"How May I Be Of Service" Is The Question That Leads To Success

by Bonnie Boots

My first real job, at age 16, was cashiering in a department store where I had to complete a 5-day training program before I could work on the sales floor. Part of my training was learning to greet each customer with the question, "How may I be of service?"

The way in which that question was phrased seemed ludicrously old fashioned. I cringed every time I said it, convinced customers were wondering if I'd been reading too many Victorian novels.

It was years before I realized that being taught to say, "How may I be of service?" was the key to every success I've ever achieved.

I was thinking of this last December when I entered a small chain store, prepared to do the majority of my Christmas shopping. Because of health problems, I was using a cane. That and my pronounced limp made it obvious to all that I was struggling to get around.

With the store's sales flyer in hand, I laboriously made my way down the aisles, picking out the items I'd preplanned to purchase. One was too large to fit in the cart. And because it was so heavy, I couldn't even lift it up to balance it atop the cart.

No store employees were in view. There was only one of the item I wanted, so I didn't dare leave it on the shelf to go find help. Instead, I set the box on the floor and laboriously scooted it down the aisle. It took me 15 slow, painful minutes to make my way to the front of the small store.

When I was within 20 feet of the cashier stand, I saw the store manager leaning on the register. He glanced at me, glanced at other shoppers, looked out the front window and watched the traffic.

I continued pushing the huge box along the floor, slowly making my way to the counter until I was in view of the cashier. "I'll need help with this," I told her.

She struggled to get the box onto the counter, tallied my purchases and gave me a charge slip to sign. My total came to over $300. It was a good sale for a shop where the average purchase is about $30. But neither my purchase total nor my disability made any impact on the cashier or her manager.

When each item was bagged and a "paid" sticker had been applied to the huge box, the cashier turned to the next person in line. "Excuse me," I said. leaning on my cane. "I'll need some help getting this into a cart so I can get it out to my car."

"Sure. No problem," the cashier said. She put my smaller items in the cart, balanced the box atop it and said, "Do you want me to hold the door open? It might make it easier for you to get out."

"That will certainly help," I told her." Thank you."

The store manager, still busy leaning on the register, watched idly as the cashier opened the door for me, watched as I struggled to get the cart over to my car (parked literally just outside the front door) watched as I struggled to get the heavy box into my trunk.

As I got into my car, I had to shake my head and thank, ruefully, the people that trained me, in the manner of Pavlov's dogs, to say "How may I be of service?" each time I speak to a customer.

That phrase serves the admirable purpose of focusing my attention on the real purpose of my job--being of service to customers-while reassuring those customers that I care about and am prepared to meet their needs.

My job title has changed a handed times, from cashier to writer to illustrator to designer to digital publisher to internet business coach. But the importance of focusing on my client's needs and assuring them those needs will be met has remained constant.

Focusing on customers and meeting their needs is the key to success.

If you're the manager of a store, that focus means telling a disabled customer, "Let me carry this to you car."

If you're the owner of a web site, it means testing your entire sales process to make sure visitors have all the information they need to make a decision. It means making sure it's easy for them to use any credit card. It means providing them with a contact number so they can report a botched download. It means staffing a help desk so people get a prompt response.

When it comes to the importance of customer service, there's really no difference between online business and brick & mortar business. In both cases, the key to success is asking, thinking and acting on the question, "How may I be of service?"


 

 
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