"Just-in-Time" for the Holiday Shopping Season:
The Customer Service Intervention, PART I
By Carolyn A. Martin, Ph.D. and Bruce Tulgan
Everyone who sells services and products knows that "customer service" is critical to the success of your business.
BASED ON OUR RESEARCH, THESE ARE THE TWELVE MOST COMMON CUSTOMER COMPLAINTS:
(1) Service people are nowhere to be found
(7) They make mistakes
(2) They are present but unavailable to serve customers
(8) They unnecessarily complicate transactions
(3) They are available but are rude, rushed or indifferent
(9) They are unable to solve small problems
(4) They are engaged and polite, but unknowledgeable
(10) They are unable to deal effectively with customer complaints
(5) They provide customers with misinformation or conflicting information
(11) They embarrass customers for not doing something correctly
(6) They are too slow
(12) They fail to meet, much less exceed, customer expectations
WHY DO THESE PROBLEMS OCCUR?
The front line is overstaffed (leading to a lack of urgency) or
understaffed (leading to a lack of coverage). And/or the team is made up of
the wrong people. And/or the team lacks the tools and support it needs.
And/or team members don't care about service. And/or team members have
insufficient training in customer service fundamentals. And/or team members
too often lose their focus on service and, thus, drop the ball. And/or team
members are not held accountable for delivering dazzling customer service.
THAT'S WHY WE ARE INTRODUCING THE CUSTOMER SERVICE INTERVENTION.
As usual, we place the burden on front-line managers.
While an organization can teach the principles and tactics of good customer
service to front-line personnel in many ways, our research indicates that
the most effective approach is direct, sustained intervention by supervisory managers.
Supervisors are best qualified to evaluate their team's current state of
customer service delivery, identify bad service syndromes, take corrective
action, and monitor improvement over time. Supervisors also know individual
players and are best able to identify problem employees, high performers,
and potential peer leaders, as well as control future employee
selection. Most important, supervisors are in the best position to build
constant customer service training into the routine work environment,
to make sure everyone does care about service, and to
hold employees accountable for delivering great service.
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105th Edition - December 18, 2003 COPYRIGHT, RainmakerThinking, Inc.® http://www.rainmakerthinking.com |