Now we’ve all heard that better customer service means better business. It’s just logical since if you make your customer happy every step of the way, they will surely return to your establishment because of that experience. Bringing out the best customer service is easy when we own our establishment and control the customer service ourselves. Since we own the business, we just want our customers to come back to us, and this is why we deliver the highest level of customer service possible.
However, if your business requires you to have employees, it’s a challenge to ensure that your employees will also give good customer service. Of course you give them salaries and commissions to make them happy so that they will make the customers happy. But oftentimes money is not the answer when it comes to providing good customer service. You can shower your employees with money, but attitude can’t be changed with money alone.
You also might think that training will ensure better customer service. This is one of the most tragic pitfalls you could have for your business. You’ll just be wasting time, resources and other people’s time in training. Making them sit in a session every week to ensure they give the best customer service is definitely a no-no. Your employees will just sit there and make sure their timers are set for overtime to earn more, but will learning nothing. In fact, it might be more of a blunder since resources are drained because of training.
What’s an owner then to do to make it all work? Ask your employees. Showering them with money and training without asking them for ideas is like making a robot work. It’s going to work somehow, but it will never give a level of customer service that’s unforgettable. Ask your employees how you can meet the expectations of the customer and how you can even exceed them. There’s never too much customer service. People will just love it when everything is done for them. Since your employees are on the frontline, they will know how to deal with it, and the ideas will be easy.
It could be easier said than done considering your employees will be forced to go out of their comfort zones. However, just think of it the other way around. Most of the employees nowadays seem to be unhappy because their customers are unhappy. It’s a common reaction that you will notice immediately, especially when you are running a small business.
Aside from asking your employees how to make the customer experience better, it should be fair that you receive customer’s praises on the employees as well. Most of the time, we hear our customers when they see something bad, but you may not give your employees credit when your customers see something good.
Think of it as a give and take relationship between your customers and your employees. Your employees are fueled to be better only if they know they can be.
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I have heard some companies look at their employees as customers. I believe that it is important to “sell” your product or service to your employee. Their happiness will come through to the customer and can start to make those loyal ties. I took a customer service survey that graded me on how well I understood customer service. It helped me to see where I needed to improve and I think it may be a good tool to use with employees.
Comment by Carrie T — July 21, 2008 @ 2:30 pm