How to Improve Your Surveys to Obtain Better Results

Of course, for someone who has no experience with this way of gathering information, starting to run surveys can be a little daunting.

As always, you'll want to make the user's experience your first priority. This means taking a little extra care in crafting the surveys themselves and the ways that you promote them.

Survey early, Survey often

Don't go back through the last 5 years of business data and figure out everything you've ever wished you knew about your clients and their habits and dump it all into one survey.

It would be great if all of your customers were willing to spend 30 or even 60 minutes answering your questions, but they are not. In fact, if you ask them to do this, they'll probably lose a lot of respect for you and be less likely to do business with you again. You'll probably have better results doing a short 5-6 question survey every few months.

Mix it up a little

Since you're adding frequent, short surveys, why not hook them into different actions that your site's visitors are usually taking anyway? If you have a membership area, you could add in a quick survey between the login page and the member's area. If you offer something for download, you could stick one in before the download is served. Make it feel like a quick, relatively unobtrusive extra step in the middle of an action that your clients are used to performing anyway. If you play this right, you can actually gain an extra layer of data that might tell you about the different types of answers you get from users engaged in different types of activity on your site.

Explain yourself

You have to be classy about these types of things. Remember that you're asking for your clients to take time out of their busy days, and explain to them why you think it's important for them that they help you out. Will the results of this survey be used to make your site nicer for them to use? Will it help to improve your products or services in some specific way? Let your clients know that you care about their experience with you and are offering this survey in order to make sure that you keep improving. Make them love you.

Offer some incentives

They don't have to be major incentives, just a little something commensurate with the effort you're asking for. If you offer an information product and are using your surveys to improve it, offer clients a free or discounted copy of the new version for helping you improve it. It's only fair. If it's a membership site you're asking questions about, consider giving a free week of membership for completing your survey. The other day I saw a bank offering free blankets for opening a checking account. I can't possibly imagine whose banking decisions they're trying to sway with this offer, but I'm sure they must have put some kind of market research into it. People like to feel rewarded.

With a little bit of brainstorming about the types of information you could use from your clients, a little planning about how you intend to extract the information and put it to use, and some basic common sense about the way that you ask people for their help, you might just open up your business to some surprising potentials that have been right under your nose for years. Or you might strike gold with one client's dead-on analysis or fond wish. A well-placed web based survey could change your life.

Five Strategies for Guaranteeing Customer Loyalty

Customer retention has always been one of the most cost effective ways to increase business revenue..

According to the international consulting firm Bain & Company, you can increase profits by as much as ninety-five percent through increasing retention by as little as five percent.

If organizations fail to focus their efforts on servicing current customers while spending excessive amounts on acquiring new ones, they are wasting their efforts and much of their revenue.

Most customers look for good value for their money, especially in hard economic times. They are also attuned to product and service pricing. Even so, many customers are likely to pay a bit more to organizations that demonstrate a true concern for customer needs and a willingness to go out of the way to provide quality service levels.

Certainly, providing service that differentiates your organization from others requires effort, training, and staffing, but the return on investment (ROI) is well worth it long term. You cannot expect to approach service with a “fix it and move on” mentality. Service is a process, not an event. It requires dedication of time, money and resources and a commitment to provide whatever it takes to satisfy your customers.

Here are five strategies that you can use to enhance your organization’s customer retention:

1. Create brand recognition. The most successful companies and those that stay in business for decades or longer, are the ones that spend time and effort planning and executing strategies to acquire and sustain brand recognition. This means creating a market presence where customers know who they are and what they provide.

Think about organizations such as, Sears, JC Penny’s, Firestone, Ford, Maytag and Macy’s. When you hear those names, you know what they do and what to expect from them.

To establish your brand recognition, you must first identify what it is that you want to be known for, to whom you will market it, how your will market it, and ways to offer quality products and services at a competitive price. Once you establish these criteria, you can set out to spread the word through advertising, product and service sampling, strategic partnerships, customer acquisition, and effective service.

2. Get regular feedback from your customers. You cannot address customer needs if you do not know what they want. A big mistake that many service providers make is that they look at articles and other sources that say “customers want...” and go on to list what all customers want. While such resources can be a good indicator, unless you ask your customers what they expect and want regularly, you are likely spending time and money providing the wrong thing to your customers.

For example, in good economic times competitive pricing may not get people in your door or to your website. However, when money gets tight cost may become more important to your customers. Additionally, depending on the type of products or services that you provide, customer needs may be different. For example, for customers looking to buy construction equipment, safety might be an important concern. For someone buying women’s clothing that is not likely a big issue. Take your customer’s service pulse regularly in order to keep up with their changing and specific needs.

3. Make it easy for customers to provide feedback. Do not forget to ask for feedback following a sale or service encounter. If you do not ask, most customers will not tell you. Some studies show that if customers are disappointed, they will not tell you. They will simply go away and then tell others about their negative experience. You need to hear the good, the bad, and the ugly related to how well customers perceive your service efforts.
Many organizations say that they welcome customer feedback but they hide behind technology and make providing it difficult.

Make it easy for people to give you feedback or voice concerns. On your website, have a link that says “Customer Feedback.” When some clicks the tab they should get a form to complete and see your organization name, address, phone number and email address at the bottom, in case they want that information. On your automated phone system, offer an extension in your outgoing message that says, “To leave feedback for us, punch extension #.” Ensure that someone checks these sources daily and responds within less than twenty-four hours. Contact the customer to let them know that you received their feedback and to thank them.

Continually look for a variety of ways to collect customer feedback. Use traditional (e.g. table/counter questionnaires, mailed surveys, telephone follow-ups) as well as less traditional means (e.g. feedback drawings/give-aways, website “contact us” forms that provide complete addresses and phone contact information, personalized letters from the President/CEO that are mailed or emailed right after the service encounter). To accomplish this feedback solicitation, create a dedicated system or staff responsible for gathering, analyzing and responding to customers, when necessary.

4. Listen to your customers. It does no good to gather input from your customers if you ignore it. This will only lead to frustrated customers and lost business. If nothing else, thank the customer for taking the time to share their opinion with you.

Not matter whether the feedback that you receive is positive or negative, you should receive it enthusiastically and give it immediate attention. Instead of looking at negative feedback or complaints as a bad thing, recognize that the customer took the time to share it with you and ask yourself the following questions:

Why would this customer feel this way?

What did we do/say that created this impression with the customer?

Is the customer’s reaction reasonable? Why or why not?

Have we heard similar things from other customers?

If necessary, what can we do to prevent similar reactions by other customers?

Gather all customer feedback and examine it periodically. Look to see if there are trends or patterns that you need to address. For example, if a number of customers have complained about long wait times on the telephone or that they failed to receive a product or service when promised.

5. Act on Feedback Immediately. Do not file customer feedback away for discussion later, or to have a committee review it; act on it right away. If you fail to examine the cause of customer dissatisfaction or to acknowledge feedback received from them, they will likely stop giving it. If they are complaining, they will also likely escalate the issue higher in the organization or abandon and take their business elsewhere.

If someone is unhappy with your organization because of a policy, procedure or the way he or she was treated, you should deal with that issue immediately. Examine and change the process that created the problem or counsel or discipline any employee, as appropriate. Failure to act can lead to additional complaints by other customers.

The key in guaranteeing customer loyalty is to treat customers not as you would like to be treated, but as THEY would like to be treated. Strive to provide exceptional service in every service encounter and the name of your organization will potentially become a household word.

About the Author Robert (Bob) W. Lucas is a Managing Partner in the consulting firm Global Performance Strategies, LLC and President of Creative Presentation Resources, Inc, a creative training and presentation products company in Casselberry, Florida. He has written and contributed to twenty-eight books, including: Customer Service: Building Success Skills for the Twenty-First Century

Providing Professional Internal Customer Service

Employees must focused on delivering timely, effective, quality products and services to employees in other departments, otherwise, service to external customers can suffer. The latter impacts the organization’s reputation and bottom line, which ultimately affects the organization’s ability to hire, train, and provide income and benefits to its employees.

