Be Relentless: Customer service is job #1

No matter what you are pursuing in life, it's critical that you commit to being relentless in your efforts to achieve your goal. If you're an athlete, that means training until you're exhausted. If you're a performer, it means practicing endlessly. If you own or head a business, it means doing everything you possibly can to provide exceptional customer service.

Most companies, however, don't commit to providing service that is so awesome that it keeps their current customers coming back to them and attracts new customers who will help drive their profits. They aren't relentless in their pursuit of driving their business to greater heights by focusing on customer service.

What does it mean to be relentless? It's an obsession with providing exceptional service to your customers. It's a propulsive, self-directed passion to continue to learn, improve, and exceed expectations in everything you do. Much like breathing, it's essential to your being, and it never stops. It's a race without a finish line. It's a reflection of the core principles, beliefs, and attitudes of people within healthy and hugely successful businesses.

Being relentless requires that you follow two rules:

1. Serve the customer. 

2. When in doubt, see rule number one.

When you are relentless, you weave customer service into the fabric of your company; you make it part of your culture. It can't be a flavor of the week. It requires a constant and continuous dedication to providing customers with such extraordinary service that they continue to return for years to do business with you.

Executives of publicly held companies might respond to what I've written here by saying, "Shareholder value should always come first." Shareholder value means providing a good return on investment, but those returns don't exist without people who buy your products or services. When you provide awesome customer service, you will drive your business to great heights; it's a win for you and for your investors.

The commitment to being relentless must start of the top of your organization and be woven into every employee at every level. It must be a belief that is shared by everyone. You must recognize that serving your customers is your most important task and then reflect that realization with every decision you make and every action you take. Every employee must be trained in relentlessly providing exceptional customer service, and that training must be provided on a regular basis. Let them know what you expect of them, and set a good example with your own actions.

You'll never get into the Super Bowl of business unless you've got a great team; a good team will be left behind. Just as young athletes look to professionals as their heroes and role models, look for business role models that are wildly successful and profitable because of the customer service they provide. Here are a few of them I recommend you check out: Mayo Clinic, Amazon, Wilderness Safaris, Chewy.com, K-VA-T & Food City, and Northeast Delta Dental. What are they doing that you can incorporate into your organization?

In every organization—and at every level and in every job—at the end of the day ask yourself, "How did my work today help, support, and serve the customer?" Being relentless in serving your customers builds the bottom line and long-term growth prospects for an organization. No matter what your business is, you must recognize that customers provide your income stream. To keep that stream flowing, keep your customers happy. Put their needs at the forefront of everything you do. 

John Tschohl is the founder and president of the Service Quality Institute—the global leader in customer service—with operations in more than 40 countries. He is considered one of the world's foremost authorities on all aspects of customer service and has developed 20 customer service training programs, including Relentless Making Customer Service Your Core Principle, that are used by companies throughout the world. His monthly strategic newsletter is available online at no charge at customer-service.com. He can also be reached on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.