Definition: The degree of assistance and courtesy granted those who patronize a
business
Excellent customer service is more than what you say or do for
your customers. It also means giving customers a chance to make
their feelings known. Here are some suggestions for finding out
what your customers want--and what they think about your customer
service:
- Attend trade shows and industry events that are important to
your customers. You'll find out what the competition is doing
and what kinds of products and services customers are looking
for.
- Nurture a human bond, as well as a business one, with
customers and prospects. Take them out to lunch, dinner, a
ballgame or the opera. In a relaxed social atmosphere, you'll learn
the secrets that will allow you to go above and beyond your
competition.
- Stay abreast of trends; then respond to them. Read
industry trade publications, be active in trade organizations, and
pay attention to what your customers are doing.
- Ask for feedback. Survey your customers regularly to
find out how you're doing. Send postage-paid questionnaire cards or
letters, call them on the phone, or set up focus groups. Ask for
suggestions and then fix the trouble areas revealed.
Whatever you do, don't rest on your laurels. Regularly evaluate
your product or service to be sure it's still priced, packaged and
delivered correctly.
When you're a start-up with few employees and few customers,
it's easy to stay on top of what customers want and what they're
getting. But as you add more customers and employees, you add links
to the customer service chain. That creates the potential for
growth--and the potential for poor service along the way. That's
why creating a customer service policy and adhering to it is so
important. Here are some steps you can take to ensure that your
clients receive excellent service every step of the way.
Put your customer service policy in writing. These
principles should come from you, but every employee should know
what the rules are and be ready to live up to them. It doesn't have
to be elaborate. Something as simple as "The customer is always
right" can lay the necessary groundwork, although you may want to
get more detailed by saying, for instance, "Any employee is
empowered to grant a 10-percent discount to any dissatisfied
customer at any time."
Establish support systems that give employees clear
instructions for gaining and maintaining service superiority.
These systems will help you outservice any competitor by giving
more to customers and anticipating problems before they arise.
Develop a measurement of superb customer service. Don't
forget to reward employees who practice it consistently.
Be certain that your passion for customer service runs
rampant throughout your company. Employees should see how good
service relates to your profits and to their futures with the
company.
Be genuinely committed to providing more customer service
excellence than anyone else in your industry. This commitment
must be so powerful that every one of your customers can sense
it.
Share information with people on the front lines. Meet
with your employees regularly to talk about improving service.
Solicit ideas from employees--they're the ones who are dealing with
customers most often.
Act on the knowledge that what customers value most are
attention, dependability, promptness and competence. They love
being treated as individuals and being referred to by name.
Good customer service is made, not born. Most companies find
that employees require training to provide good customer service.
Some of the areas in which employees often get help from customer
service training include:
- Stress management. It's not easy to be the
interface between an angry customer and a balky accounting
department. Training on how to manage and relieve stress will help
customer service representatives keep their cool under
pressure.
- Empathy. Often, good customer service
consists of little more than putting yourself in the other person's
shoes. However, this isn't always easy. Training employees on how
to look at a problem from the customer's viewpoint goes a long way
toward helping improve customer service.
- Conflict resolution. Many times, customer
service representatives spend their time resolving conflicts such
as those between a customer's demands and a company's policies.
Training on identifying issues, finding compromises and presenting
alternatives can help.
- Listening. Often, the only thing a customer
wants is to feel understood. Learning how to listen effectively is
not a widely held skill. However, it can be taught, and listening
training is a common feature of many customer service courses.