A Customer’s Bill of Rights

Each and every one of us is a cus­tomer. We put gas in our cars, eat at restau­rants, and reg­u­larly make pur­chases at a vari­ety of stores. As cus­tomers, we all have expec­ta­tions for how we ought to be treated. It goes with­out say­ing, then, that the cus­tomers of your orga­ni­za­tion are no different.

You’ve prob­a­bly heard the say­ing, “Do unto oth­ers as you would have them do unto you.” Well, this is a great rule in life, espe­cially when it comes to deal­ing with cus­tomers. By tak­ing care of cus­tomers the way they would like to be taken care of, you offer customer-focused ser­vice and make a pos­i­tive impact on your customers.

Below is a list out­lin­ing some uni­ver­sal “rights”—expectations that all cus­tomers tend to have.

Cus­tomers want to be:

• Lis­tened to and under­stood
  Cus­tomers want to know that you truly hear what they’re say­ing. What’s more impor­tant is that you under­stand what your cus­tomer really wants or needs.
• Taken seri­ously
  Cus­tomers want you to rec­og­nize the .importance—at least to them—of their con­cerns and needs.
• Served in a timely way
  Cus­tomers want to be taken care of in an effi­cient and timely manner.
• Treated with respect
  Cus­tomers want to be treated as val­ued and respected individuals.
• Treated with sen­si­tiv­ity
  Cus­tomers trust you to be car­ing and pro­fes­sional at all times.

Fol­low­ing are ways you can help your employ­ees embrace and exe­cute the Customer’s Bill of Rights.

• Incor­po­rate dis­cus­sion of these rights into your coach­ing ses­sions and staff meetings.
• Cre­ate a sign or a poster out­lin­ing these rights, and post it where it will be seen by all employees.
• Con­sider var­i­ous ways to put these rights into action through your cur­rent prac­tices and new initiatives.
• If you are look­ing to move towards a more customer-focused cul­ture, the Customer’s Bill of Rights can help you achieve this. In short, the Customer’s Bill of Rights is an effec­tive way to remind all of us of what is truly impor­tant to our customers….taking care of them the way they want to be taken care of.

If you’d like more infor­ma­tion on build­ing a cus­tomer ser­vice envi­ron­ment in your orga­ni­za­tion, sub­scribe to our blog for fre­quent tips.