The old run-a-round
How many times have you encountered an extreme run-a-round when you trying to get an answer from someone? I bet we all have many horror stories of being transferred around from customer service representative to customer service representative. Or when you are in the business and the person behind the counter tells you that you have to call an 800 number to get your question or issue resolved? How about when you ask an employee a question and they don’t know the answer but then just disappear on you-not knowing if they are asking someone else or just hiding from you.
As someone that has pressured my employees to provide the best customer service experience as possible these kinds of customer service nightmares drive me crazy. They are fully 100% avoidable, but only if the business owner or manager wants them to be avoidable. Many times, employees are not given proper customer service training. They are given a handbook that they never read, and it has some paragraphs about customer service that they employee should follow. This is far from being adequate. Business today (especially in a downturn economy) really need to focus on customer service. It’s free, it’s easy, and its great customer service will set your business apart from your competitors’.
So, some of you are saying “How”? How can I instill great customer service in my front-line employees? How can I get my staff to provide great customers service? Simple. It all starts at the top. Everyone in your organization must be properly trained in customer service skills. This even includes the folks in the accounting department. Everyone that comes in contact with your business, whether they are the customer, someone picking something up for the customer, your vendors, your business partners, the delivery drivers – EVERYONE is your customer!
Right now, I am going to focus on how to eliminate the run-a-around in a few simple examples.
- A customer asks the cashier if they purchase 10 items could they get a discount. Simple and straight forward. Not your everyday question, but instead of the employee going “I don’t know. Why do you want to buy 10 of those?” or the employee just walking away from the customer and not saying anything, train them to follow simple procedures. Have the employee act (not overdoing it) enthused that someone would like to purchase 10 of an item. Then inform them “I don’t know, but please wait here a moment and I will get the manager who could answer that question for you-I will be right back.” The employee informed the customer on what they should do and what he/she will do to get their question resolved.
- Now if the manager does not have the answer and needs to ask the owner or their supervisor, here’s how that should be handled. Manager- “I’m sorry I do not have the answer to your question at this time. Here’s what I can do for you. Please let me put aside 10 of the items for you and get your contact information and I will contact the owner/supervisor and get an answer for you within 24 hours.” Once again, the manager informed the customer of what they are going to do to get the question answered and gave the customer instructions on what will be done.
Starting to sound like the run-a-around again doesn’t it? The difference is simple communication. The run-a-around that most business give the customer all steams on the employee not knowing who to go to in situations. We used to provide customer service training to all the department at once. This way a person in department A knows who to contact in department B in case there is a question that department B handles. All the phones had a list of who to contact from each department in case these scenarios arose.
Now, the best way to handle this is to empower your employees. In this case, maybe the front-line employee does reach out to their manager who does have the knowledge to answer the customers inquiry and for the front-line employee learn something new about those deep policies that are in the business. Then the manager can inform everyone on what just occurred and let them know what the procedure is for a similar situation. You cannot train everyone on every little scenario, but as they come up you can train everyone. This will strengthen your customer service skills and win over your customers.
Steve Feld, MBA, provides training and business performance coaching to business owners, professionals and executives. Steve also speaks to organizations, conducts workshops and training. Focusing on the lead generation and revenue creation to get growth results for the business. Contact Steve today to see how he can assist you grow your business, steve@bizcoachsteve.com, or www.bizcoachsteve.com. He is in the business of growing businesses. Need a speaker, contact Steve today. #bizcoachstevef #entrepreneur #smallbusiness #business #smallbiz #coaching #businessowner #businesscoach #leadership #marketing #speaking