Customer Service DELIVERY

If you want to go to the top of the league in customer service, then you need all your customer-serving staff to practise the 8 features of service D-E-L-I-V-E-R-Y. D for Dedicated. Dedicated service delivery swings into action the minute a customer needs your help. The customer is not made to feel that they've gone to the bottom of a list and will have to wait their turn. They become priority number one. E for Empowered. Empowered customer carers are those who have the power to do what is necessary to deliver outstanding customer care. Empowerment includes giving them your trust, training them, and removing anything that makes their job harder. "The only people who can really meet customer requirements are those on the front line. Show them their potential, trust them, support them with the tools and training that they need and strive to remove the factors that inhibit them. They will reward you with the financial results." (Donald Laurie) L for Linked to the Team. Great customer carers rarely work on their own; they work with the support of the team. When Karen in Reception overhears what the guests thought of the meal, she quietly passes it on to the chef. When Jack the porter notices how the guests react to their room, he has a quiet word with the chambermaids. Organisations that quietly work together for the sake of the customer create champions. I for Informed. Traditionally, customer carers have been the poor relations in most businesses: end of the line, untrained, the last to know. But in superior customer service organizations, front-line staff are treated like royalty. They know the products inside out and the systems back to front. They know how to put things right. And they know what to do when a customer has a crisis. They are informed. V for Valued. You cannot expect your customer service staff to value their customers if you don't value them themselves. You value them when you ask their views, acknowledge their contribution, and praise them. "When we genuinely approve of ourselves, we can afford to be responsive to the needs of others. People who feel powerless or who don't think they're valued, don't care much about other people's problems." (Pete Bradshaw) E for Experienced. Experienced customer carers have a feel for the right balance between them and their customers. They should be... * knowledgeable but not technical * confident but not arrogant * smartly-dressed but not overpowering * attentive but not overbearing * friendly but not smug * helpful but not insistent * available but not intrusive * slick but not quick * caring but not cloying. Striking the right balance is like a discrete servant: visible and invisible, unnoticed but there if needed. R for Representative. The customer care champion always acts in the interests of the organisation. In how they look, what they say and what they do, they project a strong, positive image of who they represent. Their welcomes convey warmth, interest and friendliness and their farewells convey a feeling that they would love to see you back again. Y for Your Responsibility. The importance of the front-line customer cannot be understated. For the customer, they are the company. To fulfil this role, customer front-liners need to know that it is their responsibility and nobody else's to deliver. No matter where staff are in the organization, they are responsible at some point to their customers. They all have to DELIVER and that means: dedicated, empowered, linked to their teams, informed, valued, experienced, and representative.