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The Golden Rule of Ethics is widely known as:

“do unto others as you would have them do unto you”

Why are we talking about ethics as part of a Service Excellence Topic?

Well, the rule applies to all aspects of life but it’s especially important to apply this in the context of client service.

Taking a real life personal situation, your phone at home stops working. You contact your supplier and you have one expectation from them – that the phone is fixed satisfactorily with minimal cost and in the minimum amount of time. Generally, you don’t care how it is fixed or who is involved. You just want to get it fixed and you want to know when it will be completed.

All too often at a company, when we have queries from clients/customers (both external and internal - ie colleagues from other departments) we involve them in long strings of emails during the processing and resolution of their issue. This is always done with the best of intentions, to show that the issue is being dealt with but can come across unprofessional at times and it can be somewhat annoying to receive reams and reams of unnecessary emails.

So, when you are put in this situation, think of the Golden Rule and going back to the example described earlier, think how you would want to be treated in a similar situation.

In summary:

• Make sure you understand what the issue is and let the client know that it is being dealt with.
• If possible, estimate the time needed to get the issue to resolution and communicate this to the client as soon as possible.
• Keep the client updated of any unforeseen issues that may affect timing.
• Do not include the client on unnecessary correspondence.
• Most importantly, think how your actions could be perceived by a client even if they are undertaken with the best of intentions and whatever those actions are, ensure that you would want to be treated in the same manner.