We’ve all heard horror stories about poor customer service – in fact I posted an abridged story earlier (Sears Canada). While we are quick to complain, I wonder how many of us give excellent service?

In my business life I am continually disappointed by co-workers that basically don’t seem to give a damn about anyone else in the company. They do their own thing, on their own schedule and will not make internal customers a priority for any reason. Sure we are all busy, but, in my opinion, that’s just an excuse.

My particular work requires that I respond as quickly as possible to requests and that things get done according to a very rigid schedule. I require inputs from my co-workers to enable me to do this. I find it inexcusable when I am forced to make a request for something that should have been done days, weeks, or even months ago that I have to wait for the individual to get around to responding. If I were to give them the same treatment, I would be the most hated person at the company and would probably be fired as a result.

Here’s an idea, next time you are faced with poor customer service, try and think about how you would improve your own customer service to both your external and internal customers. And then do it. Maybe we can start a trend.