Omotenashi: How Selfless Is Your Customer Service?

Customers are people; consumers are statistics.
Stanley Marcus, Quest for the Best

On a recent trip overseas, I was struck at the difference in attitude between airport security in Japan and the US.

In Japan, the conveyor belts had a curved design that took up little space and returned the bins automatically, there were only a few employees, and all of the employees were trying to help the customers get through security as pain-free as possible.

In the US, there was a new and confusing conveyor belt system that kept backing up, there were more employees at each scanner than I wanted to count, and the TSA employee instructing people how to use the new system kept talking down to customers that didn’t understand what they were supposed to do.

The difference between these two experiences, like all customer service experiences, comes down to cultural differences—the culture of the society or the organization.

In the US, companies often treat customers as a statistic to be gained from, rather than a person to be given to.

In Japan, customer service is done with the spirit of omotenashi: service is supposed to be given wholeheartedly, without expecting anything in return, and without putting on a fake attitude.

Service in Japan centers around care, rather than expectations. Any task that makes a guest feel better is important, no matter how menial.

Anticipating a customer’s unique needs in a way that feels natural is considered the height of omotenashi.

At Ippudo—a ramen restaurant with locations in the US, France, the UK, Australia, and throughout Asia—staff get served as customers during their training period to better understand service but also to see what types of mistakes can happen from a customer’s point of view.¹

And, every time a person enters the restaurant, the staff shouts an energetic “irasshaimase”—come in—to welcome guests and set the tone for the dining experience.

Contrast this to many restaurants in the US—even high-end restaurants—where you’re unlikely to get a hello or a goodbye and where servers are often trained to get more out of their guests—via upselling—instead of being trained on what it takes to make the guests have the best experience.

Service should be about the customers, not about you.

Is your customer-service training helping your employees best serve your customers or is its main focus on increasing your bottom line? What can you do to help your employees focus on satisfying customers and their unspoken needs better than anyone else?

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