#7 of the 7 Mistakes Customer Service Managers make
With 35+ years of experience working with, managing and training frontline employees in organisations across Australia, I regularly sees businesses make one, some or all of what I have identified as the Top 7 mistakes. These 7 mistakes stop businesses from creating a culture of service excellence and greatly increase the stress levels of the team and the customers.
Mistake # 7 Ignoring poor customer service attitudes or behaviours
People over the age of 18 are considered adults. If you have staff 18 or over, you may have at times found yourself wondering;
· Shouldn’t adults be able to get along or disagree professionally?
· Don't adults know how to be polite and professional?
· Why do I have to keep reminding adults to provide consistently excellent customer service?
Your employees will have their own set of core values and customer service skills and attributes so it’s not uncommon for 2 or more employees to have different opinions and different ways of providing excellent service to your customers.
These differences can lead to co-worker conflict and negative customer feedback and although it can be difficult to address behavioural issues, if you ignore them or simply hope that they go away you are likely to have to deal with a bigger problem down the track.
DIY Solutions
· Lead by example. Every team leader/supervisor or manager in your business needs to agree with and be willing to demonstrate the behaviours you want staff to adopt.
· Don’t wait. Address behavioural or attitude issues as soon as possible. The longer your leave it the greater the chance of it becoming acceptable and your customers feeling the effect.
· Respect your team. Address concerns with relevant staff in private, allow them to share their insights, agree on achievable improvement actions and don’t forget to follow up.
· Record and review. All customer complaints are valuable information. Keep records so you can easily identify behavioural issues that need attention.
How Lightbulb Training Solutions can help
To maintain a culture of service excellence, the manager/leader/owner needs the skills to professionally address co-worker disagreements and customer complaints. We can provide a Service Excellence Package customised to your team and your customers that can include management and leadership skills training so you can quickly identify and confidently address any negative or disruptive behaviours.
By Cate Schreck - Author of "The A-Z of Service Excellence'