« Keep Employees Informed | Home | Treat Your Vendors Well! »
Training Leads to Greater Customer Experiences
By Chris Howard | June 14, 2009
I am a big believer in cross training employees to be able to assist a customer regardless of their department.
How many times have you had a question when talking to someone and have been told, “I have to check with my supervisor on that,” or, a favorite, “That’s not my department.” Talk about starting a conversation off wrong. Customers hate to be shuffled back and forth between departments. That customer has immediately gotten in his mind that he is going to have to wait to get an answer. Why not surprise (and it will) them by giving your staff the freedom to deal with at least minor customer service issues.
You need to allow your employees to be able to do the right thing, and making a customer wait for an answer is not the way to do it. Don’t hold it against the employee if the situation doesn’t turn out perfectly. They will make mistakes, but with your guidance, they will learn.
So, how do you get your employees on board and not afraid of dealing with an ugly situation? You might want to utilize role-playing situations to help your staff recognize and experience both easy and difficult situations. If an employee has a level of comfort in a touchy situation, they will be able to handle it better.
Topics: Managing Customer Service | 151 Comments »
Comments are closed.