There are rules, damned rules, and policy. OK, I just made that up. In the arena of customer service it is no secret that customers are often more than upset about the policies that make the simplest transactions a nightmare for them. The best online stores, the ones that are highly popular with customers, have the best customer service. Amazon immediately comes to mind. In the brick and mortar venues, Nordstrom is a retail store known for years to treat their customers with exceptional care. High opinions of a company’s customer service usually lead to higher profits.

The Reasons for Rules

It is not that stores like Amazon and Nordstrom do not have customer service policies in place. In general, company policies serve as a guideline and point of reference for employees and managers who find themselves dealing with customers who are simply trying to take advantage of a situation and are not concerned about being treated fairly. Other than that, a store that has quality customer service will rarely cite the rules to a customer.

For stores with a strict enforcement policy, it often means employees are not properly trained or management does not see the advantage in having exceptional customer service to its bottom line. In today’s global marketplace, it is a dangerous course to take by either ignoring the need for employee training or ignoring the need for superior customer service. Customers should understand that strict enforcement of rules is often not a decision made by an individual employee or manager.

When to Bend the Rules

The decision to make exceptions to a company’s customer service policy needs to have a structure to it. This means that should bad judgment be used when making an exception, there has to be someone accountable and held responsible for the poor judgment. For the customer, the best customer service is received when this decision making power is primarily in the hands of the employee who is directly handling the transaction. This is an indication that the company has properly trained their employees, but what is perhaps more important, that the company has an excellent hiring process. Excellent training provided to a substandard employee will produce substandard results.

It should be no surprise then that the best customer service often comes from the best companies. Rules are seen as flexible by the employees because management has a general flexibility built in to its corporate mentality. For the customer, this means that they can expect a high level of responsiveness no matter who in the company they encounter in trying to resolve a problem.

The idea that outstanding customer service comes as a result of a company’s customer service policies is erroneous. Rules for dealing with customers should be as unique as each individual customer. There will not be a separate set of rules for each customer, but instead the rules will be fashioned in such a way that empowers the individual employee and frees them to use their best judgment in resolving a situation. In the end, it is not the rules that need to bend, but the well-trained and service-oriented employee that knows when and how to work the system so that the customer ends up happy, and the company enhances its reputation.