I sent an email to a local print shop asking them to print some business cards last minute for me before I was to leave on a business trip. In my email, I specified that they should call me to come pick up the cards when they were finished. This shop usually drops all of our print jobs off. But since I was leaving work early that day, I would miss the delivery and needed to pick the cards up in person.
I called several hours later (after our office had closed) and asked about my cards. To my great disappointment, I found out that they had delivered the cards to my office thinking they were providing good customer service. But in fact, they had provided very poor customer service because they completely ignored me, the customer, and my cards were stuck inside a locked building. They wanted to pat themselves on the back for a job well done but never actually considered what my needs were.
It’s an easy trap to fall into. You think you are going the extra mile and helping when you are actually ignoring what the customer is telling you (or sometimes even screaming at you).
For example, maybe you offer a discount even though I said an extra perk is preferred. Or ring my doorbell on a service call despite the “Please Knock” sign to make sure that I hear you (I often have sleeping kids). Or make me go through menu after menu on your customer service line “to ensure that we get you to the right person” when I just want to talk to a human being. Or do anything to be the nice guy even though I clearly said I needed or wanted something else.
Don’t make customer service about you. Stop and make sure that you are hearing and serving the customer.