In order to consistently deliver best in class customer service, you have to constantly reflect on the progression of your team’s delivery of right customer results.
It doesn’t matter whether you’re a customer service manager, business owner, corporate executive, or business professional in charge of managing individuals who contribute towards the customer experience. We can find yourself being incredibly busy most days.
But often times we let the how busy we are hamper our ability to effectively recruit and develop our staff on the front line of the customer experience. But no matter how busy you are, if you want to deliver best in class customer service and remain the best in your class, you must reach a certain point where you make the time to reflect on the work you and your team perform, and whether it’s possible to do it better.
Rather than just accepting things as they are and hoping that what you have now is the best you could do, you can choose to really evaluate what is being done and determine is there is room to progress even further. Doing this is easier than it seems. It’s all about identifying ways to progress and advance the workforce; after all, you want to be better than your competitors don’t you?
Here are some other things to keep in mind:
Use people management software
Due to your workload, anything that can help to improve speed and efficiency will probably be greatly appreciated by you and your immediate team members. One piece of software to check out is CIPHR People (ciphr.com) which basically handles all of your HR data so you can quickly access all of the information you need about certain staff members. That means you can see days absent, disciplinary reviews and appraisals all in one place which can give you the perfect insight into an employee during their period working for the company.
Hold customer service appraisals
Staff members who are promised an appraisal every six months won’t forget, so you shouldn’t either. This is the time where employees can voice their opinions and concerns, as well as seeking constructive feedback about their own work. Without this platform, small issues can fester into much larger ones which then results in people feeling the need to leave the organisation. Employees want to feel valued, as well as understanding why they do or do not deserve a pay rise or bonus.
Hold the right customer service trainings
Companywide training days can often feel more like a chore than a reward to some staff. It isn’t that they aren’t interested, but a generic session will not be targeted to everyone as they will all be at different levels and abilities. Forcing everyone into a big group meeting is not only inefficient, it’s also ineffective. The individuals who don’t need the training waste time, and those who need it most often don’t get the attention they need to really develop.
It can be much more effective figuring out who needs what training in each area; this way you won’t be wasting your budget and staff will get much more out of the experience. Using small group and individual trainings also allow you to cater the training topics to the exact need of those attending the training, developing your people faster and more effectively.
Make customer service managers manage customer service
Another thing to consider is how the team managers are coping with their teams. Are your customer service managers pushing papers, managing schedules, and compiling reports? or are they focused on real customer service issues, training your customer service professionals, and setting the standard and driving the customer service working being done?
These are the people that junior staff will be looking up to for support and training, and if it isn’t forthcoming you may end up losing people with the potential to bloom into amazing team players. Ensure that all of the managers undergo their own appraisals too, even if they say they are too busy!
The need for self evaluation, each and every day
Each organization is on a different step of the customer experience journey. It’s imperative that self-evaluation takes place each and every day. What was a problem one day, may not be a problem the next. One thing that was going well last week, may not continue going well this week.
Careful monitoring and evaluation is needed. Course corrections will happen, and they’ll happen quite frequently. It’s ok. Embrace it. Accept it. Learn to make the most of it. No one gets customer service right every single time. No customer experience is perfect the first time it takes place. Perfection may not be possible, but you can always do your best.
