If you are a retailer, or in business of any kind in any industry how do you increase and improve customer service? How do you get the word to your teams that customer service is the #1 most important aspect of having a successful business?
A great deal has been written about customer service. There are magazine articles and books, e-books, white papers, research reports, classes and blogs on the subject and it’s safe to say there is no shortage of advice on giving quality customer service. Serving the customer is an important topic, and given the importance of keeping customers engaged, it’s amazing how many organizations still don’t get it. Too often the sales teams dealing face to face with the customer and support staff taking the calls either are not empowered to make decisions, they are not properly trained or they just don’t care. It’s sad to think that a company with a great product would not make customer service their highest priority.
Despite all that has been written about customer service, research by TARP (an organization which researches the effectiveness of customer service) and the American Customer Satisfaction Index (which ties customer service to profitability) indicates a continual decline in customer service. So, what’s the problem? Doesn’t anybody get it?
In order to ‘get it’, you have to take a serious look at how you treat customer service within your organization. In that vein, three important considerations must be looked at:
# 1: Customer service must be thought of as a leadership issue. In my opinion customer service has been on a rapid decline for the past 10 years. That being said, employees who are in their 20’s and early 30’s have not experienced good customer service, therefore they have no idea how to deliver good customer service! Reading about it, being told about, even attending training about it, are not the same as personally being on the receiving end of good customer service. So, it becomes a leadership issue. It becomes incumbent upon leadership to ensure that good customer service is modeled and rewarded. People grasp what they experience.
#2: Leadership thinks they are too busy. I think most leaders start out emphasizing great customer service. They hire people to promote that concept. But then, they get so tied up with the financial side of the business, trying to grow the business, and enjoying their success that the key to that success, great customer service gets diluted and overlooked. The Leader assumes it is happening on the front lines but they fail to ensure that it actually is.
#3: Customer service is a marketing issue. It always has been, yet often it is set aside as a separate issue. Marketing is, after all, everything you do to reach and keep customers. Therefore, any organization that commits to making customer service the focal point of its marketing strategy has an opportunity to gain a great competitive advantage. Today, organizations that understand and deliver effective customer service will stand out in a customer’s mind when compared to the poor customer service that is delivered by many organizations, even when both are selling or promoting the same items. Jeans are jeans, coffee is coffee and towels are towels.
In almost every case, when customers feel they received substandard customer service, they automatically blame the person across the counter or on the other end of the phone. However, the culpability ultimately rests on the leaders of the organization. What happens at the customer point of contact is the responsibility of upper management. If they want to keep customers the Leaders , being the Owners, District Managers or Managers need to have a better handle on what is actually happening on the front lines and they need to lead the efforts to elevate customer service.
Following are six leadership practices for improving customer service that I feel are essential:
- Be the Leader: The leaders of an organization must decide that customer service will be a top priority. They need to establish this culture at all levels. The decision will come from the top of the organization and permeate through all levels. It must be done intentionally, and with the health of the organization in mind.
- Hire the right people: The leaders will hire people who know how to work with customers. They will look for people with experience at helping customers understand the products and get the most value from their services. Leaders will look for people with a proven track record of doing the right thing for customer (which occasionally might mean referring them to another company’s product). Leaders looking to hire the right people will do everything in their power to ensure that they hire the people who will place a priority on customer service.
- Give Proper Training: As you establish a culture of customer service and hire the right people, train them to effectively work with customers and teach them how to handle difficult situations. Identify a few of the top performers and put them to work coaching others in the company. This infuses the service culture more deeply and promotes a more unified approach throughout the company. If you do not yet have people in-house who are capable, hire a coach to train your teams, and work with the coach to identify people within the organization who can extend the right principles throughout.
- Follow Up: You lead the team, you have the right people in place to do the job and you have given them the proper training. This is the point that a lot of organizations fail; there is no follow up to ensure that the plans you put in place are actually being effectively implemented. Too many leaders think that because a customer service program is on the books that it is actually being properly practiced. Follow up and evaluation is essential for success!
- Inspire them: Motivate the people in your organization — at all levels — to want to serve others. Establishing the culture of inspiring others to give outstanding customer service is a key ingredient if you want to have a successful company. Financial incentives and career advancement only go so far. When the leaders of the organization place customer service as one of their top priorities, they have the prerogative to expect everyone to do the same. Let your actions and behaviors inspire others. As Ralph Nader said: “The function of leadership is to produce more leaders, not more followers.”
