Great customer service is a mindset

One of my SaaS buddies started using Herodesk the other week, and after I helped him during onboarding, he said:

"Funny enough, I just spent time fighting with XXX’s (a webhosting business with >500 empls.) support on behalf of a customer. Truly horrible support, where the person clearly had no idea what they were talking about and couldn’t be bothered to actually understand the issue.

And it got me thinking... there's a very clear shift in the level of support when a company moves from being “founder-led” to having lots of employees. 

Support at places like XXX, telcos, electronics retailers etc. is terrible. Support at your company and mine is exceptional by comparison.

How do *we* make sure that support stays exceptional in our businesses when we have 30 employees? Do you have the secret? :-)"

It got me thinking...

Great customer service isn’t about big budgets or fancy tools. It’s a mindset – and it starts from the top.

When I was at DanDomain - a business with 200 employees in Denmark that's part of team.blue with >2500 employees across Europe - we had world-class support (and as far as I know, they still do!).

The phone was answered (on average) within 10 secs. Emails were replied to within the hour. It was a true unique selling point for that business.

It's not about company size. It's about having the right mindset. And ensuring your team shares it.

You can invest in new software, fresh branding or clever automation. But the only thing that moves the dial for your customers is giving everyone in your organization the freedom, and trust, to actually deliver great service.

I’ve seen companies spend months building playbooks and rolling out frameworks… only to trip over their own internal hurdles and approvals.
It only resulted in a support experience that’s rigid, uninspired, and frustrating – both for the team and customers.

What makes the difference is something far simpler: leadership that genuinely believes customer happiness is worth fighting for!

When you show that attitude and give room for your team to act on it, amazing things happen. You see it in every little moment an agent goes out of their way, solves a problem no script could predict, or adds a human touch 🤗

And that kind of culture can’t just sit on a poster in a boardroom.

It has to flow through the organisation...

It takes management saying, “We’re here to help. Do what’s right for the customer – you’ve got our backing.”

Letting go of micromanagement. Allowing teams to delight and surprise. Even if it’s not always the most “efficient” path on paper.

In the best teams I’ve worked with, frontline staff don’t ask for permission to deliver great service. They know it’s expected. Encouraged. Celebrated.

Customer-first isn't a process. It's a commitment. A mindset. Real great customer service starts at the top and empowers everyone to own it.