Year ago, Daniel Steininger CEO of Catholic Knights Insurance wrote: "Would we have to train an employee, who feels very good about their organization and is loyal to it, to smile for customers?"

Mr. Steininger articulates one of those commonsense realities that often seem to escape many businesses and many managers: it’s a lot easier to get great customer service out of people who feel happy, respected, proud, and competent.

Here’s some research showing the bottom line impact this can have:

If you deal with customers face to face, what does YOUR face say? Does it say: “I love my job and I love helping people” or does it say “I can’t stand dealing with the public and… by the way… you’re bothering me”?

I saw examples of both faces six feet from each other while returning a couple of items at Wal-Mart. As I waited in line, I watched this kindly, grandmotherly looking women waiting on someone. Another customer service person took her position beside this kindly looking lady.

While the customer service research and common sense both say that it’s important for customer service professionals to project an aura of confidence and expertise, too much of a good thing can be, well… too much.

I witnessed a customer interaction that illustrates how sometimes being (or acting?) confident can hurt the customer experience you provide. This mistake has a huge impact in your ability to make customers feel comfortable giving you the information you need to satisfy – or better yet, “Wow!” – them. It also makes a huge difference in whether customers feel comfortable doing business with your company.
Here’s what happened…

I had two very different experiences recently that illustrate opposite ends of the spectrum. Before telling you about them, I want to first remind you about the classic research showing that the #1 reason customers defect is because they’re treated with “an attitude of indifference.” (68% of the time, that’s why customers defect).

Oh, by the way, I don’t know if you caught the Today show yesterday, but a friend told me it was all about lousy customer service, more specifically, indifferent clerks who couldn’t be bothered. So… do your customers feel like your company could have been on that show or do they see you as an oasis in a customer service desert?