Is Customer Service Part of Your Business Process?

I am working on writing a series of articles for a customer on the importance of developing and documenting business systems.  You know what they are, right?

• How you do your business
• Who your customers are
• How you find them
• The 1,2,3s of producing your product/service
• Your billing and receivables process
• Employee relations and hiring/firing practices

It is all pretty cut and dry.  The step-by-step instructions for how you do what you do so that someone could walk in off the street – read the manual – and continue your business operations without missing a beat.

But what about the customer service process?

A few months ago a prospect called.  They’d found me on the Internet and wondered if I would come and conduct training for their call center employees.  Apparently there had been some customer complaints and they wanted me to come and teach the staff the right words to say.

I asked about their customer service focus – what was their customer service strategy?

The response?  We don’t have one.  I just want the employees to stop saying dumb things so the customers don’t complain.

hmmmm.  I didn’t pursue the opportunity.

As a business owner, if we hope to have happy customers that return and refer us to their friends, we have to establish our system for customers at the same time we are developing the step-by-step instructions for assembling our products and services.

Customer service as an after thought to combat complaints isn’t a customer-focused culture – it is just sloppy business.

Sounds harsh?  Gee, I don’t know.  Who signs our paycheck?  The customers.

So How Do You Start Developing a Customer Service System:

1. Identify your target customer
2. Understand what they value, expect and desire – not what YOU think, but what they think
3. How does that information impact the actual customer experience:

• The look of your location
• The customer greeting
• The way the phone is answered
• The website and its functionality
• Your marketing message
• Your packaging
• Your return policy
• Your refund policy
• Your order process
• The payment options and process
• Handling customers that want what you don’t have
• Handling upset customers

Each of those components and more are part of the customer service portion of your business.  Determine the how’s and why’s of every aspect of your business that involves the customer.  And trust me – every aspect involves the customer.  Even those departments that never talk to or see a customer, have an impact on the customer.

Do you have a customer service system in place and in writing?  If not – I’d love to help.  I don’t usually sell myself in this blog, but this is one time when I’d like to be available to a business owner interested in putting their customers FIRST in the process.  Call me 330-414-8792.