15 May 2006

Customer Service

"Common sense is the collection of prejudices acquired by age eighteen." Albert Einstein

Customer Service is common sense. Yet, it is rare nowadays to have great customer service. Does it mean that there is no more common sense, and everyone enjoys being non-sense?
What is common sense?
Cambridge Online Dictionary defines it as "the basic level of practical knowledge and judgment that we all need to help us live in a reasonable and safe way."
The key words in the defintion are basic, practical, judgment, and reasonable.
Back to basics is a killer strategy. However, it is always difficult to remain simple because people always have the tendency to get complicated. They naively believe that by giving more than information people will be impressed, which is always the opposite.
Practical knowledge is what counts. Pratice is also about execution. Nobody will believe in any concept unless it delivers results.
Who is the judge? The receiver or the sender? If the sender makes the judgment based on his or her own standard, then the receiver will be treated the way the sender wants the receiver to be treated, but not how the receiver wants to be treated. This is not going to work in eTXM, nor is it going to work in iTXM. However, many bosses nowadays still manage by position but not by results. This is poor leadership.
How reasonable is reasonable? There is no standard, which explains why it is so difficult to have common sense. Subject A thinks wearing a Zagna suit for an interview with McKinsey is reasonable, but Subject B many think that wearing a Zara suit is better than enough. Interestingly, McKinsey actually doesn't have any requirment nor expectation as long as the subject has brain.
As the Chinese old saying goes, "Happy are those who are content with what they already have and don't ask for more."

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