identify four common features of customer service best practice models
I believe that great customer service is the responsibility of every team and department within the organization, every working day. With that in mind, I would like to share five best practices based on working with world class customer service teams at companies like QVC, Hewlett-Packard, Cross Country Home Services, and Life Line Screening, among others.
Best Practice #1: Celebrate the Victories. Remember to highlight what your top service performers do well. If it’s been a while since your customer-facing team members were credited for doing something right, change that!
Best Practice #2: Give Front-Line Service People More Authority and Respect Within Your Organization. For instance, you might provide people the autonomy to spend up to a certain dollar amount to resolve customer problems … and then turn those employees who spend those corporate dollars effectively into internal role models for the rest of your organization.
Best Practice #3: Re-examine Your Compensation Plan. If the pay your customer service personnel receive is not commensurate with what your company says about its belief in good customer service … then you won’t attract top notch people who can deliver on that promise!
Best Practice #4: Create an Effective “Soft Skills” Training Plan. Too often, customer service people know all about the technical and product/service feature issues, but have not received thorough and on-going training on people skills and effective customer engagement. Make sure they get that training!