Training Helps Businesses Focus on Customer Service
Posted by Barbara Jones on June 16, 2008 – 2:05 pm -Training should reinforce all of the things your business does right and reduce the number of things that drive customers away. In tough economic times that can make a big difference. Business owners can be tempted in tough times to reduce staff and try to do everything themselves. No one has time to do everything, of course, and training often gets neglected. Employees lack direction and their work begins to show it.
Training does not have to cost a fortune or be elaborate and time-consuming to be effective. Here are some ways a business owner can manage training to reduce costs and help your employees focus on customer service.
Use slow times. If business is slow take advantage of the time to do additional training. There are fewer interruptions and more time available to practice desired skills. Use the available time to build a stronger, more motivated organization.
Work with inexperienced staff: New staff members require frequent interaction and feedback about their performance from management. Be sure someone is there to give it or staff may not realize they are off track. Interaction with management makes employees feel like part of a team and more likely to support your cost-saving goals.
Support real priorities. Take those elements of your business customers most like and communicate about them to employees. Make sure your employee handbook, job descriptions, and performance goals are consistent with each other in emphasizing these elements. Inconsistency wastes time and staff resources on non-priorities and poor choices.
Teach customer recognition. Train everyone to recognize your best customers and find others like them. Frequent, consistent communication between management and workers is essential to excellent customer service.
Empower Employees. Teach your staff to listen and talk to customers in a way that produces feedback. Make sure the feedback goes up the chain. Empower employees to deal with less than perfect experiences. Empowering employees can be scary so go in small steps. Try something simple, see how they do, then try another step.
Reduce Staff Carefully: Make sure there is someone left to deal with customers. Make sure you do not eliminate the staff responsible for the elements of your business most popular with customers. Don’t put yourself in the position of no longer being able to do what appeals to your customer.
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