By Teresa Vise

Special to The North Jefferson News



On the theme of taking charge of things in your business that you can control, let’s dig a little deeper into the realm of customer service.

In a recent review article titled “What Service Customers Really Want” by Dougherty and Murthy in the Harvard Business Review (Sept. 2009), we find a discussion of the extent to which the consumer landscape has shifted.

Dougherty and Murthy discuss that while superior customer service is essential as companies emerge from the recession, it is important to understand how the consumer has changed. They point out that brands have weakened, customers have easy access to vendor information, and the barriers to switching among competing products have eroded.

When a customer contacts a company for service, they care most about two things: Is the frontline employee knowledgeable? Can the problem be resolved on the first call?

As the owner, manager or leader, ask yourself this question: Do I measure my service by speed or hold time? If so, you may be rushing your front line person too much and succeeding in your eyes, but failing in the eyes of your customer. Customers want to know that their service will be efficient and thorough, and that time will be taken to handle their issue.

This article continues to suggest a few ways to assess and understand what your customers are experiencing. A manager can draw on a variety of information to include customer service surveys and even recording customer-agent conversations for training purposes.

As you create your own vision of customer service, think about the following. I call it my “Top Ten Ways to Improve Customer Service.”

10) Enjoy your work. Specify what your drivers are in business. For example, my drivers are leadership, learning and fun.

9) Work in such a manner that even your competition will speak highly of you

8) Be honest and clear about what you can (and can not) deliver

7) Be faithful to your work and give your best

6) Get and take customer feedback seriously. Don’t put the “cuss” in customer service

5) Take care of the person in charge, and remember to thank the person, big or little, who ensures that things get done

4) Take time to study and prepare

3) Speak well of others or not at all; stay away from office politics

2) Have a mentor and bug them to death

1) Support something bigger than yourself and share a common goal with your customers

I will leave you with this last thought and case study example: Think about the last time you went to Chick-Fil-A in Gardendale or Fultondale.

This company trains their employees on customer service as rigorously as they train their employees in product preparation. It is no rare event to have someone say “It’s my pleasure!” as they give you your change, or deliver your meal.

According to manager Mike Holmes, empowering the employee to handle a customer issue immediately is part of their success and training them how is part of their strategy.

I hope these ideas will be of assistance to you this week. Sharing a few ideas on improving customer service has been my pleasure!

Teresa Vise is the marketing, growth, events and special projects co-director for the Fultondale Chamber of Commerce. She received her MBA from Samford University and is a speciality sales professional with Sanofi Aventis. She can be reached at teresa.vise@sanofi-aventis.com.