Customer service is an important part of our work at BYU. Whether it is a student looking to register for a class, a professor buying ice cream at the creamery, or someone wanting to sign up for office hours, a focus on customer service can really make a big difference in their experience. One key to customer service is developing empathy. This can be done by really talking to our customers and finding out, as Clayton Christensen suggested, what they are hiring us to do. We can collect data through observation and surveys but talking to our customers and building relationships with them can yield valuable information for how we serve them.
An even better way to develop empathy is to try and put ourselves in our customers’ shoes. An effort to use our own services as a customer can give us great insight into the user experience. I love the TV show "Undercover Boss." The leader inevitably realizes that their perception of how things happen in their company does not match reality. This new data often spurs good changes. We too can misperceive our processes and products and forget what it's like to be the customer. Remind yourself what it is like to approach your website, office, or counter. Alternately, you can notice how others provide customer service as you are shopping, dining, or doing. Ask yourself if those same frustrations could be felt about your office or shop. Developing empathy for those who frequent our workplace can be a continual process.
Really, everyone you meet is your customer. We are all in extraordinary circumstance that make some aspects of our regular work more difficult. That makes it even more important to pay attention to and empathize with our customers.