If you ask most employees and their supervisors if they believe they deliver effective internal customer service, they will likely say “Yes” but then qualify their answer with “But we can do better.”

They are probably right in both cases. Most employees make an effort to be professional, project a positive image and to address the needs and wants of their internal customers. The challenge is that their organization’s systems, policies and procedures often stand in their way. Let me explain.

In many organizations, people are hired into various internal positions (e.g. human resources, marketing, sales, facilities, cafeteria, accounting, or security) but are not trained in effective customer service skills. In fact, the phrase customer service is likely not used in the context of providing products and services to others in the organization.

New employees often go through orientation training and then have a peer assigned to show them the ropes, give a tour of the building and explain job responsibilities; however, this often occurs in a low key or informal manner. There is often no consistency in the training of new employees. There may be a checklist used of things that someone has to cover with the new employee, but no focused training on products, services organizational values, and other important information.

Many new hire training programs do not use a scripted lesson plan or a formalized training session to emphasize internal customer service. As a result, employees do not learn the impact of their actions related to organizational success. New employees often receive the opinions of their peers and learn shortcuts to policies and procedures. They are then placed in front of their customers without the proper tools to represent themselves, their department and the organization effectively from a service perspective.

Another shortcoming is that there is no incentive or reward for employees to provide quality service in many organizations. If an employee comes to work, does what they are told and does not have any performance issues, they get a good performance evaluation and likely a modest salary increase. Internal customer satisfaction is typically not measured and workers are not held
accountable for their success rates in that area. Unless a customer complains or compliments an employee, their supervisor typically assumes that everything is being done well and provides positive feedback on their performance review.

Tagged onto this issue is the fact that most supervisors receive no training on how to effectively coach and counsel their employees so there is little opportunity for ongoing dialogue, feedback and mentoring throughout any given performance period. In short, the organization does not have systems to monitor how service is being delivered. Instead, people are rewarded and promoted based on tasks that they accomplish rather than the overall quality of job that they perform and the level of service that they deliver.

So what is the answer? Quite simply, a thorough review of policies, procedures and systems currently in place related to employee performance in the area of internal customer service should take place. This includes doing a needs assessment by asking for customer feedback on a regular basis related to how service might be improved. In addition, working to create an
environment in which internal service is a key initiative should become a priority.

All of this could start by forming an interdepartmental team made up of representatives from all departments and a representative from human resources and the training department. These people could brainstorm what currently works and what needs to improve related to internal service.
Customer satisfaction feedback could be gathered through a written survey coupled with focus groups of 8-10 customers and hosted by human resources and/or an external customer service consultant.

Learn how internal customer service is a crucial element for any organization.

In order to determine service levels being provided by employees, a 360-degree performance appraisal system in which performance feedback is obtained from the employee, their supervisor, peers and customers could be used. Based on the results, supervisors could reward or coach as appropriate.

Many other strategies can help improve the quality of an organization’s internal service. You can start by examining the ones I have mentioned and use them as a basis for more initiatives.

About the Author Robert (Bob) W. Lucas is a Managing Partner in the consulting firm Global Performance Strategies, LLC and President of Creative Presentation Resources, Inc, a creative training and presentation products company in Casselberry, Florida. He has written and contributed to twenty-eight books, including: Customer Service: Building Success Skills for the Twenty-First Century.

Managing Caller Hostility on a Customer Complaint Hotline

A customer complaint hotline can be a great tool for businesses to gather intelligence about marketing, measure customer satisfaction, and build or repair goodwill with customers.

However, operating a customer complaint hotline presents a number of unique challenges.

Two of the unique challenges of customer complaint hotlines that can be greatly aided through the effective use of on hold messaging are:



1) managing the perceptions, attitudes, and expectations of callers and

2) preventing burnout of employees handling complaint calls.

The key to managing caller attitude, perceptions, and expectations is understanding caller psychology; and the key to preventing employee burnout is effectively managing caller attitude, perceptions, and expectations. Primarily, it is important to recognize that the psychology of callers to a customer complaint hotline differs significantly from that of other types of callers.

Callers to a customer complaint hotline are generally calling to air a grievance. The significance of this fact is that while the callers are waiting to speak with a customer service representative, their mind is focused on their problem.

The time that callers spend in queue provides them with the time and opportunity to rehearse their complaint; practicing and refining the grievance in their mind and preparing to counter whatever excuses or hostility they believe they will receive from the customer service representative.

As they rehearse, callers further convince themselves of the merit of their complaint and they become angry. As their anger builds, the rehearsed complaint becomes more hostile. The more hostile their complaint becomes, the angrier they become.

This cycle continues as long as the caller remains on hold. When their call is finally taken, these callers often unload on the customer service representative with a well developed, thoroughly rehearsed, and highly motivated tirade. This phenomenon is known as the "Grievance Rehearsal Anger Spiral", and the result is angry customers that cannot be satisfied and burned-out customer service representatives that take the calls; in other words, a counter-productive customer complaint hotline.

The "grievance rehearsal anger spiral" is real; and, if left unchecked, negatively affects businesses, their customers, and their employees. However, once it is understood, the phenomenon can be managed; and the result is a win/win situation for businesses and their customers alike.

A well crafted on hold program will occupy the caller's mind with reassurances that their problem is about to be resolved, manage the caller's mood and state of mind, and reduce the caller's perception of the passage of time; all of which translate into more pleasant and productive complaint calls, more satisfied customers, happier employees, and a more effective customer complaint hotline.

Get the Everyday Basics Right - Then Work on Customer Loyalty

Encourage repeat business by working on customer loyalty..

It always amazes me how companies put so much emphasis on loyalty programs yet they can’t get the everyday basics right about the customer experience. This past weekend I was out shopping at a downtown mall with my wife. We strolled into one of the well-known pre-teen clothing stores to pick up a couple of items for our daughter. We needed some help picking the right accessories, and as it happened, five sales associates were "working" in the cash area. Two of them were actually working the registers; the other three were chatting together in a corner.

When I asked for some help, one of the associates, without even glancing up or making eye-contact, mumbled "Give me a minute". I was obviously interrupting her conversation.

My intent, with this article, is not to advise on how the sales floor should be run, but rather, to recommend focusing on fixing the basics, for as it happens, this retailer also invests heavily in quarterly promotions, elaborate online contests, and a points program with the view that that these types of initiatives increase customer loyalty.

From my personal vantage point as Director of Customer Experience programs, the hot button among retailers these days seems to be "loyalty programs" – "loyalty programs will bring people in the door"; "loyalty programs will help us through this economic downturn"; "loyalty programs build advocates among our customers".

In fact, the right loyalty programs, implemented at the right time in the life cycle of an organization, will encourage repeat business. But you can’t put the cart before the horse. The personal relationships that you’re trying to build with your customers, where they feel emotionally connected with your brand and advocate you to people they know, is only achieved after you’ve been able to deliver products and services to them in a reliable manner, day in and day out.

First you have to earn the right to your customers’ confidence. You have to deliver an experience that is consistent. If you were to install listening posts at various customer touch points, this is what you should hear: "You get it right", "You know me", "You always deliver", "You treat me with respect". If these are not the types of messages you are hearing from your customers, then your foundation likely has some cracks in it. If your goal is to build personal relationships with customers where they have an emotional bond and will recommend you to their friends – a true indicator of loyalty and the benefits that go along with it – you really have to start with the basics – there is no shortcut. The trouble is, in most cases, the basics have to do with the interpersonal skills of your employees. And such skills are often very difficult or take a long time to change, even with the best training programs.

So what are you going to do? Retrain some of your people? Fire some of them? Overhaul your entire sales staff? The big question here is: Do you invest in HR or in Marketing? Hmmm, a loyalty program could do the trick! It would be much quicker and less intrusive than a longer-term employee retooling.

