February 10, 2010

Why Something So Simple Can Be So Difficult to Get

Growing up in the family restaurant business, I learned one very important thing from my father… the customer is always right! Of course, more often than not, he himself would admit that the task of making people content with your services could be challenging at best, and downright frustrating at worst. But in the end, getting that one customer to return is exactly what my father – anyone with a service or product to sell – was after. Working a lifetime in the struggling business of the food industry in a very small town where everyone knows your name, my father instinctively understood the power of customer service and how that service, when done right, can turn into an instant referral to bring in your next customer – which in turn pays your bills, provides shelter for you and your family, and sends your children to college. 

So what is customer service? What does customer service mean? Everyone in business knows that people appreciate great customer service, but only very few are willing and able to provide it. My definition of customer service is the ability to make sure that your customers receive everything they may need in order to remain both happy with you and happy with what you’re providing. For The Inman Company, that means 100% availability: twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, including holidays and weekends. Being experts in our field allows us to not only communicate effectively, but to also serve our clients with excellent time management and organizational skills.  

The Inman Company understands that there is certain element of surrender necessary and inherent in exceptional customer service. We continually strive to let go of our own egos. We recognize that even as experts in interior design, we are not always right. We also understand that it isn’t important who is right and who is wrong, but rather what is right for our clients. Exceptional customer service is doing what you say you are going to do in a very timely fashion, always advising while never confronting, being accountable, admitting when you are wrong with the grace of an adult, and – most importantly – being punctual. We at The Inman Company believe that being late is a direct form of disrespect to our client.

Of course, customer service must work both ways. In order to truly have the best working relationship between client and designer, The Inman Company strives to build a culture of making the client thrilled at every turn by putting two things firmly in place.

1. The Inman Company has set up its entire business with the goal of attracting the “ideal” client. We understand our target market. Our ideal client values what we have to offer and values how we offer it. This results in a happy relationship, with many mutual benefits between client and designer. 

2. We show the ultimate respect for our client’s time and money. when we respect others, we naturally receive respect in return. With that respect, our clients want to make us just as happy and content as we make them. This yields benefits in everything from referrals to getting paid on time and in full. For us, respect translates into a mantra of “We won’t rest until it is done right and done on time!”

In closing, I have included the following excerpt from The Inman Company employee handbook, which discusses what The Inman Company expects from a new associate regarding our concept of customer service. Customer Is Always Right – Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: If you ever feel the customer is wrong, reread rule #1. 

Shane D. Inman, ASID, IIDA

November 3, 2009

August 20, 2009