Ten Easy Steps to Great Customer Service

 

I have always said great customer service is one of the easiest processes for a business to execute, because it is based on good, old fashioned common sense. You can boil the whole thing down to something as simple as the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Sure, you have to tailor this principle to the policies of your organization, and you have to hire and train top quality CSRs – people who already know how to care about people. But once you have covered those bases, customer service can become a hallmark of your company.

For that reason, I am simply going to lay out 10 easy steps to achieving great customer service. If they make as much sense to you as they do to me, you will be off to a great start, simply by implementing these as a part of your customer service program.

1. Each customer is different, so learning how to relate to a customer’s unique needs, attitudes and behavioral style is often the key to delivering quality service to them. Sometimes this is as easy as learning to listen to their tone of voice and rate of speech, and trying to match or complement the tone of what you hear.
2. Focus on making sure your customer service strategy provides professional, efficient solutions to every customer under for every type of customer service need. You should be able handle customer complaints just as smoothly as you handle customer orders.
3. Policies and procedures provide a good framework for resolving customer issues, but leave room for the personal effort and creativity of those who serve. CSRs should be empowered to go the extra mile to satisfy customers, and they should be recognized and rewarded when the do.
4. Develop an effective customer feedback process and pay serious attention to the information you collect, especially when it is unflattering and painful to hear.
5. Your goal should be to get it right the first time. However, when you fail to do so, it is urgent that you go back again and make it right. Your customer will appreciate the fact that you were willing to admit you made a mistake, and you may earn a customer for life.
6. The whole point of customer service is to achieve maximum customer satisfaction. Your goal should be to treat your customers so well that they share their experience with their friends (creating more potential customers for you!)
7. Every customer service department has to have policies and procedures to assure efficiency and consistency. However, remember that these policies and procedures should exist to support your goal of achieving customer satisfaction, rather than providing convenient excuses for CSRs to use on customers to explain why they can’t deliver satisfactory service.
8. Everyday, ask yourself and your team, "What can we do today to serve our customers more effectively?"
9. You will never disappoint customers by giving them more than they expect.
10. Remember that old saying, "The customer is always right?" It is still true. If you don’t believe me, try taking the opposite opinion and see how long you stay in business!

 

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June Customer Service Quick Tip of the Month – Mind Your Ps

One of the biggest challenges for a CSR is to focus on the correct P at the correct time. Customer service is a combination at beginning good at both Process and People. Process has to do with all the technical things that make the system work – operating the hardware and software, answering the calls, speaking clearly, knowing your products, understanding company policies, etc. However, it is not enough to be good at this P. You can be good at this P and the customer will hardly notice or care. The customer wants you to be good at the other P; she wants to be treated as a Person and not as a number or a nuisance. Patience, compassion and understanding trump being able to page through computer screens every time. Many years ago, Peter Drucker pointed out that it is more important to do the right thing than it is to do things right. Your customers will tell you the same thing