- Continually ask customers for feedback. This shows that you are genuinely interested in responding to their needs and you have a valuable source of important information to share with the rest of the company. This assures that the company is using accurate information to address critical customer concerns.
- On a regular basis, walk through the business as if you were the customer. Park, enter through the customer entrance, wait at the counter, wait for your order, look at the facility, call the customer service department to see what reception you get. Develop a checklist that all employees use to address all customer contact points.
- Buy a pair of unusual glasses. These represent the customer’s perspective. Hand them to the team member that is completing the weekly or monthly review of the business from the customer’s perspective assignment. Be sure to rotate the task so that all team members participate in the review.
- Always highlight what you can do for a customer instead of identifying what you can’t do. If a product won’t be available until next Tuesday, don’t say, “I can’t get that product until next Tuesday,” instead say “Good news, I can get that product for you on Tuesday”.
- Be sure to use the customer’s name when dealing with the customer. This creates a personal relationship (rapport) with the customer which encourages information-gathering- which is the best source of getting the right information to help the customer.
- “Customer service is like tennis, those that don’t serve well, lose.”
- When dealing with an angry customer, avoid emotional trigger words such as “company policy says” or “we can’t”. This will escalate an already angry customer.
- Emotions are highly transferable and contagious. Be sure to stay in control of any negative emotions because they will be obvious to the customer.
- Concentrate on giving service (knowing what the customer needs and responding). Selling will happen naturally when service is the focus.
- Create exceptional or Wow! service awards for you business. Reward those team members that support the total team service effort or those individual team members who have made exceptional service responses to particular customers.
- At the next team meeting, brainstorm ideas for the following topics: - How to let the customer know he is the boss; - how to provide exceptional service to the most difficult customer; - how to Wow! the customer every time they call or come into the business. Require each team member to bring 5 ideas. List them all and develop 2 or 3 modifications to each idea as a team. Assign responsibilities to implement all ideas that the team elects to implement. Track progress of the implementation at each team meeting.
- Post all thank you letters from customers on a “Wall of Praise”. Review each new addition to the wall at each team meeting. With improvements to the business’s service level, more letters will be received. Be sure to openly share compliments with the entire team.
- At your next team meeting, require each team member to have solicited feedback from 5 customers about the business’s performance. Ask each team member to discuss how they collected the information to generate ideas on how to best gather information from your specific group of customers.
- Include a short self-addressed questionnaire card in every statement at the busy point in the business year. Assign a member of the team to summarize the responses and present them at each team meeting.
- Have one of the customer service or counter-staff spend 2 hours a week calling (selected) customers to get their feedback about service and product. Design a short questionnaire to use as a guide in the phone conversation.
- Assign every negative comment to a team customer coordinator (an employee charged to be the champion for customers in the business). Empower them to call the customer and make the situation right. For all positive comments received, call the customer to thank them and let them know how it strengthens the branch’s performance and commitment to its customers when it receives good comments.
- Use all negative comments as opportunities to improve and to grow – personally and as a team. Do not associate blame – collectively respond and correct any problem situation.
- Use all positive comments as attitude builders. Plan to read all positive comments at the beginning of each team meeting to create a positive and up beat meeting tone. Celebrate every positive comment or letter with great fanfare (buy a drum, bell, etc and announce it throughout the branch). This encourages teamwork, a sense of unity and great team camaraderie.
- Install a suggestion box at the door; offer customers points toward free product or credit for all improvements that are implemented.
- Put together a customer information gathering team. Have the team create a worksheet that is used with all customers to fully understand what they need and how they need it. This will be critical to helping to “get it right” for all customers.
- Practice your most professional greetings both on the phone and face to face with other team members. Have your teammates offer suggestions to improve where necessary. Try this as a team building activity at your regular team meetings.
- Notice customer service employees in stores in which you conduct business. Notice their dress, appearance, body language and level of interest. Take notes on things that are done well and things that need improving. Share this information with your team at the next team meeting.
- Have a member of the business call (on a surprise basis) as a customer. Rate the call from the greeting to the level of service and effort. Share the information at the next team meeting. Applaud exceptional performance or brainstorm ideas to improve any deficiency.
- Define the image of the business – that is what each customer will think of when they think of your business. Insure all team members are included in the definition since it will require all team members to implement and support the image on a daily basis.
- Offer feedback for each other about contacts with customers done well or needing improvement. Be sure to use the three steps of successful feedback – 1) describe the situation, 2) describe the consequences of the action or response and 3) create a joint action plan if improvement is necessary or applaud if actions are successful. This system insures that feedback is complete and insures that it is about performance and not personality.
- Take the time with your customers in the “off season.” Ask pointed questions or send out surveys to find out what they really want and need from your business and what they value.
- Involve the entire team in regular phone calls to all significant customers – the calls should check on the status of the latest sale as well as ask for input about the service provided.
- At the weekly team meetings, present a customer and brainstorm ideas as how to customize the service response for him/her. Start first with a summary of the things this customer wants and needs and how your team will insure they always get it right.
- At the weekly team meetings, assign 1 customer to each team member. Have the team member identify all critical needs/wants of the customer by contacting him/her by phone, spending some time with him/her if the come in to pick up product, or by visiting him/her at their business. Bring the comments about the customer to the next team meeting – brainstorm ideas to create the appropriate and unique service response for the customer.
- Get good a making small talk with customers in person or on the phone. Talk about simple topics will give you the customer’s perspectives on many issues. Use this information to ask additional questions or develop a customized service response.
- Learn the basics of listening. Insure that you listen attentively to everything that customers say. In every conversation, customers give more information about what they want, need and value. This information will insure that your service response is specific to each customer.
- Continuously trade information about customers with all team members. This insures that the latest news is available to the team and that all team members will be familiar with the appropriate service response for each customer.
- Create a service response chart for each of the business’s top 25 – 50 customers (depending on the size of the branch). Have all team members add to the comments and to the response plan. Be sure that all teammates are aware of the response plans for at least this group of significant customers.
- Have each employee create their personal plan on how they will provide value to all customers. Review these plans as they are created and then monthly on their progress.
- Summarize successes in providing value to customers at each weekly team meeting. Be sure to include every team member. Have each team member comment how they worked as a team to provide value.
- Take your favorite (and least favorite) customer to lunch. Ask him/her what the business does to provide exceptional value for this customer. Share this information with all team members so they will be able to customize the service response.
