Come on … say it with me.

“A customer is not a process.”

Part 1

My oldest daughter plays the oboe, and plays it quite well. It was time for us to buy her “a good one” with full conservatory fingering, so we went (an hour’s drive) to the largest in-stock music instrument inventory store in the world: Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Center, a crammed-full, old fashioned-styled, complete-with-original-wooden-cashier-cage, family-run establishment.

Now here’s where it gets real interesting …

After doing all the right things (with attentive, personal service), we selected a handmade, wooden Howarth oboe and went to pay for it. Novel as it may sound, we had saved up for this moment and I wrote a check from our special-purchase savings account. The salesclerk in her wooden cashier’s castle dutifully processed the check, processed it again, and then somberly handed it back to me with a little slip of paper. “Telecheck could not validate your check. Call them on the phone there and see what’s holding it up.”

The telephone conversation went well enough at first: yep, received check request; yes, you have sufficient funds in the account; validated, excellent credit history; okay, updated and confirmed this info in my system file. Great! I asked for whatever approval code I needed to hand the patient folks here at the music store, and I’d be on my way.

--- Can’t do that. Not enough account activity.

--- But this is our special savings account for the rare, special purchase; not much activity.

--- No can do. Not enough transaction activity.

The conversation went downhill in a rush after that.

I was a process, not a customer---not even a customer-once-removed on behalf of the music store. And I couldn’t get him to see it.

Even if Telecheck did not empower him to approve the transaction, he should have had the customer-service-sense to pass me on to a superior who did. Nope. No way. No how.

The only solution he could offer was for me to write numerous checks of small amounts over the next seven days, and then try the larger purchase again.

I had an empty checkbox next to my name in their heartless automated system and there was nothing I could do---or that he would do---to fix it.

There in the music store, I started storyboarding a Telecheck music video in the fine tradition of United Breaks Guitars.

Part 2

After re-cradling the receiver (have you slammed down a phone in the last 11 years? … MUCH more satisfying than pushing an Off button), I returned to the old-fashioned, wooden cashier cage and summarized for the lady inside the one point or two that she might not have overheard of my emphatic telephone discussion.

She looked at me for a moment and my daughter cradling the almost-hers oboe, and said, “Let me see that check. I’ll be right back.” She soon returned and said, “No problem. May I see your driver’s license?”

Less than 10 minutes later, my daughter and I walked out into the sunshine with her new oboe ... proud to be valued customers of Chuck Levin’s Washington Music Store.

I know we are … I’m writing this post, and my daughter has the oboe and an unexpected, free Washington Music Store T-shirt that she wore to school the next day.

A customer is not a process; he or she is an opportunity. Try delighting one, and see what happens.

This saga begins with me standing at a Starbucks counter repeating in an incredulous voice what the server had just told me, “The Wi-Fi isn’t free? I have to buy a Starbucks card first?” Nodding sympathetically with a wry smile, she agreed and then said in a conspiratorial whisper, “But it’s free down the street at Panera Bread.”

I was in the midst of a 238-mile journey home on a Friday night at 8:20 PM with a pending online task to complete, but I left.

I was willing to pay for coffee, and maybe a pastry, and possibly something else … but I was not going to pay for Wi-Fi. It’s like having to pay for napkins: “Napkins available for free with your $15 Starbucks card purchase.”

I drove down the street to Panera Bread, parked, shouldered my laptop case and hurried to the entrance. A colorful sign on the glass entry door caught my eye, “Free Wi-fi.” I bought coffee and a chocolate pastry, and began working. Just before the 9 PM closing time, I completed and emailed the revised file to my coworker across the country.

From the customer experience perspective, Panera Bread's free Wi-Fi was a true customer benefit: easy, free, non-intrusive. Starbucks' misguided attempt to force customer "loyalty" and stickiness derailed a potential customer into the welcoming arms of a competitor. I used to think, "Coffee = Starbucks." But now I've been taught, "Coffee = Panera Bread (+ Wi-Fi + food)." For a company centered on serving coffee, Starbucks now has nothing left in the equation to draw me in the doors again.

