In our recent newsletters, we’ve been looking at the Gallup organisation’s 6 tactics for ensuring customer engagement. In this newsletter, we look at the final tactic, which is about creating a culture in which field leaders follow up on customer experiences with specific feedback, coaching, and a process to share best practices.

What does this mean for your business?
Of course you collect information on your customers’ experiences – good and bad – through your Mystery Customer reports, and your own observations and interactions with staff and customers. But what do you do with that information?

It’s important that providing feedback and coaching becomes part of the culture – "the way we do things around here.” And that you, as a leader, share information on your customers’ experiences with your people, so that they keep doing the things that are effective, and stop doing the things that aren’t. As a leader, your role is to act as a compass, to ensure that people stay on the right path, and to guide them back on track when they stray.

Why don’t we do it?
We’re often reluctant to provide corrective feedback and coaching. We’re afraid that giving unpleasant feedback could produce a difficult to handle response and harm relationships. In fact, delaying or withholding corrective feedback does more harm than good. The consequences of the uncorrected behaviour often start to escalate. Your employee is robbed of the opportunity to improve and may continue to do the incorrect thing.

And often we forget to provide supportive feedback – or recognition - because we think people already know when they’re on the right track. But by recognising people you reinforce that the decisions or choices they have made are right and that you have noticed them.

How to provide feedback effectively
Do it now. You need to provide feedback immediately and on an ongoing basis. Don’t wait for a performance review – by then the negative behaviours may have become ingrained.

Don’t "get things off your chest.” Don’t give feedback when you’re angry or upset. Angry feedback is useless and can be harmful because the other person feels attacked and won’t be open to receiving your message.

Stick to the facts. Have a certain event or action in mind and be able to say when and where it happened, who was involved, and what the results were. Stick to what you personally observed and don’t try to speak for others.

Of course you can use the information in your Mystery Customer reports. Our shoppers provide detailed specific information, including names where they can, so that you can provide feedback to individuals.

Choose your time. Make sure you choose a time when the other person is likely to be most receptive to what you have to say. Don’t provide feedback when the other person is very busy, when they’re tired or upset, or when other people are around.

Don’t save it up. Don’t give too much negative feedback at once. Deal with one problem at a time. Otherwise the other person can feel overwhelmed and your feedback can have a demotivating effect.

Offer specific suggestions. By offering suggestions you show that you genuinely want to improve the situation. Make sure that your suggestions are practical and feasible.

How to ensure best practice
Effective feedback and coaching will help to ensure that your people are providing customer service that conforms to best practice. We’ve talked in previous newsletters about ways of reinforcing best practice behaviours. These behaviours should be documented in your customer service standards, which need to be regularly reinforced, for example at staff meetings.

Your staff meetings also provide a great opportunity to involve staff in workshopping particular customer service issues and opportunities that arise. And of course it’s important to update your standards – and any training materials you use – as you and your staff identify improvements.

Contact us
If you’d like to find out how your customers view your customer service, or you’d like help in making feedback and coaching part of a best practice customer service culture, contact us …