Making Customer Service your Top Priority

Most anyone will agree that customer service is one of the most important parts of your company’s overall strategy to conducting business. Without customers you really don’t have a business. If this is the case, why is it mostly everyone as consumers can easily cite examples of poor customer service in their daily lives? I believe every company either has or thinks it has good customer service. However, if certain steps are not taken to ensure this, the reality of their situation is often far worse than their perceptions.

The level of customer service begins at the top in any organization. The company’s leaders must buy into the fact that they not only need to meet their customer’s needs, but actually strive to exceed them. They must develop a company culture that understands this concept. In today’s world competition is tougher than ever. If you can’t provide goods or service when somebody wants them, there are often four or five other companies ready to fill this void. You rarely get a second chance once you drop the ball. If the company’s leaders do not accept this fact, or are not willing to provide the necessary resources to meet their customer’s needs, they will soon find themselves scrambling for business.

Proper training is one way to develop a company culture that embraces excellent customer service. Every employee must understand what is expected of them when interacting with customers. Is there a uniform way to answer the phone? Are there set procedures in place when a customer has a question or problem? Is there an established chain of command to make sure that issues are handled in a timely fashion? And most importantly is everyone trained to carry out these company procedures? How you handle the problem is far more important than the problem itself. A customer must always feel their best interests are being taken into consideration, even when you can’t give into their demands. It is far better to say no with a smile, than yes with an attitude.

Getting feedback from your customers is an excellent way to track and measure your level of service. You should not only benchmark your company against your competition, but also against the goals you set for yourself. Once again remember you are trying to not only meet, but exceed your customer’s expectations. Written surveys are one way to gage customer satisfaction. This can be useful to obtain feedback on a wide variety of company functions. Always allow for written comments, as these usually will help shed light on problem areas. Management’s interaction with customers is an excellent way to not only measure the overall efforts, but to also show the level of commitment the company has towards their needs. You always feel better if you have the chance to talk to someone who actually sets policy, not just someone who carries it out.

In today’s world of bigger, faster, better you need to be the company that gets it right the first time, and if you don’t, you quickly rectify your mistakes. If you consistently make this part of how you conduct business, your customer’s loyalty will continue to grow. Meeting and exceeding the customer’s expectations in the products and service you provide today is the best way to ensure future growth and success.