So, how do you build an excellent customer service culture in your organization? We will bring you through the four pillars of excellent customer service – Trust, Communication, Empowerment and Training.

TRUST

Trust is an indispensable aspect in building business relationships. Consumer trust is influenced by many factors – customer satisfaction based on their previous experiences of service delivery, the handling or resolution of complaints, the experiences of others amongst many others. All that said, what is the benefit of building trust with your customers?

You can charge higher prices than your competitors but your customers will still buy from you because they trust in your company and services you offer. That little attentiveness or the extra mile that you go for them frees you from the need to have competitive pricing. That’s how powerful customer trust is.

But always keep in mind “Trust is hard won, but easily lost”. Consumer trust is a continuous process which is built over an accumulation of experiences be it first-hand or otherwise. One bad customer experience is all that it takes to waste the years of building trust.

COMMUNICATION

It is imperative that there is effective communication between a business and its customers. Employees should be equipped with strong communication skills and be able to answer and address customer requests or complaints confidently. Customers will form certain perceptions of your company based on the way your front line staff communicate with them.

Here’s a common scenario, you walk into a store and find a dress or shirt you like but you can’t seem to find your size, so you ask the store employee standing nearby if they have any stock for your size.

“Oh, we don’t have stock for the size you are looking for.”

“Stocks for your particular size will come in next week. I will place the order for you right away and once it reaches our warehouse we will give you a call, you can come down and pick the item from any outlet of your choice.”

There is nothing wrong with the first response, it is a polite reply that answers the customer’s question but is it excellent customer service – most certainly not. So what is the difference between the first and second response? The former is impersonal and just informs the customer that the product that they were willing to purchase is not available and nothing can be done about it. However, the latter states the same thing but rephrases it in such a way that there only positive language used and a resolution is also provided for the customer.

Whether your customer leaves your store with a smile or frown depends on the communication skills of your employee.

EMPOWERMENT

In order to build a culture of excellent customer service within your organisation, it is just as important to give an equal amount of attention and emphasis on empowering your employees to meet the set standards.

Employees should have a certain level of autonomy and the right repertoire of skills to determine the best possible customer service to be provided to a customer. Set and define the service standards expected from your employees and then equip them with the power and skills that will allow them to meet customer needs in the best manner possible.

Ensure that your employees are well aware of the company mission, vision, goals and policies of the company. This will allow them to understand what the company stands for and how their actions and interactions with customers will affect the company as a whole, giving them the confidence to give the best they can to help the company achieve its goals and targets.

Employee empowerment is a two-way street – your customers will reap the benefits of excellent customer service while your employees will achieve job satisfaction.

TRAINING

“I am sorry but that is company policy and I can’t help you”

This one statement is enough to raise pressure levels of even the most patient of men and provides one of the easiest ways to lose even a long standing customer.

When front line staff provide such replies they fail to realise that they have just created a new opportunity for their competitors. The customer will take his dissatisfaction and start using the services or products of your competitor who will care more about him than the company policy. After all, it takes months to find a customer and just seconds to lose one. Admittedly, after his complaint or problem has been resolved he might not go around praising your customer service support but at least, you have managed to retain a customer and upkeep the company image.

So, why do customer support officers respond with such scripted replies? Why not accommodate the request of the customer? Lack of training is the common answer. They are caught off guard and have no idea what so ever on how to proceed when customers turn up with special requests or isolated incidents. Employee training will improve the capabilities of your employee by equipping them with essential skills and knowledge like empathy, active listening and effective communication all of which are necessary to handle unique situations or requests. The training arena provides them with a safe space to hone their customer service skills with real-life situations while still leaving allowance for making mistakes and learning from those very mistakes.

A well-trained employee will be able to feel comfortable and confident in providing assistance to a customer and on top of that deliver a positive service experience. Training your front line staff is no longer a luxury but a vital link to gain that competitive advantage and maintain your loyal customer base.

Trust, Communication, Empowerment and Training– these four pillars of excellent customer service will take the service levels of your organisation to a whole new level.

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The idea of embracing complaints is counter-intuitive to many. Popular belief is that complaints are a nuisance. Complaints can damage a company’s reputation, especially in an age of zero-tolerance for service disruptions and lapses. The growing power of social media makes it worse; huge organizations are more likely to be  exposed to great reputational risk as public sentiments towards single minor incidents can be influenced through carefully-framed—and at times malicious—social media postings.

Businesses have to understand that complaints cannot be avoided. Thus, instead of taking complaints into a negative spin, we should embrace complaints and get a positive outcome from them. Embracing complaints entails that we view complaints in a new light. The followings are a few tips in managing complaints effectively.

1. View Complaints as Gifts from Customers

Complaint is a feedback mechanism. If the customer takes the time and effort to complain, it means that this customer cares about us and is giving us a second chance to keep his/her business with us. He/she is also giving us an opportunity to learn from our mistakes. We should review our processes and policies to make adjustments and improvements.

2.  Do the Right Thing

Many organizations adopt a “Do the right things, first time and every time” policy. Whilst there is nothing wrong in this attitude at all, organizations need to realize that there are times when they fail to deliver this promise resulting in complaints from customers. When this happens, we must “do the right things” to manage complaints as well.

3.  Resolve Complaints Promptly

A complaint well-handled may turn a customer’s unhappiness into loyalty. He/she will be encouraged and may become a repeat customer if we manage the complaint well. Organizations should empower front-end staff to resolve complaints in the most prompt and effective manner. Solving the customer complaint may involve making exceptions to an already existing process. Thus, having a senior management support in the complaint resolution process is the key to efficient complaints resolution.

4.  Collect Complaint Data

During the resolution of customer complaints, we should collect as much data as possible. When the customer notices our genuine intention to resolve the complaint, he/she is more likely to be cooperative in sharing information/incidents leading to the complaint. Take note of the parts of the standard process that leads to an inability to serve the customer’s needs. This will be beneficial for the review process.

5.  Review Existing Processes

With the data collected, a process review should take place to enhance existing processes and implement new measures to avert the occurrence of such issues in the future.