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.