{"id":30801,"date":"2012-07-18T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-07-18T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/amazing-customer-service-shouldnt-be-a-surprise\/"},"modified":"2024-01-18T19:26:05","modified_gmt":"2024-01-18T19:26:05","slug":"amazing-customer-service-shouldnt-be-a-surprise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-service\/amazing-customer-service-shouldnt-be-a-surprise\/","title":{"rendered":"Amazing Customer Service Shouldn\u2019t Be a Surprise"},"content":{"rendered":"On a regular basis, I receive emails and phone calls from people raving about the amazing customer service they received from a restaurant, a store, a vendor, etc.\u00a0 While some of the stories these people share with me are \u201cover the top\u201d or WOW customer service stories, most of them are just good solid examples of people or companies simply doing the right thing.\u00a0 Sometimes it is about how someone fixed a problem or resolved a complaint.\u00a0 Other times it is about a particular employee that stands out by doing what they should be doing.\u00a0 They just do it well.\u00a0 Not necessarily spectacularly well.\u00a0 But obviously just a little better than expected \u2013 a little better than average.\r\n\r\nTo me, more amazing than these stories is that the fine people sharing them are actually surprised to receive this level of customer service.\u00a0 Don\u2019t get me wrong.\u00a0 Sometimes people will receive <a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/customer-experience-2\/over-the-top-customer-service-isnt-an-everyday-occurrence\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">over-the-top customer service<\/a>.\u00a0 They will be \u201cwowed\u201d by their experience and can\u2019t wait to share it with others.\u00a0 That\u2019s a nice surprise.\u00a0 But most of the stories, as mentioned above, are just about people being a little better than average.\u00a0 That shouldn\u2019t be a surprise, but apparently, it is.\u00a0 The service providers in these stories are doing what they\u2019re supposed to be doing.\u00a0 To me, the stories are common sense.\u00a0 They are about someone just having the right attitude.\u00a0 The \u201cstars\u201d in these stories are attentive, polite, proactive, and nice. Again, they are just doing what they are supposed to be doing.\r\n<h3>Amazing customer service shouldn\u2019t be a surprise.<\/h3>\r\nIt should be the norm! With all of the information, data, statistics and more that are available, what company wouldn\u2019t want to deliver excellent customer service? And with all that is available to help train people (articles, books, training programs and much more), why aren\u2019t all employees properly trained? To me, customer service is the price of admission. It\u2019s the table stakes to enter the game.\u00a0 It should be the norm, not the exception. What should amaze people is when they don\u2019t get great service.\r\n\r\nSo, why are these people making such a big deal about customer service?\r\n\r\nMost customer service isn\u2019t over the top, but it\u2019s not terrible either.\u00a0 Most companies don\u2019t provide bad customer service.\u00a0 Unfortunately, most companies aren\u2019t much better than satisfactory or average.\u00a0 That\u2019s what makes anything better than average stand out.\u00a0 Satisfactory or average isn\u2019t good enough anymore.\u00a0 People want and expect more.\u00a0\u00a0 So why not give them more \u2013 just a little more?\u00a0 Just be consistently above average, even just a little. \u00a0That\u2019s all it takes to surprise the customer.\r\n\r\n<em><a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Shep Hyken<\/a>\u00a0is a customer service\/CX expert, award-winning keynote speaker, and New York Times bestselling author. Learn more about Shep\u2019s\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/speaking\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service and customer experience keynote speeches<\/a>\u00a0and his\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/hyken.com\/training\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">customer service training workshops<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.hyken.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">www.Hyken.com<\/a>. Connect with Shep on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/shephyken\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a>.<\/em>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>(Copyright \u00a9MMXII, Shep Hyken)<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On a regular basis, I receive emails and phone calls from people raving about the amazing customer service they received from a restaurant, a store, a vendor, etc.\u00a0 While some of the stories these people share with me are \u201cover the top\u201d or WOW customer service stories, most of them are just good solid examples [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6794],"tags":[4862,2439,4746],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v22.5 (Yoast SEO v22.5) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Amazing Customer Service Shouldn\u2019t Be a Surprise<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Amazing customer service shouldn\u2019t be a surprise. 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