Customer Service Checklist
Your customers are the lifeblood of your business. Keeping them satisfied should be your goal.
"The way to ensure repeated business is through better customer service," says Allbusiness' Barbara Swenson.
Better customer service can be achieved by creating policies that ensure your staff is equipped to deliver the best customer experience possible. Whether you have a new business or an established company, it's a good practice to establish a checklist of customer service skills essential to your employees.
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Product Training
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It's imperative that customer service representatives (CSRs) know the ins and outs of the products or services offered in order to provide excellent customer service.
"If sales and service staff do not have adequate training and expertise, they may give out antiquated or incorrect information. Most customers are relying on sales and service staff to know the products, including specifications and performance," says Swenson.
Your company's customer service checklist should include policies that address ongoing training in products and services. While this is especially important for new hires, it's also important for existing employees, who should be aware of changes and additions to product lines or services provided.
Allbusiness recommends that employees "convey an articulate and in-depth knowledge of products and services to win customer trust and confidence. Know your company's products, services, and return policies inside and out. Try to anticipate the types of questions that customers will ask."
Customer Policies Training
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It's important that employees know and understand your organization's customer policies. Otherwise, customers will not know what to expect--a potential customer service disaster.
"Your policy toward your customers should be clearly spelled out and consistently followed," Swenson says. "Customers do not like it when one salesperson tells them one thing and another salesperson tells them something completely different. Any discounts, return policies, and guarantees should be spelled out in writing to customers as well as reinforced by your customer service employees at the time of a sale."
Additionally, Swenson recommends that your policies be printed or included on customer receipts if possible, and posted visibly throughout your establishment--or website.
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Customer Service Training
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Knowledge of your products and services, plus customer policies, will only take your employees so far. A customer service checklist should also include training on the basics of customer service.
Your customer service representatives are just that--representatives of your organization, responsible for customer service. The service that your CSRs provide reflects directly on your organization.
"Customer service personnel need to be trained in how to handle customers in a professional manner, one that makes the customer's interaction with your company a positive experience," Swenson notes.
Customer service training should cover basics such as customer interaction skills, how to handle complaints and angry customers, and telephone/correspondence skills.
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References
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- Photo Credit beautiful customers image by Andrey Kiselev from Fotolia.com
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Hi Ash!
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