TheMiddleShelf.com

Ever stop to really ponder about what business you’re in?  Ask around, and you’ll probably hear things like:  retail, food service, manufacturing, etc.  If those are the kind of answers you or your employees would give, then you’d be only half right!

One question for you:  If all your customers went away for good, would you still have a business?  Would your employees still have jobs?  Nope, of course not!  The more important half of what you and your employees do is CUSTOMER SERVICE.

Everyone in your organization needs to know excellent Customer Service, more importantly need to practice it.  And the leadership you provide plays a huge role in making that happen.

Here are some Customer Service Leadership tips:

Start with hiring the right people. Your selection process must be a part of your overall customer service strategy.  During interviews, probe the candidate’s passion for providing superior service.  Pose hypothetical situations and ask the candidate to describe how s/he would handle them.

State it in Job Descriptions. Make “Customer Service” a part of all job descriptions, no matter the level of function.  Make sure that that each employee understands how he or she directly or indirectly “touches” the customer.

Expect it and Inspect it. Clarify your expectations and communicate them to everyone.  Have follow-up meetings to make sure that they are clear on what is expected of them.  Include “customer service” feedback in all performance evaluations.

Make your Employees Customer Service Experts. Help your employees become experts on the products and services you offer.  Provide them with product manuals, sales tools, and appropriate training.  The more they know, the better their service will be.

Celebrate Successes. Recognize employees who provide exceptional customer services.  Share their stories internally and with your customers.

By applying these ideas and by focusing on the people who focus on the customers, you can help ensure that you don’t end up as one of the losers.  You owe it to your customers, you owe it to your organization and you owe it to yourself.

“Motivate them, train them, care about them, and make winners out of them . . . we know that if we treat our employees correctly, they’ll treat the customers right.  And if customers are treated right, they’ll come back.” – J. Marriott, Jr.