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Creating extraordinary customer service and customer experience is dependent on how you inspire and train your customer-facing teams. As I’ve discovered through my consulting work transforming customer service for organizations worldwide, leadership is often the differentiator between mediocre and exceptional service cultures.
Once you’ve selected and employed people with the right potential, your leadership approach is what transforms these talented but largely unformed employees into customer service champions. Let’s explore the methodology that makes this transformation possible.
The tale of two customer service styles
Consider two hypothetical customer service professionals.
Employee #1: Technically gifted. Rarely makes mistakes, follows protocols precisely and completes all assigned tasks. Not bad, as a start! The challenge is that their focus remains fixed on completing their designated functions in their predetermined sequence, regardless of what’s happening around them.
Employee #2: Equally skilled technically, but possesses what you might call “customer-focused radar” — an awareness that extends beyond assigned tasks. This person instinctively notices when anyone needs assistance, whether in their designated area or not. They take the extra effort to help a customer with a question, to address an unexpected need or desire or step in when they spot an opportunity to elevate the experience.
What creates this difference in service delivery? The answer may depend on how you’ve provided leadership and customer service training to them.
Purpose transcends function
Assuming both service professionals have similar levels of natural empathy (which your hiring process should screen for), the difference in their performance stems from one critical factor: One understands their true purpose in your organization, while the other doesn’t.
Every employee has both a job function and a purpose. The function appears in job descriptions, including the technical responsibilities and tasks to complete. For customer-facing roles, this includes processing transactions, answering questions, following procedures and meeting metrics.
Purpose, however, runs deeper. It’s the reason behind all those technical activities — the “why” that sometimes requires stepping outside rigid roles to do whatever the situation demands.
For Customer Service/CX Professionals, this purpose might be: “You’re here to create memorable, positive experiences for every customer who interacts with our company.”
The transformation begins at orientation
Communicating this purpose-centered philosophy must begin immediately. The legendary founder of the modern Ritz-Carlton hotel chain understood this perfectly. He made it a priority to conduct orientation personally at every new hotel opening. Surprisingly, he didn’t focus on operational details or technical standards.
Instead, he would introduce himself saying, “I’m the President of this hotel. I’m an important person here.” Then came the pivotal moment: “And you are an important person too—in fact, you shape our guests’ impressions more powerfully than I ever could.”
He would then articulate their collective purpose: “The genuine care and comfort of our guests is our highest mission.”
Similarly, Mayo Clinic — one of the world’s most respected healthcare institutions — operates in an intensely technical, regulated field. Yet from day one, new employees hear their straightforward seven-word purpose repeated consistently: “The needs of the patient come first.” This mantra guides them to prioritize patient needs above whatever they might think they’re “supposed” to be doing if the two ever conflict.
Related: Why Extreme Customer Service Will Spark Business Domination
Beyond mantras: Building a purpose-driven culture
While a clear purpose statement is foundational, sustaining purpose-driven customer service requires more. Here are the essential elements:
- Regular reinforcement: Daily (ideally) or, at a minimum, weekly meetings focused solely on your company’s purpose. Discuss real examples of how team members have fulfilled this purpose and invite ideas for new opportunities.
- Positive peer influence: This can be a powerful force for excellence. When employees witness colleagues rushing to assist customers, anticipating needs before being asked and finding creative solutions to problems, they naturally adopt these behaviors themselves. This is how exceptional customer service/CX cultures perpetuate and grow stronger over time.
- Purposeful standards: Develop clear standards for recurring activities, but design them thoughtfully. The best standards explain the reasoning behind each requirement and clarify when deviation might be appropriate. Without this flexibility, you’ll create robotic compliance that ultimately undermines your service culture.
- Empowerment: Enable employees with actual authority to do what’s right for customers—period. If someone returns late from lunch because they helped jump-start a customer’s car, celebrate this decision rather than penalizing them for the schedule deviation. When purpose drives decisions, technical rules become secondary.
The leadership difference
Transformative customer service and customer experience begin with leadership that consistently prioritizes purpose over function. In my work as a customer service trainer and advisor, I’ve seen the power of this leadership approach enhance great performance time and again.
When you help your team understand why their work matters — how it impacts real people’s lives and experiences — you tap into intrinsic motivation that technical training alone can never achieve.
The most successful customer-focused companies don’t just train employees to follow procedures; they inspire them to fulfill a meaningful purpose. They recognize that exceptional customer service/CX experiences emerge when empowered team members understand their true mission and have the support to pursue it creatively and consistently.
By becoming a “customer service whisperer” who unlocks this potential in your team, you create the foundation for service experiences that truly stand apart.
