“Developing, honing and keeping
competitive edge on your people ‘recovery skills makes strategic sense.” Ron
Zemke
How important is it to train employees to resolve
customer complaints? Customer service leaders can become more effective in
coaching their team performance in handling customer complaints. Companies can
certainly benefit from a reputation of great service recovery that can translate
to better customer loyalty and increased profits.
The ability to turn around a dissatisfied a customer into
a raving fan is a competitive advantage when a customer has more choices than
ever of where to spend their money.
There are many places that leave service recovery for
chance. Service recovery must be part of the company’s on- going strategy to
win its customers when things go wrong. And they will at times.
The acid test of memorable service is occasionally
based on how a company handles a customer complaint successfully.
Service recovery can either make or break a company if
that customer is worth half of the company profits. Several studies show
companies with high quality customer service and effective complaint handling
processes can charge a premium as well as increase loyalty.
Customer service leaders must rally their people to
develop their service talent to handle customer complaints effectively to
create loyalty even when mistakes happen.
How can customer service leaders coach their teams
to embrace service recovery as part of the on-going efforts to achieve customer
delight?
Empower your people to do the right thing
Empowerment was the buzz word of the 1990s, but I can’t
emphasize enough how critical empowerment is to service recovery. Customer
service leaders can guide and set parameters to help their people with
empowerment that creates a win-win situation for the customer and the company.
Companies like the Ritz Carlton hotel company empower
each employee to spend $2000 to resolve a customer problem. When everyone is
empowered to do the right thing for the customer and the company, everyone
wins. Secondly, as a customer service leader, you have to give your people the
tool and resources to create magic.
Customers loved to be wowed by someone in your company
who goes above and beyond the call of duty- Someone who cares and willing to
own the problem all the way to the end.
Customers don’t like to be dispatched through multiple
people in the company to solve their problem. They want the problem to be
resolved the first time by the first person they interacted with.
How can customer service leaders create an empowering
complaint environment?
First, model the expected behavior-leading by example
is a very powerful message to your team. Second, monitor situations as they occur
and finally reward your team for handling customer complaints effectively.
Customer Service leaders set the example in one-on-one
coaching, in training sessions and by being there with the team, hands on.
Drink the service culture Kool-Aid
Customer satisfaction is closely tied to employee
satisfaction. Companies like Southwest Airlines, Zappos and Marriott
continuously work on their service culture as part of an on-going awareness to
exceed their customer service needs. These companies embrace significant values
that separate them from the rest. The values and culture of these companies is-a
people first service culture.
Their customer service leaders understood the importance
of on-going commitment to keep their people learning and providing the guidance
to deal with difficult customers.
How can customer service leaders embrace service culture
in their company?
·
Every person is involved in driving the
service mission and adds value to enhance commitment to customer loyalty.
·
Leadership, training and culture engagement
activities are part of the ongoing
reinforcement of customer complaints handling.
reinforcement of customer complaints handling.
·
The entire management team is committed to
constant improvement in service recovery and taking ownership to deliver wow
service.
As the founder of Marriott Hotels, JW Marriott said, “If
you take care of your people, they will take of the customer. And the customer
will come back.” Taking care of your people is all about ensuring they have
what they need to succeed in their jobs. As customer service becomes more and
more challenging, so is the need for more guidance and mentoring.
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