Customer Service Or is it Customer Care?

Somewhere in the world sometime ago the term customer service was coined to describe taking care of people who came into your place of business. It was way before the internet so, indeed, it meant people that walked through your door.

Isn't customer service really about how you care for the people that want to purchase your service or product? With that being said, why isn't customer care a better word to use?

The validity of this idea surfaced in my mind when I watched a CEO practically nod off when a trainer was trying to sell him on the concept of a two-day customer service seminar for his frontline people. The CEO had been to numerous seminars himself on the subject and was not buying into the idea that, perhaps, still another customer service training would make a difference.

Now what would happen if the trainer said, "It appears to me you need a seminar on customer care". Would this simple change of words make a difference get the CEO's attention?

My belief is it would for there is a difference between Customer Service and Customer Care.

Personally, I am irritated when I go into my grocery store and every clerk asks me one of two questions: Are you finding everything? Or my favorite, "How are you today?" Have you noticed they rarely stop long enough to get the answer?

One day I wasn't feeling well, having just come from a radiation treatment for breast cancer. When asked how I was, "I answered not very good." The women who asked quickly bowed her head even more deeply into the produce she was stacking. She didn't have a clue how to deal with my answer. Yup, I certainly didn't feel like she cared.

She was never taught how to communicate beyond those two questions with the customers.

Teaching Body Language was one of the hot training topics in the 60s'. People were being taught you could learn what the person was thinking by how the person was holding his body and looking with his eyes. What happened to the knowledge that was gained back then?

When working with customers, it is very easy to see if a person is in a hurry or not. Recently I was expecting company and realized I had forgotten the specialty bread that went with my planned meal. I ran up to the store and there was no bread in the baskets.

A clerk was in a conversation with her colleague and I had to interrupt their conversation to ask if there was any of this particular bread in the backroom. She said "Yes, there is." She picked up a bag to put it in and then proceeded to finish her personal conversation with her colleague before retrieving the loaf of bread from the backroom. She was totally oblivious to my body language or my need to hurry. She didn't care what I wanted or needed.

Recently, I entered a huge store adorned with everything one could possibly imagine for a baby. The aisles were stacked high with merchandise. Since I knew what I was looking for, I approach the first available clerk and asked her if they had the product I wanted to purchase for my new granddaughter.

The clerk smiled and said "Sure, we have it, let me take you there." We wound our way through the aisles and then she pointed to the wall with hundreds of items and said "It is right there." Wow, she cared.

Why change from customer service to customer care? Perhaps, by using the term customer care people serving others will understand that their position requires truly caring about others and helping customers with their needs.

If you want to stand out and grow, take care of everyone that walks through your doors or approaches you through the Internet. Through your actions you show individuals you truly care about them. Remember it is the little things that make the difference.