How to Improve Customer Service
Define Customer Service Touch Points- A TOUCH Point is any customer service interaction a department and/or its employees has with customers whether in-person or not.
- Who touches your customers?
- How do they touch your customers?
- In Person verbally?
- Verbally via the Phone
- Written Format
- All create impressions, whether positive or negative
Define Ideal Customer Service Interactions- The ideal interaction is what the ultimate employee-customer interaction would look like regardless of what interactions presently look like. Each TOUCH point must be specifically defined for staff. The purpose of defining ideal interactions is to communicate to your staff what you expect to be accomplished from each customer service TOUCH point.
Define Change Needed- Using the defined ideal customer service interaction, find the gaps between current and desired actions/behavior/conduct. These gaps become the definition of the change. Comparing existing interactions to preferred interactions will generate a clear depiction of the changes that need to be made. These are the targeted you will focus development and training for your staff members.
The required changes will be categorized into three main areas:
- Knowledge
- Skills
- Behaviors
These categorized areas, known as the tiers of learning. Learn how to utilize the tiers of learning to help guide you in choosing the approach, method and/or activities best suited to drive the specific change.
You Cannot Manage What You Cannot Measure- Specific measurement tools must be used to determine whether customer service performance is improving. This should be done via customer’s perception. Measuring customer satisfaction is key. This aspect will vary from one company to the next. Each company will create a measurement tool to produce accurate information without causing an invasive disruption to employees or customers. Consider the following when creating measurement tools:
- How information will be gathered? ie) survey
- Is this process easy to complete for both customer and employee?
- Is there a provided incentive for customers to participate/complete?
