Peter Drucker once said: the single most important thing to remember about any enterprise is that there are no results inside its walls. The result of a business is a satisfied customer.” This saying is the reason why companies strive to equip their personnel with several customer service (CS) trainings and protocols.

But did you know that you can actually exercise customer service in your own little ways? That even without a 4-day CS training, you can still make a customer's experience with you happy? Placing small stuffs, such as a desk pad and a ballpen, on your table actually does spell customer service with a capital C!

Regardless of your position title or rank in the organization, it's important to make your desk welcoming. Rather than filling your table with tons of picture frames, why don't you display useful little things instead?

Have a pen and memo pad (or sheets of paper) ready for your customer's use. Especially if you're constantly seeking and/or “giving out” your signature, a desk pad will be very useful. Stick on's are also great entries in your table and this is not just because they come in vibrant and pastel colors. Even your staplers, tapes, pins and erasers will, one day, prove their worth to you and your customers / visitors.

If you are always entertaining clients and visitors, then keep your corporate cards on standby by having desk business card holders in your table. It will surely make the exchange of contact information more convenient.

No, this is not about shampoos or lotions; not even about cottons. Small quantities of personal care items (e.g. tissue papers and isopropyl alcohol) should be immediately within your day in and day out. Why is this so?

Imagine an employee pouring out her emotions on you and bursting into tears. This scenario is not uncommon especially if you are a manager or are in the Human Resource Department. Thus, to appease the employee, you need to give her something that can “hide” those tears. It would be inconvenient if you hand her your hanky or you mistakenly give her scrap paper! Thus, the need for some personal care items near your desk!

Always remember that customer service comes from you, and not the items in your desk. As the line from the Optimist Creed goes, “give every living creature you meet a smile.” Do so. Otherwise, all those cute, elegant and uniquely-styled items in your desk would mean nothing. Your leather desk pad, your scented memo pad or your 4-colored pen will not mean a thing.

You see, there is so much about customer service. The corporate items you see everyday, such as your desk pad, your pen, your personalized memo pad, can actually help you in carrying out this function. By making your table spell out comfort, convenience and ease, you are making yourself a worthy advocate of customer service.

In short, just by the mere presence of your desk pad on your table, you are saying: how can I make your visit more convenient? These are truly words – er, thoughts – from a true-blue customer –service-oriented person!