The Seven Sins of Service Quality

"In the service industry, are you 'clerking' or are you working to meet the individual needs of every customer?"

-- Janet Bartman

In order to excel, we need to identify areas of opportunity. There can be no remarkable service with apathy, a brush off, extreme casualness, words of condescension, robotism, quoting the rulebook, or the ever-annoying runaround. Those are the seven sins of service quality.

The seven sins speak to daily challenges in your company's quest to become known as a remarkable organization.

They speak volumes to your customers too.

1. Apathy means, "I don't care that you are here, at least while the boss isn't looking."
2. The brushoff means, "Don't bother me. The way you look, we don't want your business today, or ever."
3. Too casual means, "You are not important to us, and I am too cool to act more respectful."
4. Words of condescension mean, "I still get paid, even if I talk down to you."
5. Robotism means, "This is so boring. Take the bag. When do I get paid?"
6. The rulebook means, "I may look (younger/older) than you, but I get to show how much smarter I am than you."
7. The runaround means, "I don't care if I waste your time. I'm still getting paid."

Eliminate the seven sins, and you will gain greater customer loyalty. Repeat business comes not only from product satisfaction, but also, from the experience of consistent professional courtesy.


Janet Bartman is the Communications Director for a large professional membership organization in Spokane. She welcomes your comments.

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