The Little Secret to Great Customer Service

An office trinket bears the following slogan: “Rule #1: The customer is always right. Rule #2: When in doubt, see Rule #1.”

This sounds wonderful when you’re the customer. But how does it feel to be the employee in this kind of situation? We all know of, and perhaps have sometimes been involved in situations where a customer is so irate that all logic and courtesy disappears. The front-line employee is usually expected to diffuse the situation and salvage the customer’s relationship with the organization. More often than not, this is much easier said than done.

A family member recently joined a very well known organization that is highly regarded for delivering exceptional customer service and is recognized as a 100 best company. He previously worked for many years in a series of increasingly responsible positions for another service-oriented business. However, his new company is so invested in its employees that it only promotes from within – it’s impossible to walk in the door as an operational leader. One must start at the bottom and work up, irrespective of degrees or experience.

Employees are key to delivering great customer service
 

Curious to know how it felt for him to be on the front line of customer service once again, I asked about his new company’s “customer first” philosophy, specifically interested in how it is reinforced for new hires. Was there a training program? Do they evaluate employees on the quality of customer service? 

“It’s actually simple,” he stated. “When I was a leader in my previous company, it was my job to make sure that my employees felt good about being at work. That was my most important task, without question. The same is true in my new job. The environment is great. Managers work alongside employees. They ask us about ourselves, our families, our lives and they have a real interest in the answers. When you know you’re cared about on the job, you feel good about yourself. And when you feel good about yourself, you want to spread that to others with whom you come in contact.”

The power of the message lies in its simplicity. This very large company, a household name in many parts of the country, doesn’t invest in expensive, canned customer service training for its employees. It doesn’t herd them into classrooms to feed them a formula for managing customer interactions. Instead, it focuses every leader’s attention on the employees, to make them feel valued, positive and cared for. The result is a genuine atmosphere of caring and service and the customers feel it in every interaction.

Want to improve your team’s customer service levels? Try shifting your focus back to your employees. As the leader, make it your job to consistently create an environment of caring, where every employee feels good about him or herself. You’ll soon notice the difference in customer service as your employees spread the positive spirit that they enjoy.

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