Like many who read this blog, I am a student of customer service. I’m interested in books on the subject, discussing the topic with others, speaking and writing about it and, of course, critiquing the service I receive as a customer.

One of the questions that’s often discussed and debated in the field is what differentiates an exceptional customer service experience from a mediocre one? And if the experience involves a live service provider, what separates an outstanding provider from a typical one?

If you’ve been reading this blog for any length of time, then you already know my thoughts about job function and job essence. This concept seems to make its way into any of my posts that bemoan the prevailing tendency to receive average customer service.

In this post, I’ll begin with the difference between job function and job essence (exceptional customer service should always start with this discussion) followed by four other distinctions that separate exceptional customer service from the bland and ordinary service that you and I, as customers, typically receive:

1.   Function vs. essence. Most employees do not recognize the difference between their job functions (the duties associated with their job roles) and the essence of their jobs, their highest priority (which, for employees at most companies, is to create a delighted customer). There are several reasons for this. Read about them here.

2.   Mandatory vs. optional. Job functions tend to be transactional. They are also required—employees must perform job functions. This explains why many customer service experiences are described as process-focused and transactional. Delivering exceptional customer is optional. It requires a deliberate choice by the service provider. This explains why you and I, as customers, seldom receive exceptional customer service.

3.   Obligation vs. opportunity. Employees are obligated to perform job functions that are mandatory. They don’t have a choice. It’s what they were hired to do. Just read their job descriptions—it’s all right there. These same employees, however, have an opportunity to display optional job essence: express genuine interest in customers, convey authentic enthusiasm for serving others, provide pleasant surprises, etc. But these opportunities are most often squandered in the name of operational efficiency or some other management priority.

4.   Results vs. relationships. Mandatory job functions that employees are obligated to perform yield results that are measured and scrutinized by management. If employees do receive feedback on their job performance, it generally involves these results. Optional job essence that employees have an opportunity to display, develop relationships with customers that inspire loyalty, repeat purchases, and enthusiastic referrals.

5.   Cost vs. (little or) no cost. Mandatory job functions that employees are obligated to perform in order to achieve certain results require compensation—this is what they’re paid to do. Optional job essence that employees elect to display in order to develop relationships with customers cost (little or) nothing. There’s no added cost for a service provider to smile, offer a sincere and specific compliment, or share unique knowledge.

A typical manager’s routine involves job functions, mandates, obligations, results, and costs. It’s no wonder customer service tends to be transactional and uninspired.

What’s needed is a different approach—one that reinforces job essence, options, opportunities, relationships, and recognizes that it costs no more to smile and greet customers than it does to ignore them.

I welcome all questions, comments, bouquets, and brickbats.

I recall saying to a client across the conference table, “Exceptional customer service is always optional.”

Upon hearing this, his eyes narrowed, he leaned forward, and his voice lowered as he responded, “Not around here. Around here, exceptional customer service is mandatory.”

I disagreed but, in his defense, most general managers would say the same thing: “Of course exceptional customer service is not optional. We don’t permit employees to provide substandard customer service!”

In theory, they’re right. But in practice, they’re kidding themselves.

The reason that you and I, as customers, rarely experience the “exceptional” customer service these business leaders claim is mandatory, is because it’s optional.

An employee chooses to make eye contact, smile, or add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice.

Can you recall a recent interaction you’ve had over the phone or face-to-face with an employee who you sensed was apathetic, bored, or indifferent towards serving you? Of course you can. It happens all the time—even in work environments where exceptional customer service is “mandatory.”

Employers can mandate many aspects of an employee’s job role: the protocol required to complete a task; the employee’s wardrobe and grooming standards; or the time the employee begins or ends her shift.

But they cannot mandate the attributes that influence whether or not customers receive exceptional customer service.

An employee’s personality, disposition, uniqueness, creativity, or engagement level is determined by the employee, not her employer. She chooses to smile. She chooses to refuse to banter with a coworker in front of a customer. She chooses to go the extra mile to serve a customer.

