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Everyone in the world knows customer service is critical to an organization’s success. The problem in the last few years is that the quality of customer service seems to get worse each month. Almost every customer-focused company in the past 20 years has gone through some variation of a customer service program.
It’s like attending a class on losing weight. It might have been 4 or 10 years ago, and there is a good chance we didn’t maintain the skills we learned. Over time, this often leads us to forget the lessons entirely.
Here are 3 critical elements that must used to create maximum impact.
What you know is irrelevant. What hit your gut and stuck with you is what counts. This means first you have to change attitudes and behaviors. You have to emotionally drive the concept of superior service. Almost everyone believes they already deliver great service.
There are 5 elements all of our learning programs have that are critical for an emotional impact:
1) Participants like fun and exciting material. Most training programs tend to be boring and dry.
2) Eighty percent of the training time should be group discussion and interaction.
3) Homework must be exciting and focus on personal development. Employees want to know, “What’s in it for me?”
4) The facilitator should be trained to not answer questions, but instead work to elicit information from the participants.
5) Most employees are too busy and feel they are already doing a great job at customer service.
I suspect 90% of all the problems in poor customer service are because of simple things employees did or did not do. I am 15 pounds overweight. It is not easy to lose weight. Execution of the fundamentals is critical.
Most people spend more time at work than anywhere else during their waking hours. Often there are personality conflicts and disagreements with others in your organization. Some people do not like others, and some dislike other departments or entire divisions. Through our training programs over the years, we’ve learned a few things.
Building high-performing customer-driven employees who are indispensable and extraordinary will allow your organization to reach new heights faster.
John Tschohl is president and founder of Service Quality Institute, with operations in more than 40 countries. He is considered one of the foremost authorities on service strategy, success, empowerment, and customer service. His monthly strategic newsletter is available online at no charge. Contact him at 800-548-0538, WhatsApp at 612-382-5636, or email John@servicequality.com. He also can be reached on Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.