Who’s the Boss of Customer Service?

What I love about the sign is that it reaches these employees in their preferred method of communication—reading a short message. The only thing that could have been better would have been a text to each of the employees in the store, but of course that would not have the lasting impression that this sign made.(Have you ever given a verbal instruction to a young worker and felt that you were talking to yourself?!?) The other thing I love is the specificity of the instruction. It doesn’t just say, “No cell phones at work.” It specifically gives the staff two specific options of what to do instead. Leave it in your car, or leave it at home. There is no Door Number 3 that says they can leave it in their pocket or their purse and come up with an excuse of why it had to be answered while working!

So the question is this: Are you bold enough to BE THE BOSS of your customer service efforts?! It reminds me of a time years ago when I saw my youngest daughter coloring a picture with crayons on the kitchen tile floor. When my older daughter told her she shouldn’t be doing that, the younger one piped up in words all parents of siblings have heard, “You are not the boss of me!” I jumped in and informed her that I WAS the boss of her and that she had to stop coloring on the kitchen floor.

Although it may seem politically incorrect these days to assert your position as a manager, sometimes it is the only course of action that brings about the kind of customer service that you want to offer your staff and that will build your brand as a customer service leader. What sign can you put on the wall today? If you have one that we’d like to see, take a picture and forward it to us—we would love to share with other assertive bosses!