Problem is, your customers can see right through it. "The market is smart", as they say. If you think you’re going to build true loyalty this way, you’re mistaken. In fact, your strategy may backfire, because your customers may feel patronized by the introduction of some new points program as a cover for an aloof sales staff.

Now back to our clothing retailer. My recommendation, if they’re in it for the long haul, is to spend their dollars on better employee selection programs – screening for people who are highly engaged and place a high importance on customer service, are dependable, and take initiative on their own. Consistency on the sales floor provides reliability for the consumer, and gives them confidence in your brand.

Months are ticking by anyway. Cut your losses, get down to basics, and start building true loyalty that delivers sustainable financial rewards.

Ten Ways to Give Better Service This Holiday Season

Even though Black Friday has begun, there is still time for retailers to increase their chances of having a good holiday shopping season. We all know customer service is important, but it’s critical during stressful times like the holidays. And when the economy is sour and people want the most for their money, one of the best things your company can do is take steps to improve their customer service.

Remember, customers come to your company to get something they want. The companies that do the best job giving them what they want (in a way that is sustainable for them) will be the winners.

They’ll get more customers, more repeat business and more referrals.

So, get the most from this holiday shopping season by offering your customers Amazing Service. Here are ten ways to make it happen:

1. Put your customers first

Remember, your customers come to your store to get what they want. They believe you can help them. (Otherwise they would have gone somewhere else.) They have chosen you! Honor their choice by doing everything within your ability to help them. This means focusing your attention and efforts on discovering what they want and helping them get it. You put their interests and desires first. It means your sole motivation is helping them get what they came for.

2. Listen

When you begin talking with a customer, stop whatever else you are doing and focus on them. Make appropriate eye contact, listen, nod and show them you are paying attention. Some people take notes when listening, to ensure they get everything the customer is saying. Certainly you should ask questions to confirm and clarify that you understand. As you listen to your customer, don’t pre-judge what they’re saying. Keep your mind open so you hear everything. And remember, listening is a full-time job!

3. Have fun

This is SUPPOSED to be a fun time of year. But for many people it never is because of the stress they subject themselves to. You can help them get back to the fun of the season. Have fun by giving them an unexpected and positive experience. Enjoy your work and your co-workers and your customers. It’s not about goofing off or wasting time. But it IS about finding ways to bring fun and joy into your work and bringing your customers along for the ride.

4. Be flexible

Our goal is to help our customers get what they want, within our ability. So we always need to look for alternatives. We need to be creative. We need to think beyond the first solution that comes to mind when we’re working with our customers. Being flexible means offering customers more than one solution. By offering choices we’re making it more likely they’ll get what they want. There are few things worse than being a customers and someone says “that’s the only way you can do it”.

It also means being willing to try new things and go the extra mile for customers. It means being a problem solver rather than an order taker. Customers know the difference.

5. Make your customers smile

This is the most important thing you can do with your customers. If they are happy with your service they will come back. Note, this does not mean you do anything and everything to make your customers happy. You’re always limited by the resources and policies of your company. But it does mean you do everything within your ability to make them happy. Get creative and look for ways to give your customer a great experience.

6. Put Yourself In Their Shoes (PYITS)

Try to see things from your customer’s perspective in as many ways as you can. Think about when you’re the customer. How do you feel and what do you want from people you buy from? What are the top three things you want from them? Most people want similar things like courtesy, helpful information, solutions (rather than dead-ends), a friendly smile, fair value and quick service.

What about when you’re angry or frustrated with a company or person you do business with? Think about the emotions you have in those situations. And consider your motivations too. What drives you in those interactions? What actions do you want from the people you do business with? How do you want them to resolve your complaints?

We all wear at least two hats. One is our “service” hat which we wear when we are serving others. Another is our “customer” hat. Keep both of them handy at all times as a reminder to put yourself in your customer’s shoes.

7. Be fast and friendly

The crowds, the weather and the stress of the holiday season can people’s patience. People are under pressure to get a lot done in a little time. Move as quickly as you can as you help people. Be as efficient as you can and show them you respect their time. But don’t trade fast for friendly. You need to do both. Give your customers a warm smile and a sincere, friendly greeting and you’ll help them have a better experience while they’re in your store.

8. Help, don’t sell

Don’t push people to buy what you think they should buy. Remember, they came to you to accomplish something, not to help you make a sale. Your focus needs to be “how can you help them accomplish their goals”. Keep this in mind as you help your customers and you’ll find they’ll be easier to work with and more likely to buy from you.

9. Be extra patient

Even though some shoppers might not show you any patience, you need to give them plenty. Do whatever you have to do to be extra patient with everyone. Pretend you’re talking with your 83 year old grandmother. How would you treat her? Keep in mind the pressure and stress your customers are under. They might snap at you in frustration but you need to let it roll off like water off a duck’s back. Be nice to everyone every time - no exceptions and no excuses!

10. Brainstorm with your team to offer your customers the best experience

Even though the holiday shopping season has begun, you can still find ways to provide amazing customer service to your customers. Every day, meet with your staff and debrief what happened the day before. Did they have any unusual requests? Were there any difficult situations? Review each day and learn from it. Engage your employees to find creative solutions to your customers needs so you can help your customers have a great holiday season. The more people you help, the better holiday season you and your company will have.

Customer Focus in a Slow Economy

In these tough and challenging times, getting the customer experience right is critical..

I wanted to call this article “Sharpen Your Customer Focus You Will Lose Customers!” but a few of my colleagues thought this was a bit too blunt. Absolutely true mind you, but blunt. Then I thought why not make the headline a question; “How Many Customers Are You Willing To Lose Today Because of a Lack of Customer Focus?” Again, true but too direct. So in the end I went with what you see above.

So here we are again. The economy is getting tough and for many, life is stressful and difficult. For business, this is not new.

We’ve all been here before. Hopefully we’ve learned from the last time the economy slowed … But then again, have we?

Nobody wants to lose customers but you know as well as I that when the economy gets tough, many organizations go into reactive mode. Their focus shifts to cost control and the acquisition of new customers. History has taught us that every time this happens, relationships with existing customers can be put at risk. Financial responsibility is important, as is getting new business, but not if it is at the expense of your existing customers.

Allow me explain.

During an economic downturn most customers will be looking to increase value for their money. They will try to make their hard earned cash go further and you can be sure that they will be more critical when making buying decisions.

With less disposable income, customers will be less forgiving of a mediocre or poor service experience. And don’t forget that when it comes to service, the vast majority, 90 to 96%, will not complain and most will simply go elsewhere. You can bet that they will want to deal with organizations that demonstrate that they want and appreciate their business.

You can also be guaranteed that your customers will be strongly influenced by the commentary of their friends, acquaintances, family and colleagues when it comes to recommendations for products or services and providers.

As I mentioned earlier, when economic conditions become more demanding, far too many organizations focus on cost cutting and acquiring new customers which invariably puts the relationships with their existing customers at risk.

Quite often training budgets are the first to get cut. This includes all important training on things like Customer Service and Leadership.

Process improvement plans get put on hold often including process improvements that were intended to enhance the customer experience.

Even though it is five times more expensive to get new customers than it is to keep existing already profitable customers, many organizations bolster their marketing efforts trying to pull more customers in the front door, at the same time virtually ignoring their existing customers who simply walk out the backdoor looking for someone who wants and appreciates their business and proves it through their actions.

The retention of existing customers is all the more important during difficult economic conditions. Research proves that existing customers are more profitable and improvements in your operating expenses and resulting bottom line can be achieved through maintaining a high level of customer focus. Just to remind you, don’t forget a five percent increase in customer loyalty can contribute from 25% to 125% directly to your bottom line.

Remember that your customers always have the choice of buying from you or your competition. When times are tough, that choice becomes even more important.

