How can you make customer service a priority for your employees?

I work in the public sector with a long running reputation for poor customer service. I was told about this issue when I came on board. I took on this task as my top priority. It really doesn't take extra energy to do the right thing. Warm welcomes, engaging conversations and always asking if there is anything else are just a few things I do consistently. The results have proven fruitful. In my almost 3 year tenure, I'm happy to say the culture in this department is changing.

I am a Cashier in Houston, Texas. If you come into my line at the register, you might notice something unique about my register. I'm actually having a conversation with the customers! It seems that you don't get that a lot these days. People go into a store, find what they want, pay and leave. Nobody talks to each other. No wonder, customers do more shopping online than they do in a store, it’s easier, right! Customer service is the key to owning, operating and maintaining a business. Think about it. If each employee took time to talk To every 5 to 10 customers' and give great customer service, think about how that would make them feel! I know it would make me feel really great, and I am the Customer a lot of times.

I strongly emphasized the importance of satisfying customers and delighting them with the best possible experience. Happy Customers will help you stay afloat and grow as an organization. I believe in setting high but realistic goals for my team and communicating them clearly and confidently. Showcasing trust and confidence in their abilities and potential is equally crucial for the Support Team to stay hungry and motivated. Rewards and recognition play a significant role in keeping them motivated. Celebrate every milestone and achievement as a team and make it inherent in the organization from Top to Bottom to be Empathetic, Friendly, and open to anyone, not just customers. That would take your team miles ahead of others in the industry.

I’m going to make this short and sweet. Keeping your customers happy and informed by doing, then rewarding your employees by complimenting them for following your example. You never know who’s standing beside you.

Make the employees part of the route to customer journey so that they are part of the process flow where their experiences contribute to the overall journey.

I believe we need to engage with our customers, its simple task that is over looked. Just reach out and ask those simple questions. You might be the connection they need, and they might be the conversation you needed. You have a shared community because of your position and the places that you live in.

Aligning your vision and values involves clearly defining and communicating your organization's long-term goals and core principles. Lead by example, involve stakeholders, integrate them into decision-making, and cultivate a values-driven culture. Regularly review, measure alignment, and address any inconsistencies. Recognize and reward alignment, and celebrate successes to reinforce their importance. This ensures a cohesive and focused organizational culture.

There has to be a service culture from the top management that shapes the attitude of employees. It is this attitude that will drive the behavioural actions from the employees; which definitely will align with company vision and values.

In my experience one of the key ways to encourage front line staff to make Customers a priority is for leadership to walk the talk. I've had the benefit of having great leaders who prioritized customer issues with tangible actions (postponing a deliverable, rearranging a meeting, tolerating interruptions for client issues). Your trams see this.

To be fair .. if you have to keep training the employee then you’ve probably got the wrong person… a people person always puts others before themselves and are normally natural customer service people..We all get pleasure when go into a cafe, shop or restaurant for example when we are served by a very friendly, capable and interested person that makes us feel appreciated and wanted! So many don’t these days so the natural ones certainly shine..

One of the things I learned in my career is that people do better when they know better. When I joined my team, one of the first things I did was conduct a skill check—soft skills and product knowledge. This helped me identify training needs which came in handy in designing a training game plan to make sure everyone got involved, researching and coaching fellow team members. By getting the team involved in democratizing knowledge, we built a virtual knowledge library—a repository for free-flowing wisdom within the team and beyond. The result? Our service agents leveled up, armed with confidence to ace customer interactions. And guess what? The feedback from customers improved as they began to rate the service received better.

Consistent training and coaching are vital for employee development. Provide ongoing learning opportunities, tailored to individual needs. Offer constructive feedback and support, helping employees reach their full potential and contribute effectively to the organization’s success. This investment in skill-building leads to a more capable and motivated workforce.

Every organisation into a business will have relationship with customers. Even the NGOs must interact with people that will show interest in their business. To this effect, every company is in dire need of Excellent customer service so as to sustain the business. Therefore, to achieve lifetime sustainability, the employee must have indepth understanding of importance of customer service to the business. Right from Recruitment to Induction, the vision of exquisite customer service must be imbibed in the employees. On-the-job training cannot be overemphasized as there will be continuous training on the lapses & improvement for customer service. From top Management staff to Junior staff, the mindset of Excellent service must be established.

Absolutely, this also gives the employee the recognition from the customer and aids the trust and true customer relationship! People deal with people and especially ones they can trust..

Empowerment involves granting employees the autonomy, authority, and responsibility to make decisions and take ownership of their work. Provide clear expectations, offer guidance, and trust them to execute tasks. Encourage innovation and value their input. Recognize and celebrate their achievements. Empowered employees are more engaged, creative, and invested in the success of the organization.

