The Power of Customer Service

Lately I've had a bout of bad experiences with horrible customer service, so here I am addressing the issue. When it comes to people doing the absolute bare bones minimum required of their job description as opposed to taking an extra 30 seconds to go the extra mile - hell, not even the extra mile, we're talking the extra centimeter - there's honestly very few other social experiences that can achieve the same result of making you want to throw the person next to you across the room after repeatedly beating your head into your keyboard, smashing it into a million little pieces.Okay, I may have exaggerated that reaction a tiny bit...but don't think for a second that I didn't play out multiple scenarios in my head all revolving around utter chaos and borderline monkey rage. See, the thing is that we do a lot to help people on a day to day basis that doesn't fall into our job descriptions, and we do it for the sake of being nice, and because we can. If you call us because you're having trouble with something even remotely related to our services, like configuring e-mail on your new iPhone or what social media networks you think you should start a business page on, 9 out of 10 times we're going to help you, because hopefully you'll be able to reach into your thankful soul and emit some positive energy towards us, or remain a devoted client that much longer all because we kept a smile and helped another human out just because we could. Then, as you're walking down the street in the ass-backwards karmic universe we live in, you get tossed the total opposite; a range of "people" who couldn't care if you were asking them for an e-mail address, their wife's phone number, or where they parked their car so you can go raid their parking change. Or even worse, when they won't even bother trying to help because of a minor policy stipulation...that's the real rainbow-maker right there.This issue is rampant like a plague. There must be a social club out there somewhere encouraging people to troll you (not in the living under the bridge way, but the life-bruising way) no matter how nice you've been to other people throughout your day, month, year or life in general. This is the only reasonable explanation as to why there's an army of people who are genuinely so detached from society that they won't even click a couple extra buttons, open a drawer, pick up a phone, or do ANYTHING in their able-bodied power to beg the possibility of helping you out just a tiny bit. Either that or the zombie apocalypse is here, but people aren't covered in scabs yet.Now to the part where I explain my rambling dissatisfaction, which I'm clearly not over yet. Customer service IS marketing. Yes indeed ladies and gents. In a world where opinions can be instantaneously and very publicly expressed, where people are also more likely than not to share a bad experience over a good one (for instance, you don't tell the world about every time you have a meal you like - and if you do you need to lay off the Instagram -  but you probably wouldn't hold back on shooting out a tweet about a god-awful burger you just had), you need to watch yourself and become slightly more considerate, if not for you and your business' sake, then for the sake of the person sitting across from you or whoever's on hold as you're reading this. Good customer service is one of the best marketing strategies you can adopt, period.All good things take time. To gain a high public opinion of your business operation, you need to nurture every seemingly insignificant interaction you come across. People talk a lot, and on an unprecedented scale to boot. Letting one moody day of yours get between providing nothing short of exceptional service, even though it's not exactly "your department", will come back to bite you. Who cares?! Just help the poor guy out. You know how to do it, so choose to do so instead of copping out and finding some rule or policy that you can shove between the two of you like a really thin white Berlin Wall. Step up to the plate - not only does it feel good to help people out, but your business will guaranteed reap the benefits...just give it some time. All it takes is one great customer experience with the right person to spark their public stream of positivity about your business, which will no doubt be heard far and wide by their friends and stalkers alike. A few of these great reviews, and voila - people know you as the "good guy". It's that easy.Be a ray of sunshine instead of a skidmark on somebody's day. For more banter about marketing, real estate, and all things good, check us out on Twitter. image courtesy of isforinsects