Excellent Customer Service and the Generation Connection  by Linda Gravett, Ph.D., SPHR and Tina Macon, PHR

Earlier this summer, Linda pulled into a gas station/convenience store somewhere en route to speak at a conference.  She was third in line, and there were a couple of people behind her in this busy establishment.  She became fascinated by the appearance of the young male clerk behind the counter.  He had multi-hued hair, piercings that looked like they had to hurt, and a henna tattoo across all the fingers of his left hand.  The customer behind Linda whispered to her, “no wonder there’s a long line – that kid doesn’t know what he’s doing.  Just look at him.”

After Linda got past the clerk’s appearance herself, she noticed the excellent job of customer service he was doing.  The customer in front of her was traveling and forgot his razor blades.  He had about five different packages in his hands and was asking the clerk if he could recommend one.  The clerk gave him information about the razorblades he, or someone he knew, had experience with and was amazingly knowledgeable and helpful.

When Linda’s turn came, she paid for her purchases and commented about how impressed she was with the clerk’s sales ability.  She asked him if he’d considered a sales career in industry.  He smiled and responded, “No ma’am.  I’m in pre-med.  This is my weekend job.” 

If we’re purchasing a product or service, we want quality assistance; that is, someone who is courteous, prompt and knowledgeable.  It’s really not so important about what the service provider looks like physically, as long as he or she is clean and groomed.

The population of the U.S. today encompasses some interesting demographics, with teenagers having a larger purchasing power than ever before.  People in their 70’s and 80’s are living longer and healthier lives and are still using goods and services once considered the provence of much younger people.  Some older Americans elect (or are forced) to work after age 65, so they could very likely have customers and supervisors 40 to 50 years younger than themselves.  Is it any wonder, then, that a potential for misunderstanding is high?!

We have to remember that different factors affect each generation’s world view.  As Morris Massey has commented in The People Puzzle, who we are as adults is affected by the influences we had as we were growing up.  The values of our parents, members of the “Radio Baby” generation, differ from the values of our generation, the “Baby Boomers”.  The older generation remembers still the impact of the Great Depression in the U.S. in the early 1930’s are likely to save and pay cash, even for large ticket items like cars.  The “Boomer” generation is more likely to buy now and pay later, with plastic.  Regardless of our age, we can’t assume that customers all think like we do and want what we want.

There is definitely some common ground across generations when it comes to customer service ideals.  Between 1999-2002, Linda interviewed 500 people in each of the four generations in today’s workforce:  people born between 1930-45; those born between 1946-64; people born between 1965-1976; and those born between 1977-97.  Interview participants overwhelmingly said that being treated with respect is a primary need.  “Respect” may take on different forms, but people across all four age groups said that they want to be heard, regardless of whether the listener agrees with their point of view.  For those of you that have watched any of The Survivor shows, you know that incidents that drove castaways to opposite corners most often occurred when one individual or group automatically tuned the other out.  This “talk to the hand” response builds a barrier quicker than any other form of communication.

To complicate matters even more, each generation uses jargon unique to that generation’s life and times.  For example:

Just like learning another language such as French, each generation needs to learn others’ language to communicate effectively.

Tina was getting gorgeous in a local beauty shop owned by a Baby Boomer entrepreneur.  The entrepreneur believes in hiring younger beauticians and providing them with an opportunity to learn and develop their skills.  The owner is task oriented and wants to stay on schedule – that’s her way of being customer oriented.  The younger beautician spends time with each customer, trying to put the customer at ease with relaxed conversation.  This is causing a clash between the owner and employee.  Both women believe they’re providing “customer service”, yet their idea of what customer service looks like is different.  The young beautician feels the boss is too rigid and controlling when she gets annoyed at her “take your time” style.  The boss believes the younger woman’s work ethic is lacking.  Who’s right?  We think it depends on the customer….each unique customer….as to what constitutes “excellent customer service.”  There’s a time (and customers) for which each style is appropriate.

Clearly, an organization’s leadership must listen to its customers and potential customers.  When customers say on a survey that they want “quality”, dig deeper.  What exactly does “quality” mean?  The more education that different age groups have about each other, the better equipped they’ll be to respond to customer needs regardless of age….theirs or the customers’.

Please feel free to contact Linda Gravett (Linda@gravett.com) or Tina Macon (Tina@allmachhr.com) if you have any questions or comments.