Great customer service is an essential part of every business. While most business owners recognize this, many still do not do as much as they could to have even better customer service. Here are three methods you might use to improve the service you offer your customers:

Use secret shoppers to determine if your customer service employees are following key steps in serving customers

Secret shoppers are paid to stop by your business, and make a purchase (or follow other steps), while noting aspects of how your customer service employees are performing. These may include critical service elements, such as the length of time spent waiting, the mention of certain key products or services, or additional up-selling or cross-selling opportunities certain customers should be offered. The secret shopper then reports back to you how well particular customer service employees are performing, so you can determine if they require additional training, or note if they are doing an excellent job of following all of the customer service steps.

Give your best customers customer service points (as part of a loyalty program)

When you give your best customers points which they can award to those customer service employees who are doing a great job, you can get immediate feedback about who is doing well in serving the customers, and which customer service employees are struggling. You might then translate these service points into cash awards, gift cards, or other bonuses for top-performing customer service employees, as well as for those customer service employees who show a dramatic improvement in their customer service. This encourages all your customer service employees to improve their efforts when serving customers, so they can also benefit.

Reward customers for exceptionally good feedback

Most businesses already have some form of suggestion program. Yet few actually reward customers for their suggestions, and many actually ignore the suggestions which customers do offer. When you include rewards for customers who have great suggestions, it makes it more probably that you will receive more great suggestions in the future. You can also include occasional random rewards, so customers are more likely to offer more suggestions. While this may also mean that some unworkable solutions are presented, that is a small price to pay if a few great solutions also are submitted.

Therefore, when you use secret shoppers, include customer service points, and reward customers for great suggestions, it is possible for you to dramatically improve the service your business offers its customers. This makes improved customer loyalty and retention more likely, resulting in more profits and long-term relationships being built.