Imagination

Do you cultivate imagination with your team? What I mean by this is encouraging them to think for themselves and be creative in how they approach customer service.  It’s easy to fall into a rut and forget that our customers are people with their own individual problems.  All we really have to do is pay attention.

For example, I have a daughter who is disabled and in a wheelchair.  I have friends that are likewise confined to a wheelchair.  Yet it never ceases to amaze me how often when we go to a restaurant that the hostess takes us to a booth.  It happens often enough that there are clearly a lot of people who simply are following a routine and not paying attention.  It’s not like a wheelchair is obvious, right?

Compare that to our experiences at Disney. This is a company that fosters employee empowerment and allows their staff to use their imagination in helping their customers.  We’ve been there many times over the years and they continue to surprise us.  It’s the little things like noticing that our daughter is disabled and having the housekeeping staff do something nice for her.  Or listening for details when we’re making reservations and noting that I mentioned we were excited about our visit because our daughter has spent the last few days in the hospital – and we find out when we check in that they’ve upgraded us to a suite.

They’ve managed to turn us into happy, regular customers.  And how hard was it?  They simply pay attention and take an imaginative approach to customer service.

When it comes to IT support we should cultivate the same approach. Help our staff get out of the rut of the routine and pay attention to what our customers are saying and then use their imagination to find a creative solution.  This will add value to our service and leave us with happy customers.