Your staff and great service… EASY!

When it comes to service, practically all organisations I come across say they aim to have great service and if they don’t have it they will work on it. Problem is not many know how to make their service great, let alone good. Lets check out a bunch of points and shed some light on this always, topical issue.

Firstly there are a few things we need to get our heads around, each business has people at the front line, they then have an environment (virtual and actual) and these coupled with human interaction creates a culture. I put these in pimple terms I call PEC’s. When these are coupled with Marketing, Operations and Management you have the nucleus or foundation structure of business.

Most people in business recognise this but are at a loss (often due to being too involved in the business to see it clearly) to be able to do anything about it. One feature of businesses that can improvise, overcome and adapt to situations are able to innovate and find creative ways to instigate the changes required to make things happen.

Lets put together some points to assist in the development of a customer excellence strategy.

1. Why should they? – Chat to the staff about why good service is of value to them the “WIIFM or what’s in it for me” – try working the job security angle, or how it will make them feel giving great service.
2. Train them – Ask them – Coach them - Model it – By raising these issues and finding ways to create better service and setting the example yourself, you will be leading by example and acting as their service coach.
3. Variety – Develop with the staff a range of ways they can respond to customers so they have to think more about the interaction – move from “Can I help you” through a range of other responses to make the relationship develop further than just a buyer and seller one. Give them the chance to build some depth with the customer.
4. Do it in doses – Break up long customer service face-to-face and phone contact so that staff, don’t ‘burn out’.
5. Put them in the customers shoes – Change the role around and let them critique the service exchange… you could do it as a role play in a training session or simply send them to a few stores to buy things and report back on what’s working and what’s not.
6. Develop great communication skills – ask lots of questions – use please and thankyou’s and explore building rapport which helps to build stronger relationships.
7. Talk about caring – You cannot pay people to care (long term) but you (as the leader) can learn to push their buttons so they can learn more.  – “Caring for each other builds trust and that equals easier sales processes.” – if you can figure out the staff’s buttons, they will be able to learn customer’s buttons as well. Here’s a clue its all about their motivation…

There is more, lots more but for now that should give you and your team a great start to building a great service skill set and a culture of service excellence.

Stumble it!