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Have you ever baked a batch of scones? Then you’ll know what would happen if one day you forgot to add the baking powder!

The other day I made some sweet corn fritters and did the unforgivable. Incredibly, I forgot the baking powder. Down the gurgler with that lot.

I understand the purpose of adding baking powder to a recipe is to make the finished product light and airy and yummy to eat.

Sounds odd to me but what actually happens is that when you add the baking powder it immediately reacts with the other ingredients and produces bubbles of carbon dioxide. And these bubbles make the mixture rise when cooked. Well you learn something new every day!

Now please come with me while I transport the baking powder image into the arena of customer service.

Over the past decade (or more) I’ve observed the culture of customer service go through a radical transformation. Unfortunately not all change is good. In this case it’s nothing short of awful. Customer service nowadays is lifeless, bored, flat, anything but light and airy. It’s so bad I could almost do without it.

What customer service needs these days is a liberal dose of baking powder. It sure needs something to put some bubbles in it!

It’s an attitude problem
As always it’s really an attitude problem. The attitude of service that used to give pleasure, convenience, helpfulness, consideration, respect to the customer has gone down the gurgler too. The idea of ‘service’ has died. Where did it go? Who knows. Bring in the sociologists.

Getting customer service today is like being served flat scones. I mean how come so many staff, for example in retail, can manage to complete a customer’s transaction without uttering a single, solitary word? Wow, I’m not sure I could do that if I tried to!

Perhaps I could make up little sachets of baking powder and dish them out as a symbolic comment. “Here, try this, you might feel better.” So what would be the equivalent of adding some baking powder to customer service?

Well first of all it would give the transaction a lift. It would put bubbles into it. Bubbles like a greeting, a smile, some form of courteous contact.

But more importantly if we morph the image of baking powder into a customer service attitude it would go like this: “I am going to add something to every customer’s life today.” It’s a moment of connection. An acknowledgement, a recognition, an appreciation. Not because I have to but because I have this attitude of setting out to add something positive to everyone I talk to today.

I’m going to make a tiny contribution to your life today. It might be as small as an ‘hello’ or a ‘thank you’, but it’s a contribution. And the amazing thing is, we’ll both feel better! Try it. It could be contagious and come back to you in surprising and delightful ways!