Great Customer Service Is Vital
Getting your customer service right is vital to the success of your organization. It is an integral part of your company, rather than an extension. This means that every employee should have some customer service knowledge and experience. The main assets of any business, after all, are its customers. Without them, the organization itself simply wouldn’t exist. They help the business grow, not just by them returning, but also by recommending your company to their friends and other people they know. So how do you get customer services right? There are a number of helpful hints and tips and golden rules out there that we should all be aware of.
The DiSC Assessment and How It Improves Customer Service
The DiSC Assessment has been used for many years to improve customer service by providing individuals and teams insight into how they behave in certain circumstances. The results of the DiSC Assessment provide insights into the goals and fear of each the specific DiSC Styles, so that you can better understand your customer and deliver excellent customer service to them.
It will also provide a quick, personalized reading of your customer’s behavioral tendencies in particular service situations.
The DiSC Assessment that is overwhelmingly recommended to improve customer service skills is the Everything DiSC Sales Profile. Before you jump to the conclusion that you want to improve customer service why is a sales instrument being recommended, let me explain. Sales and customer service go hand-in-hand because everyone in customer service is selling and detecting selling signals is vital to delivering great customer service. The Everything DiSC Sales Profile will provide great insights into how to adjust your natural sales/customer service behavioral style to service all different types of customers and their needs.
Each Sales Profile also provides a Customer Interaction Map — an ideal reference sheet to help prepare individuals to work with specific customers! These one-page reference reports help individuals adapt their natural DiSC Style to satisfy the demands of a real-life customer simply by comparing their DiSC Style to the customer’s DiSC Style. In addition individuals get unrestricted access – at no additional charge for every customer they regularly interact with.
Additional tips on improving Customer Service:
Empowering Members of Staff
In most situations, a customer comes in to complain to a member of staff. This staff member then finds that they are unable to really deal with the complaint, possibly because they aren’t sufficiently trained or because they don’t have the authority to make decisions. When this happens, they forward the customer to their manager, or anyone else whom they believe has authority. At that point, respect from the customer is totally lost. This is why all members of staff should be empowered to actually deliver the service properly to the customer’s satisfaction.
“Training employees to make decisions on their own to help a customer without talking to “the boss.” This needs to happen 95% of the time. The boss should only handle exceptions.” The 10 Keys of Excellent Customer Service
Removing Automated Phone Systems
We live in a world where time is money and we want to ensure that the members of our staff are able to do what they are hired for as much as possible. As a result, we have automated all the things that computers can deal with. Rather than a customer service representative asking for account numbers, the automated system does this, for instance. Hence, by the time the customer reaches the customer service representative, all the information should already be in front of them. There are two main problems with this. First, the system often doesn’t work properly meaning that the customer has to repeat what they said to the service rep, presuming that the system itself picked up on their answers. The second, and far more important problem, is that customers absolutely detest automated systems.
“We hate being trapped in automated-phone menus and waiting on hold for a real person to answer.”
Four Keys to Great Customer Service
If you want to deliver excellent customer service, make sure your customer is able to reach a knowledgeable representative as soon as possible. Customers want someone, not something, to solve their problems. If you want to give customers the option, then have a “press 3 to speak to someone directly” on your list. That way, everybody wins.
Apologizing Where Necessary
If your company has done something wrong, your customer service reps need to be able to admit to this. Apologizing is incredibly powerful and positive and will help you gain a lot of respect. Everybody makes mistakes, and we are all willing to accept that so long as the mistake is owned. Remember that your goal is to keep the customers happy, to allow them to win as such. This is true even if they are not right.
“Make it simple for customers to complain. Value their complaints. As much as we dislike it, it gives us an opportunity to improve. Even if customers are having a bad day, go out of your way to make them feel comfortable.”
The Ten Commandments of Great Customer Service
Learn the Art of Being Patient
Having patience is probably one of the most important customer service skills that employees can have. It is actually recommended to train people in this if you can. Patience is a soft skill, which means it is hard to measure. However, it isn’t hard to learn with the right tools at your disposal.
You must, at all times, remember that customers require a lot of patience. They may not be very good at explaining what the problem is, or they may go off into details that are really not relevant at all. They are probably highly emotional, particularly if they are dealing with a complaint, which also clouds their judgment. They may not fully understand what you are trying to tell them either, meaning you will have to explain things again and again. Additionally, it must be remembered at all times that offering a great service is far more important than offering a quick service.
“If you deal with customers on a daily basis, be sure to stay patient when they come to you stumped and frustrated, but also be sure to take the time to truly figure out what they want — they’d rather get competent service than be rushed out the door!” 15 Customer Service Skills that Every Employee Needs
Knowledge About the Organization as a Whole
We have, effectively, come full circle. Customer service, as stated, is an intricate part of the organization, a cog that keeps it all together. This means that anyone who delivers customer service has to have excellent knowledge about the business as well. This is also about employee engagement and ensuring that every member of staff understands their value and role within the company. Having a strong knowledge about the organization means that the customer service representative becomes more trustworthy as well.
“The more knowledgeable you are of the organization you represent, the easier it is to get your customers to trust your decisions and the type of products or services you are trying to sell to them. Being capable of answering any questions you are asked about your company will prove that you are a professional and aware of the items or services you are representing.” 25 Customer Service Skills You Absolutely Need
Parting Thoughts
Hopefully, the above hints and tips will help you to create excellent customer service in your business. It is all about making sure that you invest in your customer service, and not just as a separate department. Remember that every employee within your company, from the bottom of the ladder to the top, is a customer service representative and should be able to deliver superior service whenever they are in all situations.
About Steve Giles
Co-owner/Co-founder of Intesi! Resources. Educated as an architect I transitioned to technology during my career in architecture. Intesi! Resources was founded in 2004 and my focus is everything Web/eCommerce related from the design and development of our site to all the marketing activities involved. I also provide significant support for our clients on all our products and how they are used to deliver assessment-driven learning solutions that develop self-awareness and interpersonal skills.
