How can you ensure that your employees are giving YOUR customers excellent customer service? You can’t be there all the time and even if you were, you wouldn’t want to be on their heels…and I’m sure they wouldn’t want you to be either. Giving an excellent service is paramount because the customer is the most essential part of YOUR business.
Customer Service is dependent on the following:
- Customer service policies & procedures
- Customer Service Training offered
- Motivation
- Attitude & behaviour
Policies & Procedures
Do you have a customer complaints procedure? If so, how do you know it is being enforced correctly? Or if you don’t have a procedure, how can you expect each of your employees to handle customer service issues efficiently? Everyone would be dealing with the situation as they think it should be dealt with and not what is expected. There would be many inconsistencies which would result in poor customer service. You only have to look at the example of how United Airlines dealt with passenger Dave Carrolls complaint to see how explosive and expensive poor customer service can be. United Airlines failed to respond to Mr Carrolls email complaint about his broken guitar. After he was ignored, he wrote a song called “United Breaks Guitars” and put it on YouTube. The song has since been viewed by over 10 million people online and a staggering 100 million across the globe have heard his story, including you. It has been estimated that Mr Carroll’s complaint wiped $180million off United’s share value. This incident would have been so different had the complaint been dealt with not only immediately but also effectively.
“95% of complaining customers will do business with you again if you resolve the complaint instantly…”
Employee Customer Service Training
Are your employees trained on “How to give excellent Customer Service” including communication, body language and the importance of first impressions? Imagine a customer walking into your business and there being no one there to greet them. Or the person who is there doesn’t acknowledge them. If customer service training is tailored to your business and your customers, it is more memorable and effective.
Motivation
Do you and your managers motivate your Teams? The size of your business is irrelevant, everyone needs to be motivated.
Attitude & Behaviours
Do your Teams have a positive attitude? How do they feel about the company, their colleagues and their customers? Customer Service Training highlights the importance of having the necessary attitude, behaviour and habits in order to give an outstanding service.
In a recent survey of 300 large companies, 80% described themselves as delivering “superior” customer service, but the customers who were also surveyed put that figure at just 8%.
It is now more important than ever to be giving YOUR customers not just good, not just ok but “outstanding” customer service.
Stand out from the crowd, excellent customer service will give you the edge.
Just remember “If you don’t look after your customers, someone else will…”