While employers cannot mandate these attributes, they can hire for them. That’s why the companies that consistently produce the highest levels of customer satisfaction also invest the most in their employee selection efforts.

Leaders at these companies are not kidding themselves.

They recognize that employees choose to provide exceptional customer service (or, as is often the case, choose not to) and they establish their employee selection criteria accordingly.

Over the years, I’ve had conversations with hundreds of frontline employees in the service industry. All of these employees were passionate about something but, more often than not, their passion had little to do with their job roles.

Many described their jobs as boring, routine, and monotonous.

These conversations have inspired me to explore the question, “Why is it that frontline employees in the service industry oftentimes appear apathetic about customer service and indifferent toward their customers?”

While there are many variables including: company hiring, training, and retention practices; the existing customer service culture; the effectiveness of the employee’s immediate supervisor, etc., one key contributor that most companies miss is to clearly distinguish between an employee’s job functions and job essence.

Job functions are the duties associated with one’s job role. Performance of these functions is mandatory. It’s what the employee was hired to do. It’s what the employee is paid to do. It’s the criteria upon which his performance is judged.

Job essence is the employee’s highest priority—which, for most employees, is to create a delighted customer: one who will repurchase, is less price-sensitive, and will recommend the company/brand to others.

In contrast to job functions, job essence is frequently ignored by both employers and employees. Here’s why: Employers tend to focus on that which can be documented and measured—things like job descriptions, policies, procedures, and checklists. All of these pertain to job function. And employees tend to focus on whatever their managers focus on.

For instance, suppose a restaurant manager tells a newly-hired hostess that customer service is his top priority. (Most do.) But when the hostess’s side work (e.g., folding napkins, filling salt and pepper shakers, etc.) suffers due to her consistent presence out front greeting guests as they arrive, he questions her priorities by asking, “Why aren’t there more napkins folded?”

She will quickly learn the manager’s true priority is folded napkins (job function), not delighted customers (job essence).

You see, whereas performing job functions is mandatory, demonstrating job essence is optional—employees don’t have to do it. And most don’t. And unlike job functions for which employees are paid, there’s no additional cost to the employer for employees to demonstrate job essence. Companies don’t pay their employees extra to care, take initiative, or accept responsibility.

Both job function (competency) and job essence (passion to serve) are required to create delighted customers. Customers won’t appreciate passionate, service-oriented employees who are incompetent. Nor will they respond to capable employees whose customer service they would describe as apathetic or indifferent. In other words, restaurant guests appreciate being greeted warmly and having a clean, folded napkin.

The opportunity to create delighted customers lies at the intersection of job function and job essence.

I have identified seven customer service behaviors that are available to frontline customer service providers at this intersection. These behaviors will enable them to elevate their personal customer service from typical, routine, and expected, to unique, refreshing, and unexpected.

In so doing, they will create delighted customers—loyal customers who will brag about the company/brand to others.

Here are three of the behaviors:

1. Express genuine interest: To express genuine interest in a customer is to go beyond that which a customer typically expects during a customer service interaction. For example, most customers might expect a supermarket cashier to smile, make eye contact, and add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice. These qualities may not always occur but they are the basics of a face-to-face customer service interaction.

To go beyond the basics might mean posing a question or two to the customer.

For example, I once observed the transaction ahead of me while in line at an Albertsons supermarket. As the cashier scanned a bag of dog food, she simply asked, “What kind of dog do you have?”

With that, the cashier and the customer had an enthusiastic exchange about their mutual love of Labrador Retrievers. It wasn’t long—maybe all of 20 seconds while the customer swiped his bank card and signed for his purchases. But an impression was made. A connection was established.

2. Share unique knowledge: To share unique knowledge with a customer means to go beyond the job knowledge that is ordinarily expected of one’s job role. For example, most restaurant guests expect for servers to possess basic job knowledge such as the evening’s specials, the soupe du jour, information about food preparation, ingredients/allergens, availability, pricing, etc.

Unique knowledge goes beyond job knowledge. It is interesting, memorable, and unexpected. It has character and substance.

