Top 10 customer service tips

1. Hire people who have a service attitude. Some people
simply enjoy serving others, their organizations, and even
their communities. The spirit of service dominates their
personality. This attitude of service has nothing to do with
money or background, and people who have this attitude
are not necessarily the most outgoing or bubbly. This type of
person will move your business forward. These people
make the best salespeople as well.

2. Make the customer's time with you an experience. You
have but a few short moments with customers. You don't
have time to complain about your day or anything else. Ask
yourself, "How can I make their experience better?" Can I
refer to them by name and how can I ask without being too
aggressive? How can I control the environment in this
company? How am I affecting their 5 senses? Exceed their
expectations just a little with their senses and with your
attitude to serve and please, and you will have created a
memorable and compelling experience. Of course, all you
really have to do is visit your competition, see what they are
doing and then top them. But would that be cheating? No,
that's comparative shopping.

3. Regularly inform all your employees about what's going
on in your company. Employees need to know what's
happening.
What new products are you offering? When will they be
available? What kind of advertising will take place in the next
month? Will any physical changes be happening in your
offices? Will new branches be add? The more they know,
the better they can serve your customers.

4. Make every decision with the customer in mind. Ask
yourself questions such as, "Do our customers like what
we're doing?" and "Would our customers like this type of
promotion?" Change the way you look at things from having
it centered around you to focused on whether the customer
would approve.

5. Make the customers an agenda item at every staff
meeting. Present their point of view and ask these
questions: What would the customer think of this? Would
this move be fair to them? How can we serve our customers
better or differently?

6. Empower your employees to do the right thing. And don't
hold it against them if the situation doesn't turn out perfectly.
That means giving employees the power to do whatever has
to be done to make a customer's experience a WOW
experience. They will make mistakes, but each time they will
learn – with your help.

7. Continually ask yourself how you can improve and add
value. If you don't keep asking and pushing yourself, you'll
start to slip behind the competition. Customers have more
than one choice and your competition is aggressively
marketing to them. They know what is being offered by
others. Be ahead of the curve by asking what you can do to
add value to your customer’s experience with you.

8. Create an atmosphere of excellence. Let it be known that
everything you and your employees do has to be the best,
and you won't accept less. Remember that winning
organizations are always raising the bar. If you aren’t
pushing to do better than yesterday, you will be left in the
dust of your competition.

9. Continually do the unexpected. Have the reputation for
doing the unexpected, and customers will always expect
something different and exciting from your company. This
doesn’t mean that you have to have dancing clowns in your
lobby, but having the same lollipops that everyone else
gives out is not at all unexpected. Do something different.
These are the things that customers talk about.

10. Never let an untrained employee have customer contact.
Your employees represent you, your company, and your brand. Working with
customers is the most important thing they will do. Give
them the tools necessary by giving them adequate training
to handle customers.

Margo Chevers, author of the book STOP the BS (bad
service), has been providing sales and customer service
seminars and consulting to a diverse cross-section of
industries for the past 15 years. To receive her free 10 top
tips for exceptional customer service, call (800) 858-0797 or
email margo@margochevers.com.

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