The concept of delivering exceptional customer service is one that should be front and center in our everyday business activities. It is almost impossible to emphasize it, discuss it, and educate regarding it too much. As business owners, it is easy to mire down in the daily operations and even get a little complacent. We have to try and not shy away from doing the difficult things. One of those difficult things is honestly evaluating the level of customer service our organization is providing. More specifically, we have to evaluate whether or not we have laid the groundwork for truly outstanding customer service to flourish in our organization.
Statistics show that only 1 out of 20 unhappy customers will actually complain to you about the level of service they received. The other 19 will simple walk out, never return and share this not-so flattering story with all of their friends. We can't afford to have unhappy customers and that we can't always rely on receiving their feedback to measure performance.
There are five cornerstones we can examine to ensure outstanding customer service is really a part of our organizational culture.
Training: How often is the importance of providing outstanding customer service discussed within your organization? Do you hold structured trainings that educate members on how to best communicate, deal with conflict, and establish long-term customer relationships?
Follow Up and Follow Through: Once customer service training is implemented, what is the follow up like? It is important to follow up and monitor. Unfortunately after many trainings and workshops on customer service there is an initial phase of implementation but often a lack of follow through to keep business momentum really flowing.
Consistency: There are organizations out there that we hope to emulate, organizations that strive and succeed in providing consistently superior customer service. However, organizational leadership, management, and employees need to understand that this is something to be attained not just some of the time but all of the time.
Walking the Walk: What do your organization's policies and procedures say about the value placed on delivering outstanding service? Do they reinforce that ideal? Do your mission and values statements paint a clear picture of how crucial it is to the organization's success and how every member of the organization will be held accountable to those high standards? Revisit these important business foundations to ensure you're creating customer evangelists that sing your praises.
Responsiveness: How quickly are you and your team responding to customer demand? Did you bring in the product that customers have been asking for over and over again? Are you reaching out on Social Media to make your organization as accessible as possible to today's customer? It is shocking today to find out how many organizations don't' have a web-site or they do have one but it is not exactly user friendly.
In an ever-changing market, it is not enough to provide adequate service. Customers today are extremely mobile and web-savvy. As business owners and managers, we have to take a hard look at the foundations we have put in place. We have to be vigilant if we want to keep our customer. By evaluating the five key areas we've reviewed you can create loyal, satisfied customers who increase your business via word of mouth.
