I received a gift this holiday of a book, written by Johanna Lymann. In it she talks about giving of your money, and of yourself. Traditionally, tithing has been to a religious organization, but it is not necessary for that to be the only recipient of your gifts. And, if money is tight, your time and your talents are just as important. She goes on to say,    "Giving opens a doorway in your soul, and through that doorway steps Grace. You give not just money, or food, or clothing, you give a part of you away to someone who is also you. This is the reason that giving with pure intent feels so good to the giver: it is because you are also the receiver and you are recognizing the preciousness of the gift."

One of my favorite movies is called "Pay It Forward". It is such a powerful movie, I would recommend that it be played annually in your home, and that it be used in the workplace as a customer service training tool, particularly for service oriented organizations. Service organizations are all about the customer experience, and what better way to build good customer service but by expressing gratitude in advance for the abundance you are about to receive from either a current or new customer. Giving your customers the gift of listening, respectful and patient answers to their questions, and the dignity of the human experience will lift them up and empower them to act in the same manner toward you, and everyone around them.

Let's translate this concept into Customer Service that delights the customer:

Listening - It is critical in today's environment to listen to your customer. Organizations need to know what their customers need, what they want, what works for them in terms of customer service, and what does not. Your front line customer service employee, the person on the telephone, is your greatest source of information when you give them the training they need to find out the answers to these important questions with every telephone call they take. In addition, they need to be trained to focus on the conversation of the moment so that they will listen well enough to hear exactly what the customer has to say.

Respectful and patient answers - Companies that have invested the time in developing guiding principles and core values that let their customer service employees know how much they value their customers will see a huge return in customer loyalty. Their desired service outcomes will be well defined and the customer service employee will understand their role in delivering that service. 

Dignity of the human experience - We all like the personal touch in our interactions with company representatives, whether over the telephone or face to face. The interaction becomes spontaneous and friendly when the customer service employee is empowered to anticipate the customer's need and solve their problem. Service problems arise when leaders are not willing to change structures and reduce inflexible policies and procedures that hamper the customer service employee from providing the very best service possible.

Johanna goes on to say, "Tithing is expressing gratitude for what you already have received, and paying it forward is expressing gratitude for what you are about to receive........it is quite powerful when done properly."

When the customer perceives that the company's commitment to service is unique and handled well, they will believe it exceeds expectations. As leaders of a customer service organization, it would do us well to consider the concept of expressing gratitude for what we are about to receive as we provide service to each customer seeking to do business with us, and include this concept in the guiding principles and core values of the company.