Why a customer service
program is important
Your customer service representatives have unlimited access
to your customers, products and equipment, yet they’re largely considered dispensable and are often treated as such. This
is the wrong approach. You can’t personally know who your
regular customers are or what their preferences entail, but
your employees do, so it’s important to retain them. Investing
in customer training and rewarding them with a pay increase
upon completion of the course or offering another benefit,
such as time off, makes for a more enthusiastic employee.
Although many customer service positions are considered
entry level, giving the employee the option to advance within the company will be an incentive for the employee to stay and
can help you reduce employee turnover, which on average
costs businesses 20 percent of an employee’s annual salary to
replace that person.
“Invest in managers and make sure that customer service is
part of your core business strategy,” Menyhart says. “Make
sure you provide career paths for employees so strong performers have incentive to continue to develop and stay with
the company.”
You may see investing in customer service training as a luxury in today’s economy, but experts warn that not doing so
could lead to your company’s demise.
What you can do
The biggest error you can make is getting too caught up in
cutting costs and other internal workings to see your business
from the customer’s point of view. Customer service is what
keeps the lifeblood of your business — the customers — coming back. Even when inevitable mistakes are made, customers
return if the error is handled properly.
“You need to track data to make improvements and invest in
training so employees know how to handle customers’ questions,” says James Durkin, executive vice president of North
American sales for OfficeMax Inc. “Take advantage of communication opportunities with customers and execute good customer service consistently.”
Another mistake is investing money in loyalty programs
focusing on drawing in new customers, while losing focus on
appeasing your current customers. If you don’t ask customers
about their experience with your business, they’ll likely not tell
you — but they will go home and tell others. If you stay flexible and listen to what they say by acting on their feedback, you
can best design a customer service program that works for
you.
What many companies don’t understand is that good customer service is rare. If you already have brand recognition,
you can further your competitive advantage by listening to customers’ concerns and acting on them. You need to define what
good customer service means to your specific set of customers
before you can best meet their expectations. This can be
achieved by polling them in a variety of ways, including comment cards, e-mail or an online form.
“Having a way to poll customers to see where you may need
improvement is a smart move,” says Chuck Fink, founder and
principal of Ascent Leadership, a business consulting firm. “But just performing well is the best route. The most frustrating thing for
customers is to have to hold while an employee gets a supervisor. Good customer service includes empowering employees. Customers want to hear, ‘I can help you with that,’ not that
they have to wait or be transferred.”
Even with well-trained employees and a list of customer recommendations, you still need your managers to be an integral
part of your program. They should point out positive behavior
and not just the negatives. Successes should be noted to
encourage employees to do more than the bare minimum, and
negative incidents should be handled immediately instead of
waiting for an evaluation.
“Employees may repeat a behavior they’re not aware is undesirable,” says Liz Tahir, an international marketing consultant
and speaker. “Having the proper communication with employees is essential. If you treat them well on a regular basis, they
won’t react negatively when a manager points out an area that
needs improvement.
“Employees treat customers the way you treat them. Ask
yourself if you greet employees enthusiastically, interact
politely and try to accommodate them in their requests.”
Making sure employees have the correct set of tools to perform their jobs is another important step in ensuring good customer service. Proper training and empowering employees to
handle customers’ concerns or problems will build employee
confidence while expediting the customers’ requests.
“Always putting yourself in the customer’s shoes when determining how to best resolve issues or respond to a request is the
best way to resolve issues,” Tahir says. “All of the great companies have incorporated customer service in their core business philosophy, helping to brand their business as one known
for great customer service.”
