Have you ever been to an establishment and knew you would return because the customer service was great? On the flip side, have you ever visited an establishment and knew you would never return solely because of the poor customer service you experienced? This morning, like every morning, I was ordering my coffee at my favorite caf and I realized something that I had never really appreciated before. Every single employee in the caf was smiling, talking with the customers, and going about their duties in a happy manner. The store was clean and organized and the customers were all sipping their lattes happily. No one was asking to speak to a manager or complaining about their drink. Maybe the employees were happy because they were all caffeinated. Or, maybe they were all happy because the company they work for takes great care of them. This particular caf is known as one of the best places to work, providing decent wages, benefits to even part-time employees, and many other perks that the baristas enjoy. Even though it is very obvious how customer service can impact a company, many businesses do not put enough energy into their customer service departments. Customer service is by far one of the most important aspects of all successful businesses. Even companies that do not have direct contact with the public still need to maintain a record of impeccable customer service.
While it is true that some people are simply happy and friendly regardless of any situation they are in, it is also true that if a company does not make efforts to ensure the quality of life of their staff, their customers will eventually feel the impact of this neglect. A great company makes a great employee, not the other way around. Here are what I feel are the three most important ways that a business can ensure the highest level of customer service.
1. If an employee is content, their contentment will naturally be evident in the way they handle their job and your customers. Before you do anything else, you must first make sure that your employees are being taken care of. If you are not taking care of your employees, they will not take care of you or your customers, at least not in the way that will have a positive impact on your business. You can start by offering wages that will maintain a comfortable quality of life for your employees, offering benefits such as health and dental insurance and 401K, and paid time off.
2. This is perhaps one of the most important aspects of great customer service. Give your employees all of your employees, not just management the freedom to make your customers happy. You want to avoid having your customer s ask to "speak to a manager." Not only does this make your customer service representatives feel useless, it also makes your customers upset with your company. Your customers want to feel confident in their purchase. If they have an issue that cannot be resolved by the first person with which they are in contact, you are quite likely going to lose a customer.
3. Every customer, customer service representative, and situation is different. No two situations are exactly alike, so do not have hard and set rules for handling customers. For example, if a customer is unhappy with a product that they purchased through you but they cannot find their receipt or invoice and your company has a strict policy against refunds without a receipt, you may lose business. While some customers will gladly accept the policy, others will be extremely unhappy if they are forced into an exchange or store credit. In this situation, you would want to bend the rules and offer a refund. Are you losing the money that you did not want to lose? Perhaps. However, if you are being flexible and not making your customer feel badly for not being able to find their receipt, then that customer will have the confidence to come back to your business in the future, knowing that if they have an issue, their first point of contact will take their concern seriously and do what satisfies the customer (within reason, of course.)
Over the past decade or so, customer service has declined across the board. All companies need to make huge efforts to "bring customer service back." All a customer really wants is to be treated fairly and feel that they are a valued aspect of your business. Your employees also want to be treated fairly and feel that they are a valued aspect of your business. So, which comes first? The chicken or the egg? Here, you need to start making sure the employees are happy and your customers will follow in line.
Andrea Mueller has lived in Austin, TX for 10 years. Andrea enjoys reading, running, and spending time with her school-aged daughter. She and her daughter enjoy vacationing anywhere that has a beach. She has worked for the nursing scrubs company blue sky scrubs for the past 6 years.
Andrea can be reached by visiting the following link http://www.blueskyscrubs.com/ and clicking on the 'Contact Us' area of the website.
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This is a great write, and one to grow on! It takes a great employee to be a great boss ... well, in my eyes it does. I have seen instances where a person was a great employee, but once they were promoted, became the worst boss, ever!
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