks, aren’t they? In the workshops Jane and I run, we’ve heard attendees report that customer service providers would like to “fire” up to a quarter of their customers! But could you imagine making twenty-five percent less money this year? Even five percent seems a bit much, I’d say. We advise against such drastic measures as firing customers – and we give our clients the tools to turn those “unruly” customers into advocates, which leaves everyone happier.

Please, don’t write off a single customer until you’ve spoken to us.

Then there’s the attitude of, “Well, there’s nothing more we could do,” when dealing with an unsatisfied customer. While it may be true that there is nothing more that you could do, that doesn’t mean another person couldn’t help this customer and win her over as a new fan of your business.

I suggest you and your staff repeat this loudly and often, in place of “There’s nothing more we could do:”

“Our customers are always delighted. Every last one. I’m not about to let this one down. My reputation depends on it.”

…Because it does. Your reputation – either individually, as a five-star customer service professional, or collectively, as a five-star company – rides on every single customer experience all day, all week, all month, and all year long.

Don’t lose a single customer through bad customer service, ever!

The preceding mantra isn’t a pipe dream, or a pie in the sky motivational speaker’s spiel. It’s reality, at least for that minute fraction of all companies that really understand what customer delight at that elusive five-star level is all about. Companies such as Philips Lifeline, Jordan’s Furniture, Roche Bros. and Wegman’s Supermarkets, Zoots Dry Cleaners, Middlesex Savings Bank, Saratoga Technologies, and Loving Care Home Health Care, and very few others.

What do these companies get that most do not? For one, they follow the rules written in stone outside Stew Leonard’s Dairy Stores: Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If the customer is ever wrong, reread Rule #1!

For another, they “Mind the store, not the score:” they spoil their customers rotten through mind-blowing customer service, and they count their pennies later. By focusing on what behavior brings in profits, rather than on the profits themselves, these companies all – every last one I listed – beat their competitors in profitability.

Five-Star Customer Service is more profitable than any other kind, by far. I hate to sound bombastic, but if a leader refuses to buy into that fact, she’s fooling herself – and harming her company.

So, back to that survey: what lesson do I take from it? I think we’re all a bit too easy on ourselves when judging our own level of customer service. So here’s my advice:

1. I suggest that my readers sleep on it. Let the information percolate a while.
2. Then, give yourself and your company a star, from one (insulting) to five (superlative).
3. Finally, adjust your score downward by one star. Because that, I’d have to say from experience, is a closer match to what your customers probably think of the service you provide.

How many stars do you deserve? Let me know – I reply to all of my email personally, and I always enjoy hearing from a reader – even when he thinks I’m full of it!