Service With A Smile: It’s In Our DNA.
As adults, we encounter a variety of people on a daily basis. Some of the contact we have with others is conversational, some is superficial niceties, and some is non-verbal, a fleeting nod or a simple wave from across the building. One thing that we have all experienced during our life is being a customer. We live in a highly commercial and trade driven society, and whether we realise it or not, we are a customer many times during an average week. Ordering a pie and iced coffee at the bakery, doing the weekly supermarket shop, ringing a tradesman to get a quote, and using the public library are all simple examples of times when we enter the customer-vendor relationship.
As customers and consumers, we all want to be treated with respect and friendliness, but we can all think of a number of instances when we’ve received poor customer service. We don’t forget these things quickly, because it’s ingrained into us ‘treat people how you’d like to be treated’, and when that doesn’t happen, we notice.
Being good at and passionate about customer service seems like it should be second nature to everyone, but is it really as easy as that? Could there be a genetic reason that some people are more suited to customer service than others? With a direct link between your personality and your unique DNA, it seems obvious that having a knack for customer service is a genetic trait.
The five main personality traits are:
- Agreeableness: trust, kindness, affection, and other prosocial behaviours
- Conscientiousness: high levels of thoughtfulness, good impulse control, and goal-directed behaviours
- Extroversion: sociability, talkativeness, assertiveness, and excitability
- Neuroticism: sadness, moodiness, emotional instability, worries about many different things
- Openness: creative, open to trying new things, happy to think about abstract concepts
Scientists have found that our personality is partially linked to our genetic code, and partially influenced by our individual upbringings. This can mean that you might be the perfect person to solve customer problems, be patient in times of stress and dissatisfaction, and to give customers a delightful interaction every single time.
With 2020 being a year like no other, many organisations and businesses have had to revise, revamp and reinvent their approach to pleasing and keeping their existing customers, as well as inventing ways to generate new business in an increasingly competitive environment. No longer is it good enough to just put on a smile and go about serving your clients, COVID-19 has brought about a new wave of customer service excellence, tailored to an individual’s needs, going above and beyond to ensure return clientele. Not only is being a people pleaser in your DNA, it is also in the DNA of a company. Companies with a strong customer service DNA can thrive, and many Australian companies have employees who have embraced their new customer relations skills as a result of diversifying tasks during these unprecedented times. Pleasing customers is paramount to so many businesses, but during a world-wide pandemic, it has become necessary to change to meet the needs of those customers, many of whom now have differing needs and expectations.
So if you’re a people pleaser, like solving client problems, and enjoy the challenge of meeting the needs of a range of stakeholders, then maybe customer service is in your DNA!