Barriers to entry bar more customers than you think.

By Micah Solomon – keynote speaker, customer service speaker, customer service consultant, and #1 bestselling author of “Exceptional Service, Exceptional Profit: The Secrets of Building a Five-Star Customer Service Organization.” Visit with Micah at https://customerserviceguru.com

A warm welcome, 30th St. Station Philadelphia

When you give a warm welcome (or you don’t) to what you think of as a small, invisible group of customers, the effect goes beyond that immediate constituency.

So, when considering “doing the right thing,” think beyond what you think is the affected group.  The the welcoming signs Amtrak posts in their stations for servicemen and women is likely to stays in the consciousness of relatives of those in service — no matter how frequently or infrequently it is actually made use of by those actually in uniform.

Probably the most common place that you have an opportunity to visibly put up or break down entry barriers to a minority group is to people with disabilities. An office building with obstructed ramps or heavy, hard-to-open doors: What does that ‘‘say’’ to a customer who is in a wheel chair or has arthritis?  Whatever it says, it says the same to anyone who cares about them — a group that is far larger than you may have ever imagined.

unmaintained disabled access, suburban library
Unmaintained disabled access, suburban public library.

A bonus post from the College of the Customer archives