Implementing a customer focus strategy will create valuable and long-lasting relationships with your customers that will provide a secure and growing revenue stream.

Focusing on getting the customer experience right is critical. Making sure that your customers choose you over your competition is essential. If you get it right when times are tough you will certainly reap the benefits and rewards of unleashing the power of customer focus as conditions improve.

So this time, why not dare to be different. Why not unleash the potential of customer focus, while everyone else has their eye off the ball.

Your Customers - Have You Asked Their Opinion Lately

Learn about the importance of having an "ask strategy" and how to implement it..

Bound for Savannah, sitting on a transfer boat from a resort island in South Carolina, I cannot help thinking about the resort; beautiful and staffed by nice people. But is that enough? I think not.

How Was Your Stay?

When I checked out of the resort, the woman at the front desk never asked me about my stay; wonderful, good, bad, or indifferent. This is the best time to query guests-asking for their honest feedback about their stay. However, nobody cared to ask me.

Had she, I would have mentioned the cob webs hanging from the ceiling, the fact that the bathroom was in desperate need of repair, that I had to call to request maid service, and that none of the resort's materials were in the room, not even a pen and paper-good thing I did not need to order room service.

My Conversation

As I leave, the conversation that I'm having with myself about the resort is, at best, mixed. While most of the time that I'm visiting hotels and resorts is as a speaker, I also organize a number of small meetings each year. Would I bring my group to this island resort? I really do not think I would. My conversation with myself about the place is, "Pretty property and nice people, however I truly question the competency of the resort's staff.

Every time one of your customers does business with you, it is your opportunity to develop or strengthen the relationship-or to damage it.

What's Their Conversation?

How in the world can you query all your customers? Simple, ask them. You can have customer service representatives ask your telephone customers and you can have other employees ask in-person customers. How do you get your employees to ask? Motivate them through incentive. This information is golden as you periodically review your business strategy.

Earlier this week, when I was in my office, I received a call from one of my suppliers. The customer service person was calling to ask how we could do more business together. I suggested a strategy change for sample ordering
from their web site-to make ordering easier on the customer. They asked! And, if they make the change, I will do more business with them.

Ask Strategies

Consider developing both a formal and informal "ask strategy" for your organization. The informal will consist of your employees asking at every possible opportunity, "How are we doing?" And, truly caring to listen, and record, the answers offered by customers. Offer various low cost incentives to employees that turn in their "ask sheets" each week. Hold contests only allowing the people that turned in their "ask sheets" that week, or month, to participate. Offer positive motivation.

For your formal ask strategy; mail out "ask surveys" with every order. Incentivize your customers to participate. Have your sales staff conduct an "ask session" with every customer quarterly-and incentivize the sales staff for their participation.

Path toward Improvement

You can improve your products and services much more effectively when you have a deeper understanding of what your customers consider to be valuable and important. Your "ask strategy" will quickly fill in your knowledge gaps in this area. You do want to serve your customers the way they want to be served, don't you?

How Job Satisfaction Can Affect Customer Loyalty

customers loyal..

Employees who are dissatisfied with their positions are a tremendous obstacle to developing customer loyalty.

Some recent research that surveyed 1,597 employed executives (conducted by ExecuNet) revealed some interesting facts:

At least 1 of 3 executives were dissatisfied with their positions - or in more simple terms ready to jump ship. If the executive was in sales, that dissatisfaction translated into almost 1 in 2. The further away the executive was from external customers the higher they rated their job satisfaction.

This last statistic reminds me of a quote by Charles Schultz:

"I love mankind. It is people that I cannot stand."

Since business is all about people, this statistic reveals a lot of people truly do not understand the purpose of business is to attract and maintain customers.

When internal customers (employees) be they executives or front line workers become dissatisfied with their positions, the end result is that their interactions with others become unauthentic. In other words, there is a whole lot of negative energy flowing through the organization. The goal to become a high performance organization, if that is one of the goals, will never be achieved.

Additionally, these negative feelings are both conscious and subconscious. As human beings, our emotional feelings and being unsatisfied has emotional connections. We need to remember that all feelings can be heard, seen and most importantly felt by many around us.

The bottom line is that all businesses have some very real challenges to overcome.

Now is the time to determine why your employees are unhappy especially those who have first contact with your external customers. Your organization may need to engage in organizational assessments that are aligned to recognized quality criteria such as "Baldrige" or individual assessments that look beyond the "How" of behavior to the "Whys" of behavior.

Developing your employees based upon the results of these assessments is the next step. Then, reassessing your actions to determine the impact of the development and coaching is the final step. Failing to take these corrective actions may not only result in unhappy employees, but in higher customer turnover and lower profitability.

10 key customer service skills

The job market has never been better for young graduates. There are opportunities galore in the booming service sector companies in the BPO, retail and hospitality domain. Most of these jobs are customer-centric and call for certain unique skill-sets. BPOs and multiplexes hire fresh graduates as customer service and sales executives and retail stores look for shop floor executives, supervisors and managers.

“The current job market is demand driven and youngsters with good communication skills and a positive attitude will be spoilt for choices,” says Prashant Kuruvilla, VP – HR with Delhi-based E-Soft Technologies.

So, if you are a fresh graduate, looking to make a career in the service industry, here are the 10 key customer service skills that you need to brush up on:

Language skills

Good communication is the lifeblood of the service industry and it’s important that your language should be devoid of grammatical errors. While we have all learnt the basics of grammar in school, the most important attributes in spoken English are: sentence construction (your ability to form meaningful sentences) and word order (ability to use the right words as per context). Talk to people in English as far as possible and watch English news and sit-coms. The objective here is to develop conversational skills.

Vocabulary

Your vocabulary should be good so that you can tackle challenging communication and customer service scenarios. You should be able to demonstrate a satisfactory use of word choice so that your customer maintains confidence in your skill sets. Follow the TIS rule (think it, ink it, sink it). When you come across a new word, make a note of it in your personal diary and read it out loud at least thrice.

Pronunciation

You need to have a clear pronunciation and diction, such that, it does not interfere with your overall communication with the customer. This includes stress, rhythm and intonation patterns in your speech. Many institutes like the British Council offer courses in communication skills for call centers and service oriented jobs. These programs also help you in neutralising your accent and sounding more professional.

Tone

You need to speak in an upbeat and positive tone. This enables you to connect with your customers and colleagues and also build long lasting relationships. A lot of negative emotions like anger, sarcasm, impatience, etc also get communicated through your tone, so it’s important to watch out for it. Your tone should reflect empathy and concern for your customer.

Listening skills

Good listening skills will help you understand the main ideas of the person you are communicating with. It also enables you to understand the specifics of a particular situation that you could be dealing with. Good listening skills will also ensure that you provide appropriate answers to questions and understand the emotional clues that your customer may drop.

Problem-solving skilss

You should be committed and have a sincere desire to solve the problems of your customer. Your ability to ask the right kind of questions will be a key factor in providing an effective solution. You also need to prioritise your time and understand your customers’ needs and wants.

Flexibility

You need to adapt to your customer’s unique needs and changing circumstances. You should be open to change and be willing to take the customer’s feedback and act on it. Being flexible also helps you identify new business opportunities and make more sales for your organisation.

Initiative and proactiveness

You need to be proactive and anticipate customer problems. You should be able to apologise and correct a mistake rather than hide behind company policies. Walking an extra mile for the customer will cement the relationship and would lead to repeat business.

Professionalism

You need to be professional, friendly and courteous. Being direct and expressive helps to build a strong relationship with the customer. Showing your respect to the customer, team members, company, and competitors is also important as this demonstrates confidence in self and the organisation.

Task orientation

As a customer service professional, it’s important to strike a balance between the job at hand, relationship and rapport building activities. While you need to engage in building a positive relationship with the customer, you must keep issue resolution and meeting targets as your top priority. “Most tele-sales consultants keep sweet talking with customers without asking the customer for the order (closing the sale). This is ineffective as the objective of the organisation is also to make sales and profits” says Kanishka Malhotra, Managing Partner of New Delhi based – Hotel Solutions India.

customer service case study

This is a true story.

