In recent newsletters we have been looking at the Gallup organisation’s ideas about how to engage your customers so they keep coming back. Another of Gallup’s customer engagement tactics is to make customer service objectives part of your daily business rhythm.

What does this mean?
Well, it means that all of your staff, whether they are directly serving customers or not, should be focussed on meeting your organisation’s customer service objectives as they carry out their daily work.

Awareness is important
Of course, it’s important that your staff are aware of your customer service objectives and the standards you have put in place to achieve them. You can highlight them in staff meetings, put up posters or charts in staff work areas, and use ongoing training to review and maintain your standards. It’s also important that you recognise people who are demonstrating your standards to make it clear how important they are to your business.

Each person needs to understand how they contribute
For your customer service objectives to be part of the ongoing way you do business it’s important that your staff understand exactly how the work they do is responsible for achieving those results. Each person needs to see that they contribute to the organisation meeting its objectives – or not. But how well are they able to do that?

As a manager, you need to understand if there are things that they need to do better or differently to improve their performance and whether they need new skills or knowledge to deliver better results. Do you have a process for picking up on these training needs?

Richard Branson of Virgin often spends time with staff over coffee or drinks to learn about what’s going on within the business. He is well known for carrying a notebook and taking pages and pages of notes – which he later uses to take action on what he has learnt. His view is that "exceptional companies take care of exceptional details.”

Internal customers are just as important
Your staff also need to understand that the customer service objectives apply to them even if they’re not serving external customers – they may not be serving customers, but they’re probably serving someone who is.

But what do your customers think?
The best way to find out what your customers think about your customer service is to talk to them. At KFC, managers are encouraged to go into the customer side of the store and ask customers directly about their dining experience in the store. Is this something you should be doing?

If you’re a Mystery Customer client, you’re already getting regular surveys that let you know how your customers view you. You don’t get them daily, but there can be a daily effect if you share the feedback with your staff. Our clients tell us that having the Mystery Customer program in place makes their staff more aware of the customer service standards they are providing. And as a result, they treat every customer as if they are being judged, which of course they are.

Contact us
If you’d like to find out how your customers view your customer service, or you’d like help in guiding your staff to better achieve your customer service objectives, contact us...

Kind Regards,
The Mystery Customer Team