I am currently on vacation in Greece, pondering customer service as I often do. It's fascinating to be in a foreign country observing how all the different hotels, restaurants and shops value customer service. No one does over-the-top customer service like many (certainly not all) companies in the United States, but still we've had great experiences almost everywhere we have been.

In my opinion, one single principle exists in every great service experience. Once mastered, it can have an extraordinary impact on your personal and professional life, no matter what business you are in. It consists of remembering four simple words: don't pass the buck.

Passing the buck comes in two important forms. Firstly, it is a lack of responsibility when something goes wrong. In these situations, you have a choice to own it or pass the buck. Owning it means not making any excuses, taking responsibility even when it's not your fault, giving a heartfelt apology and making the situation right to the best of your ability. Passing the buck usually involves blaming someone else and convincing yourself there was nothing you could do.

A few days ago I experienced a great example, when I passed the buck and our hotel manager owned it. We decided to walk to a nearby winery, a mere 2 kilometers away from our hotel. I took a map that was provided by the hotel and we were on our way. We ended up getting lost and ultimately found out the map was wrong.

With my male ego and directional pride fully in tact, I got really frustrated blaming the map for about 45 minutes. I was making excuses, when I could have devoted my energy to asking the hotel for directions before we left, calling the winery for directions or verifying the directions with another map. Even though the one map was wrong, I'm still responsible for choosing it and not double-checking. I had to eventually make it right with my wife for leading her in the wrong direction.

On the other hand, our hotel manager handled the situation beautifully. She apologized profusely for the map, even though she didn't create it or have anything do to with it. She said it was her fault for putting out the map and that she would call the people that made it immediately. She also made it right by giving us a ride in her own car down to the winery. I was humbled.

The second form of passing the buck is much more common, because something doesn't have to go wrong for it to happen. Many people do it several times per day without even noticing, by delegating to others. In some cases delegation is appropriate, but it's usually not necessary. If you choose to go out of your way and sometimes beyond your job description to help someone out, you can usually provide an outstanding experience without passing the buck.

A simple example we have all seen is when you are deciding on a place to eat with someone. "Where should we eat?", someone says to you. You respond with, "I don't know, what do you think?". Wrong answer. That answer passes the buck without providing any help at all. When someone asks that question, the right answer is to respond with a single restaurant or choice of restaurants. Own it.

One we typically see at Project83 is when a customer emails me saying that someone saw a problem on one of their website pages. The typical, pass the buck answer (I'm guilty of it) is to respond and ask for the browser name and version. It delegates the responsibility to someone else. Sometimes this information really is required, but in many cases you can check yourself. Test the page in every browser and version on your own. It takes more time, but in the end it provides the customer with a MUCH better experience, saving them time and resolving the situation in a single email.

These are simple examples, but I see people pass the buck every day and it's bad customer service, whether you think of it that way or not. Taking ownership means being responsible to make the very most of your interaction with someone, resolving the situation in the shortest amount of time possible. Anything less is passing the buck.

I encourage you to be mindful of passing the buck in your interactions over the next week. It's an awesome feeling for you and whomever you are dealing with when you own it.