Recently I wrote about Effortless Customer Service and the concept of predictable consumption, short of a product showing up on my doorstep when I need it, without having to order it and it just being automatically debited from my checking account or credit card, I can’t think of anything that would qualify as truly effortless. 

That said, effortless customer service is a lofty goal. So, here is the question to ask yourself: 

How easy am I to do business with? 

While the article previously mentioned focused on predicting the customer’s buying patterns and then delivering their product, there were some other good examples mentioned, such as how easy it is to connect with a company, short wait times and more. 

Upon further thought I wanted to expand on this concept, but focus on more traditional methods of customer service. So here are a few examples of this concept in action. 

My real estate agent, Victor Cohen, is truly amazing. We bought our new home before selling our old home. The old house was older, on a large lot and needed ongoing maintenance to keep it “show ready” for that perfect buyer. Victor said he would take care of the home until it sold. The next time I would come back was to clear out any final items before we turned the keys over to the new owner. He made selling my home effortless. 

Years ago when the interest rates were dropping I refinanced my home several times. I connected with a woman, Vicky Griswold, who made the refinancing almost effortless.

First, I never ever went to her office. She came to me for any papers that needed to be signed. Other than having to get some documents together, she made doing business with her effortless. 

My accountant, Stu Hoffman, makes doing my taxes so easy. Sure, I have to pull together all of the financials for my company. That’s work that we can’t get around. This year I planned to be out of town for tax day.

Stu said to bring him checks made out to the different tax offices, but to just leave the amounts blank. He offered to take care of filling them out and mailing them to the appropriate offices.

Yes, I trust him and one of the reasons is that he has a solid reputation and he’s easy to do business with. Almost… effortless! 

The common thread between these examples is that the people involved were just making it easy on the customer. Sometimes it takes creativity, extra effort, a little muscle, some extra time �" you get the idea. 

True effortless customer service is like perfection. It’s not reality. Once in a while you’ll achieve it, but consistently it’s impossible. Vince Lombardi’s quote about perfection is a perfect way to summarize this point.

He said, “Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can achieve excellence.” 

Copyright ©MMXIV, Shep Hyken - Reprinted with permission.

Shep Hyken, CSP, CPAE is a customer service expert, hall-of-fame speaker and New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. He works with organizations to build loyal relationships with their customers and employees. He is also the creator of The Customer Focus, a customer service training program that helps organizations develop a customer service culture and loyalty mindset. For more information contact (314) 692-2200 or www.Hyken.com