I think I know why they call it Black Friday. All of the surly clerks and frustrated shoppers. Even I spent a good part of Saturday out shopping for the Holidays with my wife. I have to admit, it was fun. There must be something to this gathering and hunting thing. But as I looked around questioning how we could actually be in a recession with all of this spending going on — it hit me. Service is a lost art. Many retail stores seem to try hard. Others don’t seem to care. Frankly, it is not a part of their business model. Cheap is good, yes. But a smile would be nice too.
 
This is a great time for me to dust off an important leadership notion and cultural value that I learned as a young leader, Take “service to the Nth degree!” What does it mean? Simple right. Put the focus on your customer, serve them with excellence. Raise the bar. But still it seems so absent in many businesses today.
 
Why? It is free. It is hard to copy by your competitors. It is intangible. It is a feeling. It is the gap between what you say and what you do. The most important reason to put the focus on service? It feels good. It is contagious. It is competitive. And customers will notice.
 
Here are a few simple ways to raise the bar on service to take it to the Nth degree:

1. Call a meeting and focus on it. Ask people to think about how their job interacts with the customer.  Where can they bring something extra?
2. Answer the phone. Turn off your voice mail. Insist the phone be answered in three rings. Or better yet two.
3. Get back to me. Tell me by when and actually do it sooner.
4. Change the way you answer the phone. CBI Group says ” I can help you.” This is our Purple Cow! Great book too!
   
5. Reward customer service. As a leader catch me doing it!