Training and Customer Service Etiquette

Posted by Barbara Jones on May 6, 2008 – 1:27 pm -

People with very nice table manners do not necessarily have good customer service manners.  If a company wants employees to exhibit particular good customer service manners those expectations must be clearly communicated.  That means including good customer service in the mission statement, orientation materials, job descriptions, handbooks, and all written materials that describe what the company does and how they do it.  Specific guidelines like the following make employee coaching easier:

Five Customer Service Guidelines

  1. Do not speak in person or on the phone with anything in your mouth.  If you are caught off-guard apologize and use a tissue or napkin to get rid of it before continuing.
  2. Smile when greeting people in person or on the phone; it helps you look and sound welcoming.
  3. Monitor your body language.  Crossed arms or legs, turning your body partially away, not looking directly at the other person, are all interpreted by others as negative.
  4. Give your full attention.  Listening to or watching anything that is not part of the conversation is not acceptable.  Completely remove listening devices.  Turn sound completely down.

These guidelines apply the principles of etiquette to customer service. Performance appraisal training can help supervisors and managers use these guidelines appropriately to improve performance of existing employees.

But We Have Guidelines

What if clear behavioral guidelines already exist in job descriptions or other company documents and there are still problems?  It could be a simple problem of lax enforcement.  A little supervisory training or coaching may help. 

It could be that the wrong people are in public contact positions.  This does not mean you have hired dreadful anti-social people.  Everyone has preferences and you may have hired people who prefer working with data like reports.  They may prefer working with tools like machines or computers.  They may be excellent workers and very competent at what they prefer but they are not very good at public contact.  By contrast you may have people very good at public contact who cannot seem to make the copier work.  Placing those most comfortable with public contact in public contact positions will improve customer service.  Those less comfortable can benefit from training that helps them identify more effective ways of handling customer contacts. 

High Stress?

Staff might ignore customer service guidelines if they are highly stressed.  What are some indicators you might see that people are feeling over-stressed?

·          Voices are rushed and/or cold or speak too rapidly to be understood on the phone

·          The phone rings many times before being answered

·          Staffers show reluctance to stop other work to greet customers

·          Off-site customers indicate their technician was abrupt, non-communicative

·          There is on-going friction between departments

If staff members know a call will probably not be a pleasant experience they will avoid answering the phone.  If customers commonly arrive with complicated or unpleasant problems, staff will avoid engaging them.  Reaction to the occasional angry customer can be improved with stress management training and supervisory or managerial skills training as appropriate.  If customer discontent is caused by the something inherent to the organization, training won’t help.  All organizations change over time and a reduced level of customer service may be the first clue that adjustments are needed. 

 Sometimes staffers avoid customer contact because responsibility is not well defined.  That which is everybody’s responsibility becomes nobody’s responsibility in practical application.  Job descriptions that include specific descriptions of performance standards are a good way to define responsibility.   Supervisors and managers can be trained to use job descriptions to reinforce responsibility. General guidelines regarding customer service can be very helpful in setting expectations, especially when they are carried across all operations publications.  Here are two examples of general customer service guidelines that are specific about performance standards.

Two Customer Service Guidelines

·          The phone will be answered in no more than three rings.

·          Customers will be acknowledged within 10 seconds of arriving.

 

Sometimes work groups develop hierarchies that are counter-productive.  For example, an employee establishes rank among peers by exempting him or herself from the bother of answering the phone or greeting customers.  Over time the one-upmanship can get out of hand.  Strong supervisory skills are required to control or eliminate such game-playing.  This usually happens in companies where managers, and especially the company owner, exempt themselves from engaging in customer service activities.  “Higher-ranking people don’t have to deal with customers” becomes an unwritten rule.  Owners who want employees to give exemplary customer service must literally train by setting the example.  Customer service is one area in which leadership really counts.

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