Dear Boss....Top 10 things customer service staff need

By Cate Schreck - Service Excellence Coach

Lightbulb Training Solutions (LTS) provide training programs that create Customer Service Professionals for businesses in Geelong, Melbourne and Regional Victoria. Our research and feedback from the graduates of our Service Excellence programs, has identified that these are the Top 10 things customer service staff need if you want them to provide amazing service, all day,  every day to every customer.

1. Recognition

Bonuses and other rewards are nice but a simple and genuine "well done" about a specific event, can be just as motivational. It's the little things that make the difference and positive feedback only takes a little of your time.

 2. Training

Customer Service Professionals are made, not born. It’s important to provide  both people and technical skills training and whenever possible, use a specialist trainer. A specialist guarantees you will be giving your staff the best training and frees you up to do your work.

 3. Standards

Provide clear customer service standards and guidelines that are practical and achievable and  practice what you preach. Why should your service staff bother if you don’t?

 4. Permission

Mistakes will be made but give staff permission to “mess up.” The greatest learning comes from experience. You can pick them back up with the assurance that they will do better next time.

 5. Feedback

Have a regular and structured feedback process. Keep note of service positives and development areas and include them as part of an employee's plan for service success. i.e: Professional Development Plan or Performance Appraisal.

 6. Trust

Seek staff input into the service standards of your Organisation and in finding solutions for customer complaints. This confirms you value their opinions and will lighten your own workload.

 7. Time

Inspect what you expect. Spend some time watching, listening or perhaps acting in their role. As little as 10 minutes of “walking in their shoes” shows you respect the position and will give you a first- hand insight into the needs of your customers.

 8. Breaks

Being a Customer Service Professionals requires lots of energy and focus, especially during peak periods. Make sure that breaks are allocated and enforced as nothing drains energy and turns off focus more than de-hydration, hunger and fatigue.

 9. Support

Set regular and structured time to allow your staff to de-brief, moan or share their “horror stories”. Customers today have very high service expectations and sometimes issue unreasonable demands. A day full of emotional or difficult people is a hard day.

 10. Pathways

Empower staff with the knowledge and confidence to react appropriately in the event of an emergency, threat or abuse. Provide access to external support to help with the after effects of these events i.e. Employee Assistance Program (EAP). Consider engaging Security Services or Police to guest speak at team meetings. Remember; anxiety is the price we pay for being unprepared.

Your customer service providers are a vital part of your business. They have the power to delight, dismay or even disgust your customers. Give your staff everything they need to become Customer Service Professionals and sit back and watch them shine.

Want to know the 3 Key Areas you need to focus on to create a culture of service excellence? 

Contact us now to complete your FREE Customer Service Analysis. It takes as little as 30 minutes and can be conducted over the phone.