When you’ve taken that big step to launch your very first business, you have so much to do with one of your most important tasks being hiring competent, enthusiastic customer service staff to help you succeed. Being a boss for the first time can be daunting as you must learn to establish yourself as a leader others look to for guidance. It’s of the utmost importance that you manage your staff well so that everyone knows their responsibilities and exactly what you expect from them. It’s also essential that you outline a set of rules for your staff to follow that cover the basics like showing up on time, treating customers with the utmost respect and finishing assigned tasks on time. It’s perfectly fine to give your workers a little “wiggle room” regarding your rules as doing so shows you’re being flexible. However, there are three golden rules you should impose that should never be negotiable as these rules build the foundation of your business while giving your workers a sense of boundaries and direction. Those three golden rules you should implement are:
Everyone Is Involved in Making Your Customers Feel Special
A great workplace is one in which all the employees are smiling, friendly and happy. In this type of work environment, everyone is willing to help customers with the problems and questions they have and will do so happily. While this type of work scenario may seem like utopia and one that’s hard to pull off, it’s actually very easy to achieve.
In order for your business to provide your customers with a wonderful experience, everyone who deals with your customers needs to be educated on how to deliver a truly personal experience for each of person they serve.
How you achieve this will depend upon the industry and type of business you have. But it all comes down to getting to know your customers and why they are using your business. Once your staff knows your customers and what they want, they will find it much easier to deliver great personalized service your customers will truly appreciate.
Positive Performance Will Be Rewarded
Regardless of what type of business you’re running, your employees need to feel important. They need to hear from you when they’re going a good job as all customer service personnel crave feedback. While you could provide feedback to your customer service staff by showing them reports of their numbers, metrics alone won’t cut it as your workers need to hear directly how their quality of service is being viewed.
Everyone on your customer service team should be told that they will be rewarded for their positive performance. You can reward good performance with bonuses, tangible items or other forms of rewards. However, it’s best not to raise the salary of staff that perform well because there are no secrets in the typical workplace and especially when it’s about salary! When one staff member is given a raise for his or her good performance, other members of your team could feel resentful which would lower overall morale and disrupt the work environment.
The Unhappy Customer Must Always Be Given Good, Courteous Service
No matter what you’re selling or how great your customer service team may be, there are going to be times when your customer service staff must deal with unhappy customers. This is why it’s so important for everyone on board to know how to deal with unhappy customers. The word everyone needs to learn is empathy. When a customer contacts your staff with a complaint, your staff needs to apologize for the inconvenience while demonstrating that they understand how the problem has caused the customer to be unhappy, angry, upset, etc. Then your staff must move quickly to solve the problem to the customer’s satisfaction whether that involves offering a refund or exchange.
