There are a lot of companies out there who, deservedly or not, have gained a reputation over the years for horrible customer service. The question is, assuming that a company is looking to turn this customer service perception around, how do they go about it? It's definitely do-able, but not without a tremendous amount of diligence. The following is a top-line recipe for that customer service process:
1. Admit you have a customer service problem: Many of the companies that would make the top 100 worst customer service list don't really believe they have a problem. The executives at the highest levels of Bell Canada, for example, believe that their IVR system, "Emily", is revered by their customers, and they will show you their 'metrics' to prove it. Our company has talked to many thousands of Canadians who would fervently disagree. When our training participants share stories of customer service failures, it is mentioned the most often by an extraordinarily wide margin.
2. Get rabid buy-in at all top levels: All it takes is for one senior exec to not embrace the need for change, and all your other efforts can be thwarted.
3. Listen to EVERYONE: Get feedback from customers, employees, friends, family, enemies - everyone. Passive feedback is a good start, such as customer comment vehicles, social media monitoring, etc. If you're really interested in this process, however, get proactive! Pick up the phone. Call your customers. Set up discussion boards or interactive telephone conferences.
4. Get outside help: It doesn't matter how smart you are, how experienced you are or how motivated you are, if you work for the company, you are too close to make objective observations.
5. Build a customer service plan: Put a strategic plan in place that deals with processes, people and practices in your workplace. Make sure they are all focused on customer satisfaction.
6. Stick to the customer service plan: Beware of corporate A.D.D. Don't let new opportunities or issues sidetrack you. Flavor-of-the-month customer service fixes are the great trap 95% of business fall into.
7. Measure: Measure your performance, and customer satisfaction levels on an ongoing basis. Once or twice a year isn't good enough.
8. Reward & Renew: When things start to improve, make sure that it is celebrated at all levels - including the media. Everyone likes to be part of a success story. Having said this, if a process is still in the way, or a person still hasn't bought in, cut them out like a branch on a bonsai tree. You can't accept anything that isn't contributing to the positive change
9. Be very, very patient: Chances are your company's poor customer service image didn't happen overnight, so don't expect people's perceptions to change overnight. It takes a long time to heal the wounds caused by poor customer service.
