Customer service is one of the most important things you can get right in your business. Bad customer service can have serious ramifications, losing you business. Even if you do everything else right, if you have poor customer service, you’re setting yourself up for failure because there are always alternatives for customers who want better treatment.
So what can you do to ensure you train your employees to provide exceptional customer service? Here are some of the most important tips to follow.
Know What You Want
First of all, you should know exactly what you want from your employees. What is the goal of good customer service for your business? The goals will differ for every business.
For example, in a store, good customer service will include welcoming customers and offering to help them. In other businesses, it could involve ensuring customers receive the service promptly without waiting around, interacting with customers, solving problems quickly, and determining their needs.
It doesn’t matter what good customer service looks like in your business. You just need to know exactly what is expected so you can help your employees to deliver it.
Train Up Your Employees Early On
When you know what you want, make sure you are very specific in getting this across to your employees. Don’t assume that they will know any of this, especially if they are new to your industry.
This is especially true of new employees. When a new employee arrives, you should make sure you provide them with customer service training as soon as possible so that they know what your expectations are and that they can then deliver on them.
Work on Presentation
When it comes to providing training for service jobs, the presentation is one of the first things that you will want to cover. Some of the simplest customer service tips are to look smart and professional at all times, so make sure your employees know how seriously you take this.
Also, highlight the importance of smiling when dealing with customers. Friendly and happy staff will be far more likely to make a good impression on your customers compared to rude and grumpy staff, and this should be a habit you get your employees into.
Teach Employees to Show They Care
Explain to your staff that good customer service is all about caring. If you care for your customers and your customers genuinely feel like you want the best for them, this is going to go a long way in helping to provide a positive experience for everyone.
Try to get this concept across to your employees in your training. Highlight the fact that customers will feel more valued and satisfied if they feel like your employees really care for them. Then provide them with strategies for showing customers how much they care.
For example, it could be something as simple as asking customers how they are doing and offering to help them as soon as they arrive in the store. Or it could include listening to your customers’ requests carefully and then providing them with a helpful solution.
Make It Interesting
No matter how clear you are in your training goals, nothing is going to work unless you make the training interesting for your employees. Training that is boring and dull will not help your employees to absorb the information, leading to inferior results.
It can be difficult for employees to adopt new behavior, especially if they are new to the industry, so make it easier for them by keeping the training fun and interesting.
You could do this by incorporating role play into the training, perhaps through recreating situations with nightmare customers. Make it light-hearted, and also use discussion, videos, and even games to bring the training to life and help it to stick.
Set a Good Example
Finally, perhaps the most important thing of all is to set a good example to your employees. They will look to you for guidance, so show them how you deal with customers.
When a difficult situation arises, use it to show them how well you handle it. They will learn from you and they will follow your lead, and if you don’t follow your own advice for providing good customer service, your employees are far less likely to do so.
The Customer Is Always Right
At the end of the day, good customer service comes down to remembering that the customer is always right, so make sure your employees all have that firmly in mind.
Then work on your training, take it seriously, make it interesting, and ensure your employees provide exceptional customer service so that your customers feel truly valued and keep coming back for more.
