Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan

At Your Servicelaws inscribed there is nothing stopping anyone from making life comfortable fora customer when he/she visits a foyer with a long waiting queue. Officials could dothe” McDonald” for instance where a staff would go down the line to take orders.By the time you are at the counter your order is ready for collection. We couldoffer refreshments to make the wait less taxing. Even seemingly inconsequentialactions such as answering the telephone courteously could calm a somewhatirate customer. Nothing beats the pressure gauge more than to ring a line withno answer or when it is answered, you find that you need to call another numberfor your problem to be solved.Recently, when the systems failed at the Immigration Department in Pusat BandarDamansara (PBD), the whole team decided to compensate the customers – whowere kept waiting – by working the next day, a Sunday, at the nearest office tocomplete the interrupted work.In its simplest form of service innovation, this action would leave a long termpositive emotional impact on a customer.The fundamental essence of service to meis respecting the sacredness of time itself;sacredness of the customer’s time. Thecustomer is the most important person, notthe provider.When we keep people waiting without notice and set expectations in whateverform), it displays total disrespect for that person. Arguably, strength of characteris the main denominator to extending “boutique” service. Where there is strengthin character, integrity follows. Where there is integrity, what is expected of onein any situation and of any task is delivered and delivered to nothing less thanexcellence and fineness. When we have people with the right attitude and characterdelivering service, their quest for success will be driven by making life as simple andcomfortable for customers. Even when things break down, technology flounders ona bad day, your customer service remains intact. In the instance of the Immigrationservice, even when systems failed, the service itself did not break down! How onehandles and manages the customer can make a potentially explosive moment intoa “it’s not a big issue” second.14