Reman U

• Author: Bridget McCormick
• Subject Matter: Customer Service
• Issue: It’s for everyone

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Customers are the people who drive everything

While job searching a few years ago, I kept saying, “I don’t want to work in customer service.” I was several years into taking sales and customer service calls involving lots and lots and lots of angry customers. I was worn down from dealing with unreasonable requests:

• “No, I cannot overnight a 280-pound item.”
• “No, I cannot promise that you will have this by 10 a.m. tomorrow.”

As luck would have it, the job I held next was primarily a glorified customer service representative position, except now, customers were called clients. I answered their questions, solved their problems, and provided them with statuses of projects. Although it wasn’t the right fit, I learned more about how companies interact with customers and clients, more of the inner-workings of a company, and how each role impacts another. I had the realization that every position is customer service. If you don’t have customers or clients, how does your company stay afloat? Most likely, it won’t.

Customers are the people who drive marketing strategies, sales calls, product support, and product content and presentation. Every single role at a company could be considered customer service in that the goal is to make products or services sellable to a person. You’re servicing a need or want for that customer.

Not in customer service? Want to bet?

• Network administrators provide the tools a company needs to provide the best user experience for customers.
• Social media managers work to represent the brand making it easy to find, identifiable and engaging.
• Sales representatives may not be technically defined as customer service, but in fact, play the largest role in curating a customer’s experience in gaining access to the product or service.
• Technicians may never see a customer but create, fix, and work directly with the products our customers use every day and have maybe the greatest impact on our customers.

I did eventually find a new job, the right fit, and it doesn’t involve customer service – not in title. And even though I don’t have much interaction with customers in my current role, I know that all of the work that I do is to help improve the customer experience, whether that’s directly being seen by the customer or whether it’s through sales and product support, that doesn’t matter. I help make it easier for a customer or representative to make a decision. That’s definitely impacting the service we provide.