Excellent Customer Service Tips for Management
The busy Christmas season is upon us. Many retail stores have hired extra staff to deal with cranky Christmas shoppers. It is a great time for many retailers to impress their customers with superior service, so they will remember and return in the slow months of January and February. No matter if you slash your prices and run promotions, if your customer service is suffering, your bottom line will as well. Having excellent customer service means you shouldn’t have to run promotions and slash prices to get customers into your store.
Here are some tips to remember in order to develop excellent customer service
Develop a plan
How exactly do you want each customer transaction to occur? Managers need to develop a timeline of significant points along a transaction, where your staff has the opportunity to impact the customer. For example, if you have a hair salon, your timeline might look like this:
cycle of service
customer calls to make an appointment
customer arrival to shop
shampoo
colour
cut
style/blowdry
cash out
What can you do at each point in the cycle to impress your customer and make their purchase experience memorable?
Train your staff
Once you come up with your timeline and ideas to each point to impress your customer, you must train your staff on how to act. This should be done in a group setting and if done right, can be fun and really motivate your staff, especially if they have input in this part of the process.
Training needs to be specific. For example, when the customer calls to make an appointment, if you want to “wow” your customers, you need to deliver a script to your employees on how to answer the phone.
New employees need to be trained on your customer service plan before their first day on the job. This will help them avoid in developing bad habits, and you will be able to set your expectations right away.
Hold your employees accountable
Once your employees are trained on how they should deliver your product/service, there should be no excuses if they don’t follow your plan. Don’t let it slide. At first you will have to be diligent in following up with your employees at each step in the cycle to ensure they follow your plan, but if you do, soon it will become habit. You can make it fun by running contests to see who follows your plan the most!
Ensure your staff has the right resources to deliver excellent customer service
If you customers don’t have the right resources to offer excellent customer service, they will be frustrated, and so will your customers. Ensure you prepare ahead of time for your peak periods of business by ordering extra stock, ensuring you are adequately staffed, and ensuring your staff is trained.
Train your staff in dispute resolution
Let’s face it, no one has ever won an argument with a customer. Dispute resolution does not come naturally for most people. Ensure you staff is trained to deal with employees when they are not happy. They need to listen, show empathy, and come up with an immediate plan to solve the problem, regardless who is at fault.
Presentation
Your staff and your store create your image. Ensure your staff are presentable. Develop a dress code if required. Ensure you store or office is clean and welcoming to staff, just as you would if you were inviting people into your home.
Follow up with unhappy customers
We are only human. Mistakes will be made. Ensure you follow up with unhappy customers, again, regardless who was at fault. Throw in something that will encourage them to return. Also, look at the trends of the unhappy customers. Is there something in your business operations that you need to improve to prevent a recurring problem?
If you apply the above tips, your business will be consistently known for its excellent customer service. Excellent customer service means returning customers which means more money in your pocket!
Erin Savoie is a small business consultant based out of Sudbury, Ontario. She can be reached at 705-929-0467 or at info@erinsavoieconsulting.ca.
