Customer service here in Edmonton and in our part of Canada is the foundation of any business. But on a daily basis, it really takes center stage. Sometimes the quality of the customer relationship is the only ingredient that keeps clients coming back again and again. The avoidance of careless mistakes will often make the client experience a memorable one.
Clients often will remember bad experiences and they will tell a number of people about them. Good experiences should be the topic of conversation as well.
Here are four positive ingredients within customer service that will make your team shine:
- Giving attention: Focusing exclusively on customers while they wait for a table or at the register is very important. In a restaurant, just a wink or a wave to someone in line will hold them until they can be greeted properly.
- Live person: Being transferred numerous times while trying to get to a live person on a customer service number, will drive people over the edge. Make sure a real team player answers the phone to accept a reservation or answer a question. People call customer service when there are problems as well. Positive “hellos” start the process in the rights direction.
- Staying calm under fire: Patience is a true customer service virtue; getting angry or upset with a customer is just never good policy and it can make matters worse. Own the situation whether it was created by a service issue or not. Good customer service manages the stress. When things cool down, solve the problem.
- Never over-promising: In every customer situation a service scenario always be honest and truthful. Never over-promise and never under deliver. Always do the right thing and always focus on consistency.
Good customer service is good by definition. At your next employee meeting, bring this post up. It is good discussion for common sense.
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This post is shared with you by the good folks at Dale Carnegie NOW- Northern Alberta and Saskatchewan. We would love to connect with you on Facebook.
Photo: David Castillo Dominici, freedigitalphotos.net