- Power to the People: Finally, grant people — at all levels of the organization — the authority to make decisions. The scope and magnitude of decisions will vary by title and responsibility. The people on your team are representing the company, no ifs, ands or buts’ about it. Every person at any level should be empowered to make decisions on behalf of the organization. Start by asking leaders at all levels to make a list of five things their people can do without having to escalate to their supervisor. Place appropriate guidelines around the actions that can be taken, and trust your people to make the right decisions. When people know they work for a customer-focused organization they will give much more to their individual efforts.
Quality customer service has taken a serious backseat in organizations that are trying to stay alive and it must become more important as time moves forward. Each of these steps is critical for true customer service. It must come from the top and permeate the entire organization.
What are you doing within your business, store or organization to ensure that the customer service you give will set the standard for all others to follow?
It starts from a top down approach. Simply getting the word out is not enough. It requires the leadership of the organization demonstrating this exact principle through regular consistent action supporting this mindset. Giving your teams the opportunity to exercise this is extremely important. Many employees are afraid to make customer service #1 for fear that it will “cost” the company too much. The truth is, without it, the company experiences a greater cost through lost business.
It’s important that leaders lead by example; Set the expectations for the team that customers are our boss they must be treated with respect, greeted with smile. Conduct customer service surveys to get know your customers. Feedback from our customers are very important so we know what we need to improve on. Win customers for life with providing them great customer service.
Two things seem to work and have a track record: (1) the leader has to deliver the message constantly, over and over, and at every opportunity. Repetition is the key. Of course the leader has to back it up and when tough decisions come around, decide in favor of customer service, and (2) the leader must put his/her money where his/her mouth is. Monetary rewards, base salary, bonuses, etc. must reflect the value of customer service. If CS doesn’t get into the evaluation and reward systems, people may WANT to give service but will opt to do what rewards them. WIIFM. The combo of 1 & 2 has been shown to work in many, many organizations – public, private, nonprofit. Barry Gibbons, the former CEO of Burger King, used to say “people are coin operated.” So stay on message and show me the money.
Got a feelin’ that a lot of that comes from the attitude of some business types who subscribe to the “dispose-a-worker” attitude. It is important to feel valued and to feel a necessary part of the process. However, often it seems to be the the attitude that “The beatings will continue until morale improves”
We initiate a meeting to review our performance with our clients. Sometime it is not always good news, but it has always proven worthwhile. We can make changes and institute new policies and the clients see a commitment. We have seen occasions where we avoided major problems and were able to fix issues we were not aware of.
Getting the word to your team is crucial. Engage their thought process on what customer service is through proper training and example behavior. All of their senses need to understand what good customer service feels like, tastes like and smells like. Jonathan is correct as it has to start at the top with appropriate example behavior and a solid explanation of what could be gained through proper and good customer service. The customer is the king and our business is servicing the customer. Treat them like the king and your business will be successful.
It is about the culture you as the leader establish. It is always the first and last thing that is spoken to and acted on each and every day. It is truly all that matters
Customer service is the face of the organization. if customers are greeted well even on the phone, it goes a long way in the mind of customer. they can always relate their experience with any organization and will come back to get same service levels. customer acquisition, retention depends a lot on such positive experience.
Communication in three forms: written, verbal, and behavioral. Write your customer service goals and standards down so you ensure consistency. Verbalize what each standard looks like giving examples. The the top leadership needs to behave in a consistent manner when following through. This even means removing your best employee if they do not uphold the customer standards. You can’t make one exception or you open the door for your team to make exceptions.
I agree the cost of gaining a new client is far more costly than solving a customer service issue with an existing client. You not only lose the client, you lose goodwill with other clients and your team.
Lastly, if you really want to drive home the importance of customer service, give your team the authority and latitude to resolve issues themselves without having to run the solution up the chain of command. Immediately resolving a clients issue by the team member shows everyone you are serious about customer service. Yes mistakes will be made and they may occasionally give more than they needed to. Simply use this as a teaching moment and explain what they could have done better.
It all boils down to how serious you are about customer service and are your actions going to back up your words.
Providing great customer service definitely begins and ends with the role model behavior of the leadership team. I believe that there has to be a culture present that uses the customers needs as a filter for everything that we do in our field. Not only do I encourage my leaders to listen to the needs of our customers but I require them to ensure that the customers experience is personable, consistent and memorable. It all starts with hiring leaders and associates that are passionate about people as well as the brand!
I truly believe that setting the standards of great customer service is one of the key elements in getting this point across. I don’t just mean out to our external customers but also to our internal customers. I have seen a lot of companies where the word is customer service but yet they let them treat themselves badly by the companies they hire and the people within the company themselves between departments. How are you expect great customer service from your staff and do not expect to receive the same in return. Once you have great customer service internally and people are happy in the environment they work in then it will pass down to your customers and it will stick because your staff want to give the service and are not being forced to have to give the service.