Customer Service. It’s a game-changer faster than you can say, “happy customer.” Having excellent, caring customer service and support lets your customers know that you are more than just another faceless company.
We’ll teach you everything from core principles that are at the heart of Customer Service Excellence to specific steps like project management for your customer support representatives.
Here are ten things that will change the way you approach CS.
Doing A Good Job Is The Key Element In All Work.
Employees are customers, too, making your organization an attractive place to work.
An integral part of customer service excellence is knowing what motivates your customers and employees. Doing a good job is the key element in all work.
Employees are Customers Too.
You may have a set of standards for your customers, but are you paying attention to your employees? While they represent the company they work for, they’re also consumers themselves. They deserve to be treated well as much as anyone else.
What’s more, employee satisfaction is directly related to customer satisfaction. If an employee cares about his job and the company he works for, he will be happier and more effective in dealing with clients.
If you want your employees to go above and beyond for your customers, you must take care of them first. Here are some ways you can keep everyone happy:
Know what Motivates your Customers and Employees.
Your customers want to feel as if they are valued, and your employees want to feel as if they are respected.
How do you know what motivates your customers? You ask them. Yes, a company needs to have surveys and focus groups, but nothing beats the personal touch of reaching out to a few clients yourself. The best way to do this is through phone calls or face-to-face meetings.
Make your Organization an Attractive place to Work.
Why? Because research has shown that organizations that are attractive places to work have better business results. In addition, five separate meta-analysis studies have shown a relationship between attractiveness and the following outcomes: productivity, profitability, competition, retention, and customer attraction.
Create a Culture of Learning, change, and Improvement.
As you go through the training exercise, make sure to apply the learnings to your own life. Make a plan for applying what you’ve learned at work and in your personal life. There is no one right way or one right moment to start creating a culture of learning, change, and improvement, but there are some things that can help you get started:
- Create a vision for improvement.
- Create an environment where people feel able to speak freely about change.
- Create an environment where people feel comfortable sharing their ideas about how things could be better.
- Don’t force people to change; support them as they do it themselves.
Keep a Customer focus Program Active all the Time.
Ensure that your employees know that focusing on customers is important to keep them happy and satisfied. It’s easy to get sidetracked when other things are demanding attention, but keeping your focus on what customers want will help you stay in business much longer than worrying about some minor detail that has no impact on how customers think of your company.
So, you can make customer service easy, maintainable, and scalable using the latest technology implementations.
Find a way to Measure Results.
Any serious manager knows that you can’t improve what you can’t measure. The same is true for customer service excellence. If you want to get better, you have to find a way to monitor your performance and track your progress against measurable targets, such as consistently meeting client expectations and resolving problems with minimal effort.
It may take some time to gather the necessary data and implement the best practices that support measurement, but it’s well worth it in the long run. A recent study by McKinsey found that companies with strong cultures of measurement are twice as likely to be in the top quartile of financial performance within their industries as those without such cultures.
Create Accountability by tying Compensation to Results.
Create accountability by tying compensation to results. In your customer service department, nothing says “I don’t care about what you do here” more than giving raises to everyone or punishing people for poor performance.
Instead, tie compensation directly to performance results. Use incentives and rewards that are attractive, meaningful, and easy to understand. Rewarding outstanding employees with a company logo pen or keychain isn’t going to cut it.
Set goals. Do not be Afraid of failure; Use Failures As Learning Experiences.
SMART is an acronym that can help guide your goal-setting efforts: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Goals should be specific to you and your team and align with the organization’s broader objectives. Set individual goals for each team member and then set team goals based on what everyone needs to accomplish to reach the department’s goal.
Conclusion
These ten things will make customer service a memorable experience for your customer when implemented. Using the way you approach customer service, your employees and company will achieve customer satisfaction. It is a positive experience that goes far beyond just answering questions and helping them with technical issues. Be sure to consider these—your clients (and their wallets) will thank you.