Class is Always in Style
Author: Tay Jones - Owner/Consultant, Law ENforcement Product Solutions
Powerful, insightful advice tends to leave an impression and impact you across most areas of this thing called life. About twenty years ago, I was gifted one of these gems, and it’s still one of the best pieces of advice I’ve ever received. It’s advice that continues to resonate within me and helps with most of my daily decision making.
What was this advice?
Class is always in style.
Customer service is highly subjective, especially in the world of law enforcement. And, just as with most aspects of life, you’ll never win every time you step onto the field of play.
When it comes to serving people, how you handle situations means a lot. Especially if the outcome isn’t favorable or as the customer expected. After outcome, the next logical metric of service is the how in the equation. How was the experience leading up to the outcome? How was it handled afterward?
Handling service situations with class and trying to do what’s right with the options available, is never forgotten. Being classy and handling situations with elegance shows your desire to do the right thing and to put those you’re serving ahead of yourself. The ability to serve and treat people with respect, even in situations where they don’t deserve it, shows true class and is part of what sets great police organizations apart from the others.
Experiences are stories; stories are told. When stories are told, people listen.
When it comes to others’ opinions of you and your police agency, when they hear how you’re portrayed in the stories your customers tell, the amount of class used throughout an interaction goes a long way. A step or two removed from a situation, people aren’t as emotionally invested as the storyteller. Therefore, they can more objectively assess a situation, how it was handled, the steps that were taken, and decide for themselves if the situation was handled with or without class and base their willingness to forgive on this assessment.
When considering decisions and the actions you should take in a situation, think of how it falls in line with class. Ask yourself if the way you’re handling a situation, or plan to handle a situation, is an elegant decision. Ask yourself if the decision is coming from a true desire to serve. And think not only about this interaction, but the many interactions – or touchpoints – you’ll inadvertently have through the stories that will be told about you afterward, without your approval or input.
These additional touchpoints with those close to your customers who hear their story are likely those you either serve now or will serve in the future. These touchpoints have impact. Showing class in the decisions you make shows your decisions were done for the right reasons, with the truest intent. Incorrect outcomes can still be beneficial if they were made with the best interest of the customer in mind.
The only thing you can control are your actions. These actions will ultimately express themselves through the stories that are told about you. Who you are as an organization will be decided by the audience.
Stay classy.
Learn more about our Customer Service for Law Enforcement training, and help your organization improve it’s continued efforts to satisfy your most valuable asset – those you serve.
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