Many people dream of a heaven filled with life and activities that they imagine being superior experiences to the offerings down here on Earth. I don’t intend to argue about the existence or lack thereof of heaven. However, the more we do things properly the more we can build heaven on Earth for all to enjoy. The more we cooperatively work towards common goals the more success we will see as a species. This is why expecting proper customer service at every interaction is paramount. As a person in tech, the experiences of your customers and even of colleagues should matter a great deal to you, even if you are a sole developer working in open source. Allow me to explain.

Let’s take as an example a simple game of soccer. I believe that most people can figure out how to play this simple sport as the rules are fairly straightforward. Without hurting anyone, kick the ball into the opponent’s net. A really simple rule that defines pretty much the entirety of the sport. After you’ve had maybe a hundred games as a child or even as an adult, you can sort of find what the most pleasant game was quite easily. Usually, it’s the one where people were smiling, having fun and weren’t too concerned with who is the winning team. Where they were equally passing the ball to all the players, where there wasn’t pushing and knocking down, no fights, no insults. The best soccer game resembles a friendly conversation among a close group. It’s not the game where there was bleeding, broken bones, and hurt emotions. It’s not a game where you were bowed to by everyone on the field. It’s not a soccer game where everyone wanted to be like you but rather a game where all were happy to some extent. The same rules apply to business communications that are tremendously important for the successful development of projects.

I had dealings with a bank a while ago. Walked into the branch and asked the teller a straightforward question. The teller told me he didn’t know, seemed confused by what I had asked, looked untrained behind the computer terminal as he fumbled between many screens, and in general, made me feel like I needed to find the answer myself through other means. I didn’t ask anything unusual or out of date nor was I trolling. The bank is one of Canada’s largest and I felt that every teller at least should be able to answer a question about my investment account with that bank. At the very least they should not look confused and act as if they don’t have a clue what I am asking. I simply asked for my balance and I had a second question. The teller didn’t seem to know how to even look that up.

The entire experience made me lose trust in that bank. Imagine at a developer interview if someone asks you to explain the basics of how a CPU works and you can not. Or they ask you to explain how to optimize a loop and you seem lost. Probably would not lead to a job opportunity. The teller not knowing and seeming confused and not handling the situation well seemed to imply a lack of training which is a fault of management. Furthermore putting such a person in front of customers shows disrespect for the customer’s time as well as devalues their lives. It also shows a lack of foresight into what customers would need when interacting at the branch. I felt like I was banking with the wrong bank and felt my money may even be at risk. You might not feel this way after one negative interaction. But how many problems must your business have before a customer leaves it? We aren’t aiming for perfection or utopia. We are aiming for reality. And my question to any bank teller should have been answered confidently. Just like any developer should know the basics of how a CPU works or what RAM is.

This is where customer service comes into play. Upset I sent a message to the bank and within a few hours got a very polite response addressing all my concerns. Furthermore, they stated that the bank manager will be notified who will address this matter directly. They then went a step further and asked if the bank manager could contact me directly by phone to make sure all my needs were met. In other words, the bank realized they had failed a customer that one time and realizing the transaction may have been lost they offered a direct contact to resolve the matter thus completing the transaction perfectly. The manager would be able to, presumably, answer all my questions. And I do not doubt that they will. This was perfect customer service and the bank kept me as a customer as a direct result of merely answering my customer service message.

This is why listening to your customers is imperative to success. Yes, it’s an adage, the customer is always right, but it is true everywhere one looks. From street cleaning to banks, from hospitals to museums, from beach hot dog vendors to stock markets. If a customer stops wanting to talk with you they will choose to talk to someone else. Similarly to the soccer game, if you are constantly pushing me down to get the ball I’m going to go train with someone else and our friendship will be over. The same rules that hold childhood friendships together also hold the world together.

This is why we must always expect proper customer service just the way as kids we expect a respectful game of soccer, or any other interaction among friends, or even between strangers. We should always want people to understand us, to always deal with us directly and respectfully, to be honest and open in conversations, to care about us the way they should be cared about themselves. Building heaven on Earth is the real goal of proper customer service. It is the buyer of the product that dictates the future of all further interactions. If they’re happy they’ll tell you what they’re looking for tomorrow, what their dreams are, and what they expect from you as a seller.

This also applies to the open-source development of code. Other developers will tell you what they expect from you. Make sure you listen eagerly and when you disagree make sure you present your views fully and kindly. Stay out of insults, passive-aggression and ego trips. It’s not about what bank is the best, nor is it about who is the best soccer player. People who focus on these ideas are missing the boat. It’s about how many of us are celebrating life. Customer service’s goal is to make sure that everyone is ultimately satisfied with their experience with your offerings. Whether you’re a huge bank, or a GitHub star, or even a humble janitor, strive to offer great and proper customer service every single time, even when it’s raining.