It seems to me that good customer service is rare and often difficult to provide. It is rare because it is often hard. Our motivation for serving our customers is key. When I lived in Japan for a time in the 80's I learned that the motivation that came from the culture was the concept of not losing face. If I were asking for directions in Tokyo I would ask several people often to see if they agreed before I took the advise. The person would not say I don't know because then they would have failed to help you so to avoid losing face the person would offer directions even if they had no idea how to get there. If you are a business owner the customers are what keeps you in business so survival can be a motivation even if you in your heart of hearts care nothing about the customers welfare. If you are an employee the motivation could be to keep your job. These motivations can produce great customer service but this can be a hard road. My older son will soon graduate from college and we have often talked about his career choices. He has the idea that one can do whatever makes lots of money even if you do not like the work or are not naturally gifted in the kind of work. I to an extent agree with him that one can learn to do the work well do it without any real passion for the work but over time all that effort wears a person down and maintaining that level of customer service becomes unbearably hard.
I just returned from a very busy week of work tuning in Chicago. I plan these trips to be very busy cramming much work into a certain period of time to make the trip pay with all the expenses of travel, lodging etc. A couple of things help me provide good customer service in this situation. I really like the work. Every customer new or old is a blessing to the business choosing Renshaw Music to meet their piano needs. My work produces joy in a family setting and the improved piano might be used for worship which is an encouragement to my faith. The other thing is I enjoy the people. In a way it is easy to relate well to these customers. Most of the time I see them once a year so there is not enough time to develop personality conflicts. In a way this is like driving a limo which I did off and on for many years. The customer got into the car and I would enjoy getting to know about their work or whatever there was opportunity to talk about and then they were out of the car when we got to our destination and I often didn't see them again.
No matter how likable or unlikable the customer might be the best motivation for good customer service is the realization the each customer is a potential blessing or hindrance to the business and without the customer the business or your job has no chance of success.Each customer is also a person loved by the Lord and the Lord does tell me to do everything as unto the Lord. So then seeing each customer as a blessing and worthy of my best is the best motivation for good customer service.