It is good to empower employees, by allowing them make decisions and solve problems on their own. However, one factor that discourages the employees is the inappropriate handling of failures. When punitive measures, instead of effective corrective measures, are employed in handling failures, the employees become conservative in discharging their duties. Because of the fear of the consequences of failing, they pass the buck in a bid to shift the blame of whatever comes with a service failure. For example, when a staff assumes a responsibility and fails, it is better to re-train than sending the staff on suspension without pay.

In my experience, empowering employees is a powerful tool. When you allow room for growth, you remove rigidity and inspire confidence within themselves. Ensuring that they are aware of the boundaries within the core values of their business, these employees may develop skills they may not have otherwise while focusing on procedure alone. Coach them on dealing with the negative interactions as well, not just the positive, and encourage sharing those experiences in order to ask how to handle it better in the future. Each of your employees have the potential to be great managers themselves if we give them the tools to succeed under our mentorship.

This is the most overlooked part of customer service - we often forget the "representative" part of customer service rep, but each forward facing team member first and foremost acts as a representative of the company and its values. When they feel engaged, rewarded, and supported, that shines through their interactions with customers and presents the company in the best light. Not to mention that these actions also lead to high retention, and an experienced, highly capable team with better service and lower internal onboarding/hiring costs.

So many employees don’t get motivated by money alone. Of course, everyone wants to live comfortably, but we’ve all realized that no amount of money makes up for a terrible work environment. Recognize what motivates your employees and utilize that personalized response to remind them that they are valuable to you and the business. When employees are respected and appreciated, they are more likely to pass those feelings along to the customer they’re in front of as well. You can tailor your recognitions regularly to solving specific problems you may be seeing on customer surveys.

Regularly acknowledge and celebrate employees’ achievements, both big and small. Use a mix of verbal praise, written commendations, and tangible rewards. Tailor recognition to individual preferences. Foster a culture of appreciation, where contributions are valued and acknowledged. This cultivates a motivated and engaged workforce, driving overall organizational success.

Motivation shapes attitude and this in turn drives behaviours. We cannot overemphasize the importance of reinforcement in boosting staff morale. Reinforcement is better done immediately and frequently. And it could be verbal or non verbal. For example, during supervision, a thumb up or a nod of the head could serve as good reinforcement to encourage good behaviour.

Recognize and reward: Implement a system to recognize and reward employees who consistently deliver exceptional customer service Including bonuses, praise that they've done well. Recognition is definitely a must. I remember when I received my 5-year award and recognition my store manager brought me to the front of the store and in front of all the customers told me Adam Farris is one of the best customer service associates that we have and he has outstanding customer excellence. And told the whole entire store that. With that being said, always appreciate, and recognize your employees for who they are as well as giving them incentives for doing their very best

Create channels for open communication, actively seeking input from employees, customers, and stakeholders. Listen attentively and respond constructively to feedback, showing a commitment to improvement. Implement actionable changes based on the feedback received. This fosters a culture of continuous improvement and demonstrates a genuine commitment to meeting the needs of your stakeholders.

This is where NPS, CES, CSAT and other feedback metrics come in. A good understanding of these models will help in applying fitting models for effective customer data collection. Aside collecting the data, how we analyze them will determine what value we derive from the feedback process.

Leading by example is essential. Here are several ways to do that: 1. Make decisions that are consistently aligned with the service culture. 2. Treat employees the way you'd like them to treat customers. 3. Be visible so employees can see how you interact with customers yourself.

Prioritize the customer experience in every aspect of your organization. Instill a deep understanding of customer needs and preferences among employees. Encourage empathy, active listening, and problem-solving. Reward customer-focused behaviors and recognize successes. Continuously gather and act on customer feedback. By consistently putting the customer at the center of your operations, you create a culture that not only meets their needs but also builds loyalty and trust.

Make customer service front and center in every conversation. Don't just mention it either. Insist on it in every aspect of how you do business, but do it in a detailed actionable way.

I think this also needs to be built into individual objectives, whether that be customer feedback, net promoter score results or other tangible measurements. After all, whilst creating a customer centric culture is the right thing to do, what gets measured, gets actioned.

Service culture isn't a one-time project or a flavor of the month initiative. The only way to make service a priority for employees is to make customer-focus the way the organization, your team, and you as a leader do business. It has to be embedded in everything you do so employees understand that it is a top priority.

Thank you for addressing this important topic. By actively engaging with our employees and showing genuine understanding of their needs, we create a positive ripple effect where they, in turn, are motivated to ensure our customers receive the best care possible. ESAT + UX = CSAT