How do you define excellent customer service? This is a question that all businesses should ask themselves, because customer service is a crucial aspect of business and customer experience. You see, one of the problems with botched customer service, besides alienating a given customer, is that when a customer has a bad experience, they will tell five times the amount of people about it as one with a positive experience would.

How many times have you heard the first and primary negative thing said about a company pertain to horrendous customer service? More times than just about anything else right? And almost always, this is with the more adamant negative remarks about a company, whereas an inferior service or product creates a simple “this isn’t very good” rather than a tirade.

So, how do you define excellent customer service? Well, I can’t read your mind (and aren’t you glad?). However, what I can do is tell you how I define it, and how my colleagues would define it. If your definition differs, then maybe you’re missing something, or who knows, maybe you know something we don’t. Either way, it’s good food for thought, right?

So, I define it first as something I don’t have to dread needing to use. I for one hate having to call someone on the phone, stopping everything I am doing, having my hands tied, and listening to looping music and sitting on hold. So, I love having opportunities to use email support, help desks and other things. Others may appreciate this as well.

I also define it as being quick and effective. When I contact customer support, I want my problem resolved one way or another, without having to contact them again. This called first contact resolution, and it is the most important metric to strive for.

Along with this, I define it as something where I don’t have to deal with unsympathetic, or rude people. I want to deal with people who are congenial, courteous and caring, and who want to help me, not just do a job to the minimal requirements and standards.

Along with that, I define it as an experience where the people involved speak my language natively, and understand my culture and regional attitudes properly.

Finally, I define it as something where I may not have to deal with people at all, because a company with self service facilities is saving me a lot of time having to wait for someone to handle my problem. I will feel like it is convenient, and I will be left going “well this company knows what’s up”. This company lets me just click some buttons myself, and they trust me not to be a moron and break everything. I feel respected and I feel like my time is valuable to them, and I regard them as a progressive company that’s not afraid of their customers.

So, how do you define excellent customer service? I hope you define it in similar terms to the way I do, focusing on a good experience, and not a chore that makes whatever problem the customer has even worse.