Good customer service, here’s further proof that in business is business and people are people all around the world. The issues that you face are the same for millions of other small business owners. One effective way of differentiating your business from the others is good customer service.
Good Customer Service starts with treating your staff well
So many businesses rely on the customer’s being vocal about their dissatisfaction to rate their service that they are missing the big picture. It’s not about reacting to those who complain — it’s about having the best customer service you can, all the time.
When I listen to other people talk about customer service the consensus is always that it it getting worse. These people don’t want to be treated like royalty, just to be made to feel welcome and respected in the places they do business. We want to feel like we are important to the places where we spend our money, after all WE are the reason they are there.
I have a theory that the management of a company shouldn’t put their customers first. Yes, you read that right — SHOULDN’T. The management should put their staff first, treat them really well, make sure they are highly trained and understand how important they are in the organization.
They should be treated well because they are the people who treat the customers well.
All of us know when the staff are happy, we, as customers get treated better. I may be obsessed with watching customer service, (after all it’s one of the ways I make my living) but it affects everyone that goes into a store, or interacts with a business in any way.
We know when the person who serves us, or is on the end of a phone is unhappy. We can tell when their heart isn’t in the job.
The solution isn’t to tell them to buck up, to fake it, to act — the solution is to treat them like the valuable part of the business that they are. Otherwise it’s like teaching your child to say please and thank you, but never saying it yourself. Or worse, making them say please and thank you, but never teaching them the meaning of the words.
This isn’t rocket science — this is about treating people right.
You cannot underestimate the power that staff have in representing your business to your customers. With huge amounts of money spent on marketing, the fit out, the lighting, the ambiance( in a retail store) it does not mean anything unless if is followed through with the right things happening on the shop floor. So what is good customer service? Being treated with respect, answering questions, sharing knowledge and advice and taking an interest in the customer. In order to do this staff should be treated the same way. What is not addressed in the above article is training, which will ensure consistency and employees sill need to be informed of the appropriate behaviours for your business. We should address this in another post.
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