Monitor, Measure and Manage Your Arbitrary Customer Service Reps

In this competitive business world every little thing makes a different in driving customers to purchase your product. It is important to make sure that every single aspect of your organization is doing everything it can to provide the highest quality product to the customer base. One of the often overlooked factors of business success is good quality customer service representation.

Companies today deal more and more with the public. People to people communications are a commodity these days as automated response systems overwhelm the market place. For your business to succeed in such a competitive atmosphere you’ll need to train and maintain great customer service skills. Here are three quick and simple things you and your employees can do to provide better customer service and more importantly, a better work place in general.

1. Make sure to contribute to the overall success of your organization

First and foremost it is always important for your employees to contribute to as much as they can to the overall success of your organization. A few ways to ensure this is happening is to provide incentive programs for them. When their success is faster through an incentive program it makes your organizations success more potent.

“What’s good for the company is good for me” should be the general motto for all the employees in your company from the lowest man on the totem pole to the highest man.

2. Employees should promote your organization and you should instill pride in your associates.

“Of course,” you say. “My employees are promoting my organization by simply working at my place of business.” Ah, that may be so. Your employees are probably speaking quite highly of your organization while they are there but what are they saying about it while they are not there? This is one of those inside out concepts. When a company’s innards are working smoothly you will find that the employees tend to speak highly about working there with everyone they meet.

One of the first things people ask each other when they first meet is: Where do you work? If the answer is filled with loathing or doubt that can spread negative attitudes toward your business and the sales will fall. Happy employees are more likely to respond positively to questions about their particular company and that is going to benefit you in the end.

3. Help out your team

Team work is essential to great customer service. When your organization works together great things can be accomplished. Have your employees practice team building exercises so that when the customer needs something difficult your employees will be more apt to help each other out and provide it faster.

Start instilling these simple concepts into your employees today and you’ll begin to notice how much their customer service skills and general productivity will improve quickly.

Matthew writes about improving customer service skills
and improving your business. Customers applaud better customer service
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Matthew_Proctor

I walked into Ikea for the third time in two days, not to shop but to return a non-matching wood ottoman frame that I had purchased.

I thought I was lucky because I got the same clerk who had helped me the evening before.

But this time, it was like her evil twin had taken over.

“I can’t exchange this item because you opened the plastic enclosure with the screws in it,” she declared unsympathetically.

I didn’t understand her logic, especially in light of the fact that Ikea had accepted fully constructed items in exchange for others.

Was she just being prickly?

Did the fact that she had a break coming up have anything to do with her snap-judgment?

Could she have been telling herself, “I helped him once, and he should have STAYED helped?”

Anyway, she said she’d speak to a supervisor and I heard mumbling behind the swinging door to their offstage area. Returning about three minutes later she announced without a trace of enthusiasm:

“He said okay. It’ll take a few minutes to get the replacement.”

The same day, I phoned my credit card issuer about reversing a late fee and finance charge. I thought I had mailed my payment on time.

The CSR said, “We didn’t get it until 3 days after the due date.”

“Well, I mailed it on time,” I responded.

“But we didn’t get it,” she repeated.

“Please get me a supervisor,” I said.

“What’s a supervisor going to do for you?” she challenged.

“Reverse the late fee and finance charge,” I replied, wondering why I had to explain the obvious.

“Well I can handle that. All you have to do is ASK.”

“Okay, can we waive the late fee and the finance charge?”

“One minute,” and with that she put me on hold.

Upon returning to the line, she warned, “I’ll only do this once!” and with that ultimatum she erased the penalties.

Both episodes demonstrate that CSR’s have a tremendous amount of latitude in how they treat or mistreat us. Often, they behave idiosyncratically, depending on mood, attitude, and who knows what.

This is not the path to excellence, but to chaos.

The key to excellent service is that it is uniformly wonderful, and discretion of this type, especially to act erratically and punitively, has been taken out of the equation.

Although we’re constantly told “Your call may be monitored or recorded for quality,” apparently, this is happening too seldom to have an impact, plus the wrong things are being observed.

CSR decision making must be constantly scrutinized through the proper use of performance measures.

Only then, will customers find relief from the “idiosyncratic rep” who is acting like an idiot.

Best-selling author of 12 books and more than 1,000 articles, Dr. Gary S. Goodman is considered “The Gold Standard” in negotiation, sales development, customer service, and telephone effectiveness. Top-rated as a speaker, seminar leader, and consultant, his clients extend across the globe and the organizational spectrum, from the Fortune 1000 to small businesses. He can be reached at: gary@customersatisfaction.com
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Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dr._Gary_S._Goodman