Be very clear about specifying the behavior that employees are expected to deliver.
Create ways to communicate excellent examples of customer service both within and outside the company. Institute celebrations, recognition ceremonies, logos, and symbols of the customer service culture and its values. This is where you want the mugs, buttons, and banners. Have a customer service bulletin board to feature service incidents that were special. Seize every opportunity to publicize the times when employees do it right. A newsletter should be developed to boast of customer service successes so that the idea of service is constantly in front of everyone. One company, a major utility, devoted an entire issue of the company magazine to “24 Karat Customer Service.” It featured examples of how individual employees defined customer service, stories of humorous or unusual customer service situations, an article on the importance of internal customer service, and other ideas designed to keep employees aware of the importance of their efforts in achieving quality customer service. A hospital not only touts their customer service “hero stories” in their newsletter, they also have a giant pep rally once a quarter for everyone to share their stories. Individual teams get together often to focus on what has gone right as well as wrong in their patient and other customer relations. Even if you are a very small business with only a few employees, post instances of superior customer service of your own and others that you read about. Talk about customer service and its importance every day.
Indoctrinate and train everyone in the culture as soon as they are hired. Disney is famous for this. It puts all newcomers through a “traditions” course that details the company history with customer relations and how it is the backbone of Disney. Your orientation program is a key part of the ultimate success of your customer service efforts. Make sure that it contains more than an explanation of benefits and a tour of the facilities. It can be an important element in planting the customer service culture of the company so it can flourish and grow.
Encourage a sense of responsibility for group performance. Help employees see how their performance affects others. Emphasize the importance of “internal customer service.” Help everyone to see that if you don’t serve each other well, you can never hope to serve your ultimate customer. Does accounts payable or shipping see that the timeliness of their service to other employees makes a big difference in how the customer is served? Does the cook realize how important it is to get the order exactly right in the kitchen so the wait staff can please the restaurant customer? Even something as seemingly insignificant as returning from lunch break on time can affect the quality of the customer service you offer by determining whether you have enough coverage to serve employees promptly. Repeat again and again that customer service is the responsibility of everyone in the organization, not just the “customer service department.”
Establish policies that are “customer friendly” and that show concern for your customers. Eliminate all routine and rigid policies and guidelines. Knock yourself out to be a company that is easy to do business with. Never let your customer service representatives say, “Those are the rules I have to follow; there’s nothing I can do about it.” There is always a way to satisfy the customer. You must give your employees the power to do so.
Remove employees who do not show the behavior necessary to please customers. Too many companies allow frontline service representatives to remain on the job when they are not suited to a customer service position. If employees don’t want to serve the customer in the best way possible, document their behaviors and use this information to help them change or to move them to areas away from customer interaction.
In order for a culture of customer service excellence to grow and thrive, management must have a burning desire for it to be that way and the energy to ensure that this desire spreads throughout the organization and remains there permanently. You must become a totally customer-focused organization. Everyone, from the top down, must believe that they work for the customer – a partnership that will guarantee limitless success.
Yanique W.A. Grant
Certified Customer Service Consultant
Professional Training & Occupational Services, Inc
International Channel Partner for Service Quality Institute (SQI)
Contact us: http//www.customer-servicejamaica.com
Professional Training & Occupational Services Limited
22G Old Hope Road, Oxford Place Suite 10
Kingston 5
Jamaica (West Indies)
Tel. (876)-908-2310
(312)-450-3424
Telefax: (876)-754-4474