It’s the difference between: “Tonight, our featured appetizer is the Pâté de Foie Gras” and  “Our chef trained at the prestigious Restaurant School in Philadelphia and apprenticed at Le Bec Fin. She also traveled to France to refine her knowledge of French delicacies such as truffles, escargot, and foie gras. In fact, our Pâté de Foie Gras is our featured appetizer. May I tempt you with an order?”

Seriously, which of these two approaches would make an impression on you? Which might motivate you to order the appetizer?

3. Deliver service heroics: To deliver service heroics means to go beyond the customer’s expectations in providing him with an exceptional customer service experience. Sometimes, this will require an employee to go above and beyond the call of duty. He may be challenged to perform beyond the scope of his job description.

I won’t provide my own example here. Instead, I’ll ask you to reflect back on your own experience as a customer. Everyone reading this post has a vivid example of a time when a frontline hourly employee went above and beyond the call of duty to provide exceptional customer service.

Perhaps you wrote a letter to the employee’s boss or maybe you gave him or her a substantial gratuity? If not, I’m confident that you have at least shared the story with many others. An impression was made—one that you won’t soon forget.

Each of these behaviors shares the same set of characteristics: they demonstrate the essence of an employee’s job—his or her highest priority—to create a delighted customer; they’re optional—which is why, as customers, we don’t often experience them; and they’re free—companies don’t pay their employees extra to express genuine interest, share unique knowledge, or deliver service heroics.

By recognizing and communicating the difference between job function and job essence, then guiding employee performance by sharing and rewarding customer service behaviors that go beyond that which customers typically expect, companies will differentiate themselves on the basis of customer service quality.

While most of their competitors will be providing the customer service status quo, these companies will be providing Service Elevated!

Many companies do an effective job of training their employees and holding them accountable to certain job functions.

For instance, in the checkout line at my local supermarket I’m routinely asked, “Did you find everything you were looking for?” And, when picking up my order at my favorite take-and-bake pizza restaurant, I’m frequently asked, “Have you baked our pizzas before?” And the cashiers at several area retailers regularly ask, “Would you like to enroll in our loyalty program to receive future discounts?”

Job functions are those tasks or duties associated with a job role. They are mandatory and, in most cases, are observable and measurable. Job functions receive a great deal of attention from supervisors and employees are held accountable to consistently perform them.

The irony is that, while employees are usually very good about asking routine questions pertaining to job functions, they oftentimes lose sight of the essence of their jobs.

Job essence refers to an employee’s highest priority—which, for most businesses, is to create delighted, loyal customers. Demonstrating job essence through one’s style, attitude, and personality is optional and, oftentimes, difficult to measure. For these reasons, supervisors and employees at many companies fail to consistently demonstrate job essence, devoting more of their energy and attention to the performance of job functions.

So, even as an employee asks, “Would you like to enroll in our loyalty program to receive future discounts?” (a mandatory job function), if she doesn’t smile, add a bit of enthusiasm to her voice, or in some other way appear to be engaged or interested (demonstrating optional job essence), then she’s missed an opportunity to “connect” and make a lasting positive impression.

Energy flows where attention goes. If a company pays attention to job functions, it will increase the number of people enrolled in its loyalty program. If it pays attention to job essence, it will increase the number of delighted customers who are loyal to its company/brand.

It’s better to earn 100 delighted customers who are loyal to your brand, than to capture 1,000 passive customers in a loyalty program who are indifferent toward your brand.

Where is your attention going?

Most of us acknowledge that when we’re performing our jobs, we are working.

But what many employees don’t often consider is that their jobs are made up of both mandatory actions that fulfill job functions (i.e., the bullet points on a job description) as well as optional behaviors that fulfill job essence—their highest priority (which, for most service-based businesses, is creating delighted customers).

Most work environments reinforce mandatory job functions through job descriptions, standard operating procedures (SOPs), checklists, etc., and pay little attention to the optional behaviors that, in the end, are the difference between an ordinary transaction and a memorable experience.