A few days later, I was traveling again and needed some coffee. I drove into a shopping center, past Starbucks and into an open parking space in front of Panera Bread. Shouldering my laptop case, I pushed in past the cheerful “Free Wi-Fi” sign on the door, ordered a coffee, a pastry and a sourdough soup bowl lunch, and clicked through the latest online commentary as I ate.

Caught again.

This’ll be an interesting year for me. I can tell already. A year of changes and achievements in three-part harmony. 

But, with what she knows now about testing her opinion, if I hear “They got it wrong, Daddy” again, I bet she walks out the front door wearing her dress backwards.

Never allow “Never done that before” to define your customer service. 

My 20-something cousin just returned Stateside from serving in the Peace Corps in Ukraine and Ghana. She's preparing to kick off her DC job search for an international policy position, and asked me for suggestions from my own recession-sparked career change.

Here's the gist of the conversation:

1. Establish a LinkedIn Profile - Immediately make your business skills and experience available for the world to see and build your contacts network. This is not an online resume. This is a networking, promotion tool. For each position (paid or volunteer), briefly summarize your skills and responsibilities. Your profile gives your connections and browsing HR folk talking points to spur that next recommendation or job interview query. Write recommendations for your contacts; they may reciprocate. Update your status weekly. The update appears on everyone else's pages (keeping you fresh in their minds), gives an idea of your business skills and shows activity on your part. As you broaden your online business brand, maximize your exposure by linking to your blog, Twitter and any other online resources. LinkedIn's About is a great starting point.

2. Set Up a Twitter Account for You, The Professional - This is the account where you follow your industry thought leaders, talk with other business professionals, and start building a network in your desired field. Tapping into the Twitter stream of consciousness reveals what these industry professionals are working on, what skills you may need to develop, and how your unique abilities can help solve those challenges. Use an aggregator (like TweetDeck) to manage the wealth of streaming information, and follow Chris Brogan's advice on managing your time.

3. Write Your Resume - This is third because the simplicity, impact and immediacy of the first two rank them higher. Remember, your resume must answer not only the What, but also the So What. Sure you held this position with these responsibilities for this organization---what impact did you have by being there: positive increase, positive decrease, reduced time, improved relationships? Use numbers; 99% of the time.

4. Print Business Cards - Yes, get a card reader/sender for your phone (like Mashable's list), but you also need a hard copy version to fill the gap until we reach the same smart phone saturation point email achieved in replacing hard copy memos and letters. Don't short-change your printed business card with only contact information. Include three bullet points with three-word or less statements of your top marketable skills. Be unique in your list. Your Twitter stream listening post should give you which of your differentiator skills would catch someone's eye. You may also want to include your Twitter account and blog.

5. 10-second Response - Write down and practice saying a 10-second synopsis of who you are, what position you're seeking, and how you're using your three differentiators in whatever you've done recently. You will use some version of this response more frequently than you might expect.

6. Start a Microblog - You have great thoughts. You are the only one with your life experience and, therefore, your perspective in your industry. Writing your thoughts down builds your own understanding of your perspective and gives others the opportunity to expand your thinking. It's also another way employers can learn more about you and encourage a job contact. Simple tools like Posterous and WordPress make it easy to post content and distribute across multiple social media.

7. Network in Person - Join an organization with other professionals and build those personal relationships. Make it easy for your contacts to remember you and recommend you to others by defining yourself using your 10-second Response. Once you've built a relationship, ask if you can connect on LinkedIn. Twitter is a more open network and enables a connection without necessarily developing a relationship first. Larger metro areas often have a Young Professionals group, like this one in DC.

8. Volunteer - Take your focus off yourself and give of your business talents or personal abilities to a nonprofit organization. You'll help make the world a better place, and just might build your career skills and form beneficial relationships in the process. Seek out your favorite charity or check with your local United Way for a list of area nonprofits.

9. Above All and More Than Anything Else - Be yourself, be honest and be optimistic.

What else would you add to help a 20-something find her next marvelous career?