Learning From The Janitor

I used to volunteer at a local elementary school (which I strongly recommend to everyone). One day, at the end of the school year, I was talking to the janitor as he and his team started a thorough cleaning of the school. I remarked on what a tough job it must be. He replied, "It would be a lot easier to keep the school clean if they didn't have all these kids here".

I guess he missed the point. Without the kids, it wouldn't be a school. Without those students getting the school dirty, he wouldn't have had a job. Amazingly, I see the same thing in the world of business much too often. People comment about how much easier their day would be if they didn'y have to deal with the customers. Your customers are the reason you are in business. If you don't have any customers, you are not in business.

Here are two articles everyone in your organization needs to read, those in the customer service organization, but especially those others in the organization who don't realize that we are all in the customer service department.

• Good Customer Service Is No Longer Enough
• Guaranteed Sales Increase