If you think back to the time when you saw your home for the first time, you probably remember seeing things that needed to be fixed: the cracked wall, the crooked light fixture, the kitchen hinge that's just not right. After you moved in, suddenly you were able to walk past all those things without being bothered by them. In fact, you almost forgot about them.

The same thing happens with our customers. Since they aren't walking in the door every day, they notice things that aren't up to par and make judgements about your organisation based on those observations. If your company doesn't have customer service systems and standards that are uniform and based upon customers' expectations, chances are your customers are noticing things about your organisation that aren't acceptable to them.

There's an easy approach to tuning up your customer service and giving it a consistent look so that your customers can expect to always receive high-quality service. This simple five-step system will dramatically improve your service:

Step One
Identify your perception points. Every time a customer encounters anyone or anything from your organisation, he or she forms a perception. It could be good or bad, depending on how well that perception point met the customer's standards. Examples of perception points include telephone conversations, correspondence, greetings, billings - anything that presents an opportunity for the customer to make a judgement about your organisation. Identify all of your company's perception points. Simply ask yourself, At what times are customers given the opportunity to form an impression on us? List them.

Step Two
For each perception point, list your standards of performance. These are the minimum standards that everyone working in your organisation should meet consistently. The standards should be measurable and definable. Since every organisation will have telephone conversations listed as a perception point, let's list some examples of phone standards:

Shoulds:

Step Three
Make sure everyone in your organisation understands and applies all of the standards. Document them and include them with new employee orientation packages.

Step Four
Constantly elevate your standards. Take them to the next level. Customer Services can always be improved on.

Step Five
Apply peer pressure. If someone doesn't meet the standards, it is a reflection on everyone in the organisation. Don't wait for a manager crack down on someone who isn't applying the standard. Ask the person if he or she needs help understanding the standard. If he or she understands the standard but isn't applying it, the person has an attitude problem. Be direct in asking the person to apply the standard consistently.

Never lose your child's eye. When setting your standards, look at all of your approaches and systems as if you were seeing them for the first time. You'll be shocked at what you look at every day but don't see. And, once you have your customer service practices in a state of excellence, you can always go home and fix that crack!