| Increase Communication Among Employees, and Between Employees and Customers |
Good communication with your customers is obviously important to the success of your business. But did you know that good communication between employees also fosters good communication to your customers? When employees are all tuned in and on the same page, that creates a better customer service environment for employee and customer.
You need good communication in all facets of your business to be successful. Here are some situations where great communication among your employees, and between your employees and customers, can benefit your company:
When customers make a request. Usually, when customers have a request, the employee they initially spoke to knows the situation, but other employees have no idea what has been requested. This means the customer has to explain herself over and over again to each new employee that comes her way.
This happens a lot over the phone. A customer explains her problem, is transferred to another department, explains her problem to that department rep, is transferred again … and on and on. Not good customer service – from the fact that no one can fix the customer’s problem, and the fact that she keeps getting shifted from person to person.
A better customer service experience would be if the employees communicated with each other before transferring so that the next employee would know the problem before even talking to the customer. Vanguard does a good job of this. I only explained my problem once, and then the employees explained my problem to each other so that the next employee could pick up the ball from where the previous employee left it without any input from me.
When customers are waiting for an order to come in. Instead of making the customer do the work of calling every few days to check in, be proactive and call them to let them know the status of their order. This improves the customer service experience, even if the order is later than expected, because the customer isn’t left wondering if they’ve been forgotten. Customers are more likely to forgive a later delivery date if they know about it ahead of time.
When taking customer complaints. Let customers know that you are listening and that you hear them. Train employees to “actively listen” to the customer by paraphrasing what the says to let the customer know they understand the situation. This will let the customer correct the employee or explain the problem in greater detail if needed. This leads to a better solution for the customer.
Also let the customer know how long it will approximately take to solve their problem, and keep them updated on the progress. Don’t make them call you, or keep asking you, if they are waiting in the store.
When a store policy has changed. This is especially important when return policies change. This gives customers time to adapt, and will reduce the number of complaints you receive. You should communicate your policy change through posters, brochures and signage, but you also need to make sure your employees are telling people of the change face-to-face. Then, customers can ask questions, which again, enhances your customer service rating just be communicating.
One last point I’d like to make is a tip for every business. Print business cards for all employees. You may think it’s a waste of your business card printing budget, but business cards are an important communication tool. Giving customers business cards makes all your employees available and accessible, which always equals good customer service.
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Article Source: UnArchived Articles
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