Great customer service is about caring.
Here I am outside my favourite café, Gertrude and Alice in Bondi, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
I chose this location as the place to drive my (hired) reg 1954 MG on my recent birthday. It was a decade year, so it deserved something special.
They greeted me with cheers, red carpet treatment, balloons, my name up on their board and a whacking great bunch of flowers.
I found out afterwards that the owner was as excited by me visiting on my birthday as I was – and the team were excited by my arrival – and therein lies the difference, right?
I could FEEL it was palatable. I felt loved. I felt valued. I felt they were wanting to make it special.
So that brings me to consider – what are markers that demonstrate customer service excellence, and how do you get your team to live those values?
Customer service is sometimes obvious, and yet somehow most places fall short.
Here are some tips to ensure you and your team are polished when it comes to customer service.
Customer Service starts with hiring the right people.
When interviewing, notice if the interviewee has done their homework on your company. Do they care about the client?
Are they naturally inquisitive and want to go the extra mile for you and the client?
Are they observant? Are they present?
KPI
Ensure your team have a clear understanding of what your expectations are, and what’s key from day one. Spell out exactly what that looks like.
Ask them what company they like doing business with and why – find out if they share, ‘they are polite, they take an interest in me, they are timely, they give a damn’ and then you can relate that to your industry and say ‘People go back to places because of people and the service they provide’.
Training
Sharing customer service tips daily or giving a shout out daily ensures your team are always aware of what you mean by customer service excellence – reinforcing what that means and what you measure and expect.
i.e., Jennifer sent a lovely personal email to our key account today, and the response Sam sent back was wonderful, showing we care.
I note last week that Aaron went the extra mile for our key account and that’s all part of them knowing we care about them.
What to do
- Get excited about helping your clients
- Know the key account personals birthdays, their kids/family/dog’s name
- Think about what other services you have that are spot on for your key accounts, when was the last time you called them to discuss how you can help them?
Contact us to understand this and other programs (coaching currently conducted virtually), including how to handle objections. >>>
Piece written by Charmaine Keegan,  author of over 20 eBooks, is a sought-after guest speaker, panellist, and keynote. She is a Certified Trainer Extended Disc System, of Situational Leadership, of NLP (how we operate), Hypnotherapy (unconscious communication) and Timeline Therapy (recognising your beliefs about sales and money – and recognising that of your customer). She has studied the psychology of human behaviour and is considered an absolute authority and true expert on sales techniques. She has ‘walked the walk‘ so her content, programs and key notes are highly practical and focused on results.