Here’s a quick example from the retail industry:

A couple of weeks ago, while in the checkout line at the supermarket, I had a chance to observe the cashier’s interaction with the customer ahead of me.

Typically these interactions are transactional: a screen displays the total, the customer swipes a bank card and signs for her purchases, the cashier presents a receipt, and the customer (9 times out of 10) thanks the cashier—presumably for accepting her money.

The cashier has completed a set of mandatory actions that fulfill her job function. But nothing stood out. No impression was made. An opportunity to make a connection was lost—forever…

But on this particular day, as she scanned a bag of dog food, the cashier asked, “What kind of a dog do you have?”

With that, the cashier and the customer had an enthusiastic exchange about their mutual love of Labrador Retrievers. It wasn’t long—maybe all of 20 seconds—while the customer swiped his bank card and signed for his purchases.

The cashier, by simply posing a question, expressed genuine interest in the customer and transformed a bland and uneventful transaction into a unique and memorable experience. An impression was made. A connection was established.

The cashier’s question was optional and fulfilled the essence of her job: to create a delighted customer. And because questions like these are optional, as customers we don’t always receive them. But when we do, they tend to leave a lasting positive impression.

Perhaps when the customer returns to the store, he will quickly scan the checkout lanes to see whether or not his “friend” is working and, if so, may go out of his way to queue in her line. The cashier may even recognize him and, recalling their previous conversation, ask about his dog.

This is how relationships form. This is how customer loyalty is earned. Customers don’t establish relationships with stores, they establish relationships with the people inside the stores.

Good customer service is rarely the result of perfectly executed mandatory job functions. Rather, it is most often the result of optional behaviors such as expressing genuine interest (e.g., “What kind of a dog do you have?”) and offering sincere and specific compliments (e.g., “You couldn’t have picked a breed with a better disposition.”) that fulfill job essence.

Good customer service is always optional. That’s why we rarely experience it.

Recently, I had an epiphany. It occurred to me that the most important aspects of my job (and likely yours) are nonessential.

Think about it. Most jobs consist of a set of essential job tasks that define a job role. These tasks might be described as mandatory job functions—the bullet points that make up a job description.

To the extent that employees define their job roles according to these mandatory functions, they will often describe their work as routine and monotonous. These employees presumably will view the essence of their jobs (their highest priority) as the successful execution of their assigned job tasks.

Sounds pretty boring, huh?

That’s because all of the fun usually resides within the dimensions of our work that may not appear in our job descriptions. I’m referring to those aspects of our jobs that are creative, interesting, and unexpected.

Customers describe these actions as “beyond the call of duty” or “going the extra mile.” In most cases, these tasks or behaviors are optional and support the true essence of our jobs (creating delighted customers).

Since these tasks and behaviors are optional, they’re seen as nonessential, unimportant, and elective. Because of this, as customers we don’t always experience them. But when we do, it makes an impression and reinforces our loyalty.

Here’s a recent example:

Many consumers see insurance as a commodity and regularly compare rates to determine whether or not they can find a lower premium. After all, as long as the essential elements of an insurance policy are present (sufficient coverage, reasonable deductible, affordable premium, etc.), insurance is insurance, right?

Maybe not.

For instance my Allstate agent, Kevin Johnson, recently emailed me a link to enroll in an electronic billing discount program offered by Allstate that he and I had previously discussed. I happened to be traveling when his email arrived and never got around to enrolling.

As my renewal deadline approached, Kevin took the time to personally enroll me and then sent me my user name and password with a short note saying, “I know you are running 100 miles an hour and we want to make sure you get the discount.”

Was Kevin’s action essential? No, it was optional. And, as it turned out, saved me about $115. Because of actions like this, I don’t compare rates with his competitors to see if I can find cheaper insurance. Why would I risk losing the personal attention I receive?

So while the essential aspects of my insurance policy have little to do with whether or not I decide to renew, shop around for a better rate, or recommend Kevin and Allstate to others, the nonessential aspects are vital to these decisions.

What are some nonessential aspects of your own job that are vital to your success?