Notice that all this is done even before the order is taken. There is no commitment to the eventual sale, yet the customer is so much at ease that he is pre-sold because he has already tasted this brand serve. In this case the actual consumption becomes just a formality.
The climate that this brand serve professional creates is as relishing as the actual lunch or dinner.

Brand Serve 2: Pledge to do something on time
A promise is a pledge to undertake something within a committed frame of time. It is the word of a Customer Service Professional that he must honour. Promises kept can build up a sales relationship beautifully. Broken promises, on the other hand, can break a heart, ruin a sale and chase away a customer faster than ever. They belie the hope on which everyone lives.

Brand Serve 3: Provide mutually beneficial Customer Service
When a satisfied customer repeats his purchase again and again, or when he recommends other customers because he is satisfied, the net result is a healthy bottomline in which both customer and company mutually benefit.

Brand Serve 4: Unhesitatingly serve at once
One of the greatest elements of customer delight is to receive service promptly. Services that are on time all the time are cherished. This means that a Customer Service Professional should be swift and alert. He should have an attitude that is conducive to doing things at once, without procrastination.

Brand Serve Example: To be prompt in delivering a service means to understand a customer’s need to deliver in a timely fashion. The best example of this brand serve comes from the leading courier brand in the world, FedEx. There was an occasion when a patient in critical condition needed some medicines urgently. FedEx promptly picked up the medicines from one country and delivered it to the patient’s doctor in another part of the world, thereby saving the patient’s life.
For the customer (in this case the patient), this was an excellent Brand Experience. The courier company not only earned its service fee but also the blessings of the patient’s wife and children. The good word-of-mouth that resulted was pure bonus.

Brand Serve 5: Continuously give good Customer Service
There are times when Customer Service Professional is all sugar and honey while making the sale. But once the seal is put on the deal, they disregard the customer and take him for granted.

Brand Serve 6: Be neat, clean and tidy
The Customer Service Professional must be presentable. His attire should be neat and attractive. He should be well groomed. He should pay attention to hygiene.

Brand Serve 7: Be constructive, not destructive
The actions of the Customer Service Professional should be constructive – not destructive. His behaviour should make a customer feel that everything he does is aimed at providing extra benefits to the customer.

Brand Serve 8: Be calm during adversity
At times customers get angry. They shout and yell because they have been genuinely hurt by something that has been done or not been done. This is a time when a good Customer Service Professional does not argue or interrupt. He is cool, calm and serene – a picture of composure as he actively listens to the customer and tries his best to understand his concerns and then solve them.
Brand Serve Example: When Standard Chartered Bank decided to shift premises from Andheri to Santacruz in the western suburbs of Mumbai, it caused a lot of heartburn for many clients.

One client in particular who had opened an account with the bank because the branch was nearby was very upset. But the bank manager, in this case the Professional, was very sensitive to the customers needs. He patiently explained the need for the shift (“a more centralized location”) and said that he would like this customer to continue to bank with StanChart (“because the bank did not want to lose him as its customer”). He visited their office and offered an exclusive pick-up and delivery service so as not to inconvenience them if they continued to bank with him. The fact that he came across personally and took time to patiently explain the reasons for moving and then even tried his best to solve the problems that ensued with the shift, went down very well with the customer. The pleasant Brand Experience made them want to continue with the bank.
As they say today, “We still bank with Standard Chartered. The physical distance may have increased but emotionally the bank has come closer”. Patience pays.
Following this brand serve brings in big dividends. It is up to the Professional to be more forbearing when pursuing a customer.

Brand Serve 9: Define customer expectations
Defining the customer’s expectations is an extremely crucial component of the sales transaction. This is what decides whether the customer is satisfied or dissatisfied with the sale. It is an expectation delivery equation. The customer must be told what to expect and then his expectation must be fulfilled.

Brand Serve 10: Perform invaluable deeds
A gentle action, a kind word, a timely deed, a reassuring handshake or a comforting smile could be invaluable.

Brand Serve 11: Solve problems when they are small
When customer concerns are not addressed at the initial stages, they turn into problems. And if these problems are not tackled when they are small, they sometimes cascade into gigantic issues that can cause immense pain to the customer. Addressing concerns at the outset, answering queries in a satisfactory manner and nipping problems in the bud really help clear the air for the customer.
Like a cricketer, a Customer Service Professional too is ‘in form’ and ‘out of form’. But if he is a professional, he should be able to ‘perform’ even on his off day. The customer needs to be offered a basic minimum level of service in a uniform and consistent manner. The Customer Service Professional who waits for ‘reform’ or for times when he is ‘in form’ is a loser. Winners don’t wait.

Brand Serve Example: A good case is LIC, the largest life insurance company in India. A few years ago, a senior corporate executive in his fifties passed away, leaving behind a wife and a handicapped child. Collecting her insurance amount proved to be a cake walk for the wife. There was no need for her to run from pillar to post. Instead, the LIC agents (Professionals), helped her with the paper work and ensured that she received the insurance amount due.

Sometimes a simple task, when not done, can leave a customer fuming and fretting at the service quality. While having dinner at a restaurant, an executive and his guest ordered Cream of Tomato Soup. The Waiter diligently took the order and even reconfirmed it with them. But when their order arrived, they discovered to their horror that it was Cream of Chicken Soup. You can imagine the distress of the executive and his guest when I tell you that both of them were strict vegetarians.
It was a disastrous Brand Experience for them. They left, vowing never to return to that restaurant again. And you can safely assume that their walk-out was followed by a talk-out, when family, friends and friends of friends would hear of the tomato that turned out to be chicken. It was the simplest tasks, but when ill-performed it led to bad Customer service.

Therefore, it is important for Professional to be performance-oriented towards a task. The four-step formula for successful is:
* Listen to the customer and understand the task
* Reconfirm the task
* Perform the task
* Check if the task is performed according to the customer’s expectation and whether the customer is satisfied.
Simple or complex, please remember that each and every task is important to the customer.

Brand Serve 12: Satisfy through physical appeal
When a customer walks into an office or outlet of the Customer Service Professional, the surroundings should be conducive to a positive frame of mind. He should find the furniture attractively laid out, the surroundings aesthetically pleasing. The ambience should be good. And there should be enough corporate and brand information on display to boost his confidence in the brand.

Brand Serve 13: Be proficient and efficient, not deficient
Customers like to deal with persons, who know their jobs and are well organized. A Customer Service Professional must therefore be competent, proficient and efficient while providing Customer Service.

Brand Serve 14: Anticipate and act; don’t be reactive
When a customer has to follow up in order to get the service that is his due, it is a very bad reflection on the quality of Customer Service provided by that organisation. From the customer’s point of view, it is a detestable task. He hates it. He expects the organisation to follow up and give him the service that is his due.

Brand Serve 15: Persist; don’t resist
There are times when customers come up with innovative ideas to side step a company’s policies or rules. A good Customer Service Professional knows that this is not desirable, as it would adversely affect other customers. At times like these, a mature Customer Service Professional explains to the customer in a firm but courteous manner why it is not advisable to break the rules and the inconvenience it would cause to other customers.

Brand Serve 16: Regularly raise service standards to meet rising customer expectations
Customers keep changing all the time and their expectations keep rising. Today Indians have become world-class customers and they want world class Customer Service. Regular updating of skills, training, development and keeping pace with changing technology (bearing in mind the necessity of keeping the human element in place because technology in itself is cold, impersonal and not at all customer-friendly) will ensure that the Customer Service Professional is able to keep pace in a dynamic, ever changing world. Under no circumstances must the Customer Service Professional be allowed to get regressive.

Brand Serve 17: Hold; don’t scold
When the child in the customer takes over, the Customer Service Professional needs to assume the role of a parent. He should be firm, kind and understating – even holding the customer’s hand if need be and steering him out of the deep.

Brand Serve 18: Complete and Succeed
In Customer Service it is better to do two things completely rather than twenty things partially. Customers appreciate hundred per cent even if it is a few things, rather than ninety-nine per cent in many.

Brand Serve 19: Convince the customer for his own good
The Customer Service Professional must be able to guide the customer in a convincing manner. All the while he should explain the benefits of a particular recommendation. He should not only focus on the what, when and how, but also the whys of the product, the reasons why the customer should buy the brand.

Brand Serve 20: Apply down to earth common sense
Never throw the rulebook at an erring customer. Remember, he is a flesh and blood person who has come to you for help. Don’t treat him like a mannequin by reading the fine print in the policy book. Try to accommodate him as humanely as possible, keeping a balance between the company’s and the customer’s interests. This does not mean that you should ‘hug’ a customer who has broken the rules. But don’t ‘shrug’ him away either, just because he has made a mistake.

Brand Serve 21: Individualise your service; give personal attention
If you can make a customer feel, through your words and actions, that he and he alone is being served with full and exclusive attention being showered upon him, that he is the center of attraction, you would have individualised your service.

Brand Serve 22: Involve to solve
There are times when the customer has got himself into trouble due to errors of commission or omission. At times like these, the Customer Service Professional should play the part of rescuer.