The name of the organization is not given, to protect the well meaning customer service staff from embarrassment. Given the current economic climate and intense difficulties within the banking industry, they have enough to worry about.

As ever, when things go wrong with customer service, it is rarely the fault of the customer service staff, who almost without exception do their best to do a good job. When things go wrong with customer service, and especially with subsequent complaints and remedial action (or absence thereof) the faults lie in the policies and attitudes of the executives running the corporation, who are responsible for providing systems, training, and information fit for purpose. In this case study, many of those crucial functions are not adequately designed, or even monitored.

week	what happened
1	A small village sports club appoints a new treasurer at its annual general meeting. Accordingly the new treasurer needs to be added to the bank account as a signatory and the main contact for bank statements, etc. The club secretary visits the local branch, where the club has been a customer since its foundation in 1980. The account has never been overdrawn. The branch is not open on Saturdays, so it is suggested that the new treasurer visits the main city branch to prove his identity (which he is required to do in person with a passport and a utility bill, because he is not a customer of the bank), and to complete and sign the necessary two forms, which will then be sent to the local village branch for counter-signature and processing. Secretary questions whether this will work and is reassured that it certainly would. What could go wrong?...
2	The new treasurer visits city branch during his lunch hour, explains he is new treasurer to be added to the relevant club/society account as a new signatory, shows and has his ID checked and copied, completes and signs forms provided, and later notifies the club secretary that he has completed this part of the process.
3	Secretary visits local branch to check if the paperwork has been received at the local branch for counter-signature. It has not. Local branch staff attempts to check on status of paperwork but is unable to locate it. Secretary agrees to return a week later.
4	Secretary again visits local branch to check if the paperwork has been received at the local branch for counter-signature. It has not. Local branch staff attempts to check on status of paperwork but is unable to locate it. Local branch staff asks secretary to ask new treasurer if he can remember which member of staff dealt with him at the city branch. New treasurer, not surprisingly, cannot remember name of staff member, and the only details he can remember - gender and ethnicity - are not particularly helpful given the potential to be attached to blame.
5	Secretary visits local branch and is told that the paperwork cannot be located, and (in the absence of any other option) can only suggest that the Treasurer repeats the process - i.e., visits city branch with ID and completes forms, for them to be sent to local branch, etc.
5	The secretary calls the bank complaints department, and asks that the matter be escalated to ensure either that the paperwork is located, or is given suitable priority to resolve quickly with minimum fuss. Central complaints department states that escalation procedure is to refer the matter back to the branch, and also is unable to provide phone number for manager or area manager. Instead a request was logged for the area manager to call the club secretary. No other complaints options are offered.
5	Secretary telephones city branch to do his own investigation and fortunately the call is answered by a particularly sharp member of staff, who checks the system, looking for the name of the new treasurer, and finds that his name and validated identity are indeed on the system - but there is a problem: he was given the wrong forms to sign, for a personal account, not a club/society account. The matter is escalated by the staff member to a supervisor at the branch who promises to have a pack of the correct forms ready for the treasurer's next visit to the city branch, which is duly arranged.
6	Treasurer again visits the city branch during his lunch hour, to sign the correct forms, but on this occasion he sees a different staff member and his proof of identity is not acceptable (he has recently moved) although the same ID was accepted the first time on the wrong forms. The treasurer leaves the branch and notifies the secretary of the stalemate, and another wasted lunch hour.
7	The secretary telephones the city branch. The supervisor apologizes for the misunderstanding and offers to send the forms in the post to the treasurer, saying that he will not need to visit in person and that his ID is acceptable. The forms are sent.
8	The treasurer signs the forms and takes them to the secretary. The secretary takes the forms to the local branch, along with a copy of the AGM notes showing the appointment of the new treasurer, and his own ID. The staff consult with each other and decide that the signature of the outgoing treasurer is also required to validate the application. The secretary questions this requirement on the basis of it being unconstitutional and daft: surely the signature of the club chairman would be appropriate, rather than an outgoing official. The branch staff says it will investigate, and the secretary says he will do likewise.
8	The secretary again calls the bank central complaints department to attempt to resolve the matter, but again is told that the matter can only be 'escalated' back to the branch; also that the telephone number of the area manager cannot be divulged, and that the response time - even for emergencies - is 5-10 days. When the secretary suggests he will stay on the line until the matter is escalated the customer service representative states that the policy for such occasions is to terminate the call.
8	The matter is developing into such a wonderful customer services case study that I contact the media relations department of the bank and ask for clarification of some of the key points of customer services policy. The press contact asks for details, which I send. I receive no reply to my email.
9	Secretary again visits the local branch and is told that the new signatory can be processed without the approval of the outgoing club official. The forms are duly signed, and presumably later sent for processing.
10	Secretary again visits the local branch and is told that the new signatory has not yet been processed, and that the branch staff will chase it up.
11	Secretary again visits the local branch and is told that due to backlog in the central processing department, the signatory will not be added for at least until at least twelve days time.
12
13	Secretary again visits the local branch and is told that the signatory has still not been added. Branch agrees to chase it.
13	I again contact the media relations department who have no record of my earlier contact. They ask me to re-send the email. I do, and by now I'm fairly sure I'll want to publish the case study. I receive no reply.
14	Secretary again visits the local branch and is told that the signatory has still not been added. Secretary telephones the city branch in an attempt to reach an area manager. Call diverts automatically to a call centre instead of the city branch, where a the staff investigate and escalate the matter, and after about an hour's discussion and investigation, the customer is informed that: the paperwork has been rejected - due to being 'incomplete' - by central processing and returned to the branch. The bank now seems to realise that there is a problem. The customer receives a phone call in the evening from the area manager (who apologizes and says that the matter will now quickly be fixed), and then another phone call in the morning from the branch manager (saying much the same thing).
15	The secretary again visits the branch to meet with the branch manager, who explains that the chairman's and secretary's signatures will suffice; that the outgoing officer need not sign the forms, and - wait for it...... that the treasurer will have to sign new forms again because the original paperwork has been lost. When I heard this I decided the story was too good to keep to myself.
16	New forms are signed and submitted to the branch.
17	The new signatory is finally added to the account.

customer service tips for organizations and leaders

For organizations needing to improve their customer service, gathering and reviewing customer complaints is the quickest way to draft an action list. Consulting customer service staff is also essential.

For all organizations, customer complaints and feedback from customer-facing staff will keep you constantly aware of areas to improve to keep up with changing markets needs and expectations.

Treat complaints about service failures like precious gems, because they are that valuable. Organizations pay huge fees to researchers and survey companies to discover their weaknesses, whereas complaints effectively provide the same data for free. Moreover, each service failure complaint is a very specific prompt to improve a process or policy or someone's training somewhere. Wasting or losing these gems is daft.

So welcome and encourage complaints, don't fear or hide from them, or pretend you are fantastic because you (make sure that you) don't get any complaints.

Make it as easy for people to complain as to buy. There's a challenge for you..

Here are some common mistakes that organizations make about customer service and complaints handling in particular:

don't..

• Make it difficult for people to complain, e.g., long-winded contact method on your website.
• Make it difficult for customer service staff to give feedback and to influence customer service systems and policies.
• Treat the customer service function like a battery hen farm.
• Fail to have a complaints handling process which you have tested and had approved by complaining customers.
• Fail to appoint anyone responsible for managing complaints handling.
• Fail to inform staff about the value of complaints and the need to encourage and respond to them.
• Refuse to escalate complaints and problems, or make escalation to a higher level difficult.
• Refuse to give customers the names of senior managers and executives and their contact details.
• Fail to put free or local-rate customer services phone numbers on your invoices and website.
• Fail to show clearly and make available your head office contact details.
• Fail to expose senior managers and executives to complaining customers.
• Pretend to have a customer service department but merely outsource a basic message-taking service.
• Offer an automated telephone menu system which excludes appropriate and easy options to complain.
• Design punitive termination penalties for customers wishing to cancel their contracts and instruct your customer service staff to use such threats freely and forcefully.

instead do..

Check your culture. This comes from the top and pervades everything. So this is ultimately for the CEO or the shareholders to start changing if it's not right.

There is little point in implementing a wonderfully robust and logical customer service code of practice if your culture can't support it.

So this section is really all about culture and particularly how you treat staff ans customers. All the rest is relatively easy and mechanical for any decent modern management team, because aside from culture, customer service relies on sensible service and pricing strategies and the processes to sell and deliver then and to sort out problems. What makes the real difference is how you involve and treat people within these processes. Which all comes back to culture.

The culture must be one of really honestly respecting and valuing staff and customers. When you have this culture the human element gets to work: relationships and communications work, problems are solved, internally and externally people focus on looking after colleagues and customers, rather than merely working systems, executing processes and adhering to policies. The organisation has life - becomes organic - rather than operating as an inflexible machine or a set of instructions.

In the context of customer service, a good indication of culture is how easy it is to complain. In lots of big organizations it's actually very difficult to complain, and even more difficult to complain and be taken seriously.

You must make it easy for people - customers and staff - to contact you and complain, by email, post and especially by phone, and to every level in your organization - especially to the CEO.

Executives who never see complaints are deluding themselves. On the pretext of protecting their precious executive time, countless senior managers and executives are oblivious of what is happening in their business. Worse still this ostrich-like example teaches all managers that avoiding complaints is the way to manage customers, which as a customer service strategy is what might technically be referred to as a load of bollocks. Ask your customers what they think about senior managers and executives hiding from complaints and most people will use far stronger terms than that.

Executives who hide from complaints also tend to develop a culture among managers and all staff that is scared of complaints, which naturally causes people to cover up complaints and to distort complaints and failure statistics even when asked to report on them.

Megalomaniac, autocratic and egocentric leaders are particularly prone to this syndrome, in which customer satisfaction information is obscured and massaged so that the entire senior management moves from denial to blissful ignorance, while the customer service staff continue to act as a super-absorbent firewall, until one day - when the customer churn is nudging 25% - the board finally realises that they do indeed have a problem, and that the market and the competition and the customers - and the customer service staff - are not to blame for it. The problem is the leadership: the culture, the systems, the policies, the strategies - out of step with what the customers need and expect.

Interestingly this stems from the insecurity which drives certain traditional leadership styles and cultures, in which criticism is seen as a threat rather than a useful reflective and improvement aid. If you are one of these leaders please go get some therapy before you do any more harm to your staff and customers. Arrogance and bluster are not effective behaviours by which to run a proper business in the 21st century, let alone to encourage and inspire employees and managers to strive for customer service excellence.

Instead expose yourself to all the complaints you can find. Remember - you would normally pay a researcher lots of money for this information. And each complaint gives you the chance to solve a customer's problem, which often means that you then get to keep that customer for life.

To do this you will need to check that your complaint handling process works for your most awkward customers and for your most passive customers. This will turn many of your most awkward customers into your best customers, and some of your most passive customers into awkward customers, but you will now be receiving complaints, which if you were not seeing any before is a major advance.

With all these new complaints you will need some expert input and ideas about how to improve things. Lucky for you, your employees are the world's best experts at improving your services to your customers, so it makes sense to ask for their help.

Obviously ensure your customers' complaints are resolved along the way, and equally importantly, help the organization to develop the capability (and culture) to identify the causes of problems and to rectify the root causes, to prevent the problems happening again.

It's a lot simple rwhen you get the culture right. Open all the communications. Encourage complaints. Fix the problems and the systems. Utilise your people to contribute to the whole process.

Empower and encourage your customer service staff to give feedback about the systems and policies within which you expect them to work and deliver great customer service. Train and develop and nurture and love your customer service staff - they are almost certainly your most under-valued and under-utilized asset. They will perform as you treat them. If you treat customer service staff like battery hens don't expect them to take much of an interest in your organization.

Think creatively about the emphasis and status you give to the customer service role. Customer service staff are widely under-valued and under-utilised. They are by nature extremely helpful and loyal people, capable of doing a lot more for you than they are typically empowered to do. So empower them, and you will see significant improvements in customer satisfaction, because the experts will be taking care of it for you.

complaints handling tips

Emotional complaints are usually the most difficult to handle, so these tips focus mainly on the more challenging complaints scenarios.

Aspects of Transactional Analysis theory are helpful in understanding and managing emotionally charged situations. Understanding where anger and upset come from and what triggers these emotions can help us to remain objective, and to separate the emotion from the actual content or facts of the matter. Transactional Analysis is a tremendously useful way to develop this understanding and the interpersonal (and self-awareness) capabilities which can be so helpful in handling difficult complaints and emotional people.

Many complaints are made by phone - in which case immediately take the person's phone number and explain you've done this in case the line is cut off, which helps pre-empt and diffuse a major cause of distress and frustration. Demonstrating that you have anticipated and guarded against this is a very positive first step, and this is especially helpful if the customer has been hanging on the phone, been transferred, or made previous attempts to resolve the problem.

If your policy permits giving your name and direct line then give both. In an age of anonymity, faceless voices, avoiding responsibility, and ridiculous impenetrable automated answerphone menu systems, when you demonstrate a swift firm clear personal responsibility for someone this is another big positive step.

If your policy permits it - which ideally it should do, although the policies of some large organizations prevent it - tell the customer that you will take care of the problem until it is resolved. This is your personal commitment to see it through. Even if you rely on others to fix it, the customer is seeking someone to look after them from start to finish. Customers failing to find anyone to accept personal responsibility for resolving their problem or complaint is a major cause of extra upset and frustration, so when a distressed customer finds someone who promises to take responsibility this lifts an enormous pressure.

Listen - let the other person talk and explain - and let them emotionally unload too if that's what they need to do.

When you listen, listen with feeling and empathy - the other person will be acutely sensitive to (and enraged further by) an automaton-like reaction, so try to really empathise on an individual and special basis.

When someone is very angry, exasperated or distressed, try to remember that they are feeling rather like a child does when upset and seeking reassurance or help from a parent or grown-up. They want to unload, and often just allowing people to do this will alleviate 90% of the problem, although do not ever expect any customers to admit to this. Think about your own experience when complaining emotionally about something - it is very difficult to remain angry and emotional much beyond a minute or two if the customer services person is really listening, allowing you to unburden, and understanding how you feel.

Do not confuse anger and rage on the other end of the line with adult behaviour - it is just another form of child-like tantrum or upset, and it needs absorbing calmly and sympathetically in an adult way. By your behaving calmly and being grown-up (which definitely does not mean acting officiously or patronisingly) the sooner the other person will be able to shift from 'child' or 'sergeant-major' back to sensible grown-up again. Again you might find the Transactional Analysis theory helpful in understanding how and why this happens.

Take notes. Get the facts. And take time and let it be known that you are doing so. This shows you are taking the problem seriously, that you value their words and their time spent explaining the problem. Also, by encouraging the other person to focus on the facts you can help to move the engagement away from emotion and into content and facts, which will normally reduce the stress for both of you.

Try to step back and look at the situation objectively with the other person, rather than getting drawn into confrontation or a head-to-head. Encourage the approach where you both work on the problem together to agree what should happen next. Keep control obviously, but involve the other person in your thinking and decision-making.

Understand how the other person feels. This is not the same as agreeing. It's important to show understanding. It is not possible to agree with an emotional interpretation or a mood, and until the facts are properly known it's not always possible to agree with even a perfectly balanced unemotional and reasonable claim or complaint unless or until you can substantiate the facts or claim. But you can always show that you understand how the other person feels, and this is a very big part of the customer's need at the time of complaining.

Of course if the complaint is plainly justified and clearly demonstrates a failing in your organization's service or product then you must acknowledge and apologise for the problem without dispute, and then focus on resolving and recovering the situation.

By understanding and being empathic about the other persons emotions they will often naturally extend you some leeway for a little firmness where required about your processes and the next steps. On occasions customer's expectations and demands are not realistic, which needs managing of course. The worst thing is to promise or agree to remedial actions or compensation that you will subsequently be unable to deliver. You will find it easier to be firm where you need to be if you have first shown a strong understanding of how the other person feels.

Rapport - trust - is necessary before you can move forward.

Here are examples of how to combine emotional understanding with control:

"Okay, I really understand and agree with you that this is very/unbelievably frustrating/annoying/stressful/upsetting/enraging to you, but for me to help you I must work within our processes, otherwise it'll be you and me on the outside trying to resolve this. My job is to find a solution for you and that's what I'll try to do if we can work together on this. Can we agree to go forward like that?"

If pressurised to agree or commit outside of what is reasonable or authorised you have to be firm and honest:

"That's not something that would or could be agreed at this stage if at all, I'm sorry. The customers who arrive at the best outcomes are those who allow us to work through our processes and consider the situation properly. I can't pre-judge it and I'm sure you wouldn't want to be dealing with me if I promised you something without knowing I could give it. If you let me help you with this I assure you that's the way to resolve this quickest and best. Can we go forward like that?"

Tell the customer what process or steps you will use to resolve the problem, which should always include a clear commitment to provide updates if appropriate, details of how decisions will be made, and how any remedial changes will be considered and incorporated into future procedures to prevent a recurrence. Many customers like to know that their complaint has been useful in helping the organization to improve its operations, and where this opportunity arises you should feed recommendations back internally and inform the customer accordingly.

Unless you are empowered to make exceptional arrangements you must work within your policies and systems. If you do not agree with your policies and systems then go through proper channels to recommend constructive changes, preferably supported with a brief business justification.

If your employer does not allow you to make recommendations then find another employer who will value your effort and commitment to the role. There are plenty of organizations out there who need all the good customer service people they can find.

In essence the professional customer service role is being an expert translator and mediator - a crucial pivot - in reconciling customer needs with organizational capabilities. At best the role will even influence organizational capabilities through good feedback and recommendations.

In keeping with such a role, you are a mediator, facilitator, and enabler. Remembering and aspiring to these qualities will help you do a great job and to keep an aura of calm and professional authority while doing so.

complaints handling and customer service role tips

Here are some useful principles for handling complaints and the customer service role itself. These suggestions are primarily for customer service staff and those concerned with customer service training and customer service staff motivation and development.

Of course it's easier to describe these suggestions than to put them into practice in the heat of the moment. Customer service can be an extremely demanding and stressful role - especially for those involved in high pressure sectors such as communications, finance, distribution and logistics, public services and utilities, education and healthcare, computers and IT support, when customers' emotions can run very high indeed - especially if at the same time management and executives appear to be blind to the needs of staff and customers alike.

Like any skill, real expertise comes with practising techniques under pressure. Expertise is the key word here, because customer service is an expert role which should be treated and acknowledged as such.

This is the first step towards developing and improving performance and enjoyment in the customer service role - to regard customer service as a real expertise in its own right, rather than a stop-gap job, or a stepping-stone into sales.

Shamefully many large organizations do little to raise the profile and reputation of the customer service profession itself, and if you are working for one of these ridiculous organizations please keep reminding yourself that regardless of how customers and your employer treat you, you are doing a highly demanding and sophisticated job. Your experiences and the skills you are learning are extremely transferable and will be of enormous value to you in whatever you do later in life.

Self-sufficiency and inner-resolve are therefore useful attributes to foster in the customer service role, that is to say: if your employer isn't valuing you or helping you, then you must do it for yourself.

Remember that the customer service role contains the essential elements of some very specialised and highly regarded professions, such as counselling, coaching, teaching, training, consulting and project management, such are the skills and behaviours required to perform the customer service role well.

Also interestingly, if performed well, the customer service role is far more sophisticated than a basic selling role, which is ironic considering how both roles are positioned in many organizations.

The customer service role by its nature requires a greater ability in problem-solving and (albeit not always on a grand scale) project management than many sales roles. Customer service also tends to connect to - and requires cooperation with - far more internal functions than a basic selling role. In fact customer service has much in common with a major accounts sales role, given the emphasis on mediating, problem-solving and the need to react positively and creatively to diverse and unpredictable customer situations. And while this explains why so many of the best sales people started their careers in customer service, it certainly does not follow that the sales role is more important or more demanding than customer service. Usually the opposite is true - ask most customers. Many organizations could do well to think more creatively about where they put their emphasis in respect of customer service and selling.

Central also to the value and expertise of the customer service role is the strong emphasis on emotional skills demanded in modern customer service. Dealing with emotional people, and solving problems with significant emotional implications, require the same capabilities and attitudes found in many specialised professions involved with helping, healing and developing people.

So look upon the stresses and pressures of customer service as your own personal free training for one day becoming, if you want to, a professional expert in whatever specialised field interests you. A couple of years in high-pressure customer service is super and relevant experience for moving into any people-related profession, especially if you can augment your experience with a little background psychology or other relevant technical theory along the way.

other customer service standards interpretations

The British Institute of Customer Service (ICS) promotes best practice for customer service. The ICS provides its own interpretation of how to establish customer service standards, together with some supporting research and information. This is a helpful additional perspective of customer service alongside the BSI Code of Practice.

The ICS guidance for setting up customer service standards focuses on:

Defining the service standards outlines three sections -

* Timeliness - the essential time-related performance standards for each stage of customer engagement and process
* Accuracy - how reliably the customer's experiences match the supplier's promises
* Appropriateness - common-sense honesty, integrity and fitness for purpose

Creating the standards, identifies seven main groups who should have input -

1. Management
2. Employees
3. Existing customers
4. Potential customers
5. Lost or former customers
6. Competitors
7. Regulatory authorities

Other ICS customer service pointers -

* The number and extent of standards should reflect the situation and size of the organization.
* Measurement and technology are important aspects of implementation, for which senior management is responsible.
* Ownership, visibility and commitment are identified as crucial in implementation.
* ownership - starts at the top - there must be accountability somewhere for everything
* visibility - must enable awareness and two-way communications among all staff
* commitment - to customers and staff
* Standards enable performance to be properly managed and measured.
* Sales and marketing functions should resist making claims in promotional material and selling pitches until standards have been demonstrably met and sustained.
* Standards must be reviewed every 12-18 months, because fundamentally standards are market-driven, and the market is always changing.

some complaints statistics

The ICS also has some interesting things to say about complaints handling.

The statistics are from their joint survey with training company TMI in 2001 - shortly to be updated - some of which echo similar studies and anecdotal references used in customer services training courses.

* More people are complaining than used to be the case - especially older people, of which two-thirds of people over 50 apparently complain very often if dissatisfied about a product or service.
* Having a complaint resolved apparently causes most customers to recommend the supplier to friends.
* 80% of customers tell someone if their complaint is not handled well.
* Only 25% of staff feel qualified to deal with complaints.
* Only 33% of customer-facing staff have received specific training in dealing with angry customers.

The Institute of Customer Service (ICS) is a membership organization which promotes and defines educational and operational standards for customer service, including input to vocational customer service qualifications.

customer service code of practice (british standard BS 8477)

customer service code of practice (british standard BS 8477)

While other customer service standards exist in various forms around the world the British Standards Institute offers a useful and authoritative interpretation which will transfer to most situations.

The British Standard Code of Practice for Customer Service was published by the British Standards Institute (BSI) and became effective on 16 April 2007, under the authority of the BSI Technical Committee responsible for Relationship Management Systems.

You can obtain the full BS 8477 Customer Service Code of Practice at the BSI website, cost £72 or half-price for members (prices correct at August 2007).

As a Code of Practice, this standard is one of guidance and recommendation - it is not a formal or mandatory specification and should not be offered, implemented or quoted as such.

The Introduction of the code of practice references the Harvard Business Review in summarising the main benefits of improving customer satisfaction via effective customer service as being (the '3Rs'):

* retention
* related sales
* referrals

It also refers to the research by the (British) Institute of Customer Service (ICS) in identifying the most important elements of service delivery according to customers:

1. timeliness
2. appearance
3. courtesy
4. quality and efficiency
5. ease of doing business
6. problem-solving

These are interpreted into an alternative set of '3Rs' for effective non-commercial, public sector customer services and service delivery:

* responsive
* reliable
* respectful

BSI suggests that the Customer Service Code of Practice will assist organisations to:

1. Establish effective customer service mechanisms
2. Improve competitiveness
3. Differentiate their offering via innovative customer services
4. Build customer loyalty through positive customer service experience
5. Increase customer retention
6. Attract new customers via word of mouth
7. Reduce marketing costs
8. Increase service efficiency
9. Reduce complaints and complaints handling resources and costs
10. Improve compliance with consumer trading laws
11. Improve services and accountability (especially for public sector organizations)
12. Develop and sustain organization-wide focus on customers and quality
13. Improve ease of dealing with organization for customers

Proactivity and anticipation are identified as crucial underpinning factors in working with the code of practice.

The code of practice is primarily aimed at organizations with external customers, but the principles apply to relations with internal customers too, and apply to all organizations regardless of size and industry sector - including small consultancies and sub-contractors.

These Customer Service Principles are outlined and regarded as essential:

1. Commitment (at all levels)
2. Credibility (keep promises)
3. Culture (customer service ethos)
4. Competencies (of staff - in recruitment, training and assessment)
5. Responsibility (clear and supported with suitable authority - with at least one person responsible for customer problems)
6. Resources (adequate for effectiveness)
7. Identification and management of all customer service issues
8. Quality (of customer service - relevant input and review)
9. Feedback (enabled for customers and employees)
10. Continual improvement (to meet or exceed customer expectations)
11. Internal customers (establish concept and communications)

The code of practice outlines the Implementation obligations for each main group of workers, (critically within which is the appointment of a dedicated customer service manager):

1. Top management - establish resources, responsibilities, processes, reporting, empowerment, culture, etc
2. Customer service management - detailed processes, financial management of customer services, staffing and training, legal, complaints handling and escalation
3. Employees - awareness of customer services aims, responsibilities and benefits
4. Customer service employees - competent, aware, committed, etc

benefits of effective customer service

The central aim of effective customer service and call-centres is retaining customers, but when an organization gets this right the acquisition of new customers - and so many other things - automatically becomes much easier too.

Retaining customers - enabled by excellent customer service - produces many positive benefits for the organization aside from the obvious revenue and profit results:

• Retaining customers through effective customer service enables easier growth, indirectly and directly, for example by sustaining healthier volumes and margins, and by business expansion from word-of-mouth referrals.
• High levels of customer retention via effective customer service also improves staff morale and motivation. No-one enjoys working for an organization that feels like a sinking ship, or where stressful arguments or pressures prevail. When customers are happy, all the staff are happier too - and more productive.
• Improved staff morale and motivation resulting from reducing customer attrition also positively benefits staff retention and turnover, recruitment quality and costs, stress, grievance, discipline and counselling pressures.
• Reduced customer attrition and upset naturally reduces litigation and legal problems, from customers or fair trading laws.
• Retaining customers also enables the whole organization - especially middle-managers - to focus more on proactive opportunities (growth, innovation, development, etc) rather than reactive fire-fighting, crisis management, failure analysis, and the negative high pressures to win replacement business.
• Having a culture of delighting and retaining customers fuels positive publicity and reputation in the media, and increasingly on the web in blogs and forums, etc. The converse applies of course, when nowadays just one disgruntled customer and a reasonable network of web friends can easily cause a significant public relations headache.

For these and other reasons the cost difference and relative impacts on organizations between gaining and retaining customers can be staggering.

A useful analogy is that only a fool tries to fill a bucket of water when the bucket has lots of holes.

Better to fix the holes and stop the leaks before you try to fill the bucket.

Especially consider the actual cost of retaining customers when all that many customers require is not to be upset.

While the trend is apparently for more people to complain (mobile phones and the internet make it easier to do so, and people are less tolerant than they used to be) this does not necessarily mean that customers are more likely to migrate to competitors.

In fact these days time pressures and the 'hassle factor' combine to create huge inertia in people's decision-making, which means although they might complain more, they have less inclination to actually change suppliers because of the time and inconvenience of doing so. There are arguably some exceptions in fast-changing sectors, but largely inertia tends to make it more likely for customers to stay than go.

People behave like organizations, when the true costs of change in time and hassle are recognised often to be greater than the savings that the change will achieve.

Consequently most people prefer not to change suppliers - they have better things to do with their time - which means that retaining customers should actually be easy - if only organizations would attend to the basic customer service principles and keep customers happy. In short, customers largely don't usually leave unless they are upset enough to do so.

Contrast the cost of achieving happy customers - virtually zero aside from normal customer service and operating overheads required to run a business - with the costs of marketing, advertising, selling, sales training, sales management, credit-control and account set-up, that necessarily arise in the acquisition of new customers.

Consider also that the main factor in keeping a customer - even if the situation appears irretrievable - often comes down to a simple apology or update - just by keeping someone informed and avoiding upset - and compare this with the huge costs of acquiring a new customer.

It is then easy to see that the costs of gaining a customer can be five, ten, a hundred or a thousand times greater than retaining a customer.

And yet from the customers' view many organizations seem unaware or dismissive of the need to prioritise great customer service above many other perhaps more exciting or fashionable initiatives - typically related to sales, marketing, advertising, technology, the web, etc.

These high-profile customer acquisition activities, plus systems, policies, procedures, training, etc., all play a major role in running a high-quality organization, but the glue which holds it all together for the customer - and often the only thing that really matters to the customer, is the quality of customer service that the customer feels and experiences.

Within customer service there are many elements which must be organised to make effective customer service happen properly - pricing strategy is important of course - but the crucial constant factor is the human element - how people are treated and communicated with - because simply, customers are people, and people tend to behave like people and respond to people - they do not behave like computers, and they do not respond like machines.

Policies, systems, technology all enable customer service, but none of these actually determines effective customer service. Only people - your employees - can do this, particularly when serious problems arise which by their nature must be escalated to a 'real person'.

People - your employees - also (if encouraged and enabled) perform another critical customer service function - that of giving feedback and suggestions to improve customer service systems, policies, processes, technology, etc. Often policies and technology are dreamt up by managers or consultants working away from the actual day-to-day customer-facing activity. Feedback and recommendations from customer service staff - and customers too - are vital in refining and improving the systems and policies within which the function is operating. So again, people - your employees - are the most crucial in shaping effective customer services capabilities.

Ignorance and avoidance of these factors is a problem, but also a big opportunity.

Where customer service is neglected and ignored the function is powerful lever waiting to be pulled.

Improving customer service - especially empowering and listening to customer service staff - offers many organizations a bigger return on investment than any other initiative.

Customer service is generally the critical factor in determining whether a customer buys and is retained, which is ultimately what the organization exists to do - to serve and retain customers.

The 2007 British Standard Code of Practice for Customer Service, number BS 8477:2007 provides an excellent basis for understanding, planning or reviewing your customer service approach.

The Code of Practice is summarised and reviewed below.

The full Customer Service Code of Practice is an excellent template for anyone considering how to address customer services, whether setting up a customer service capability for the first time, or seeking to improve and existing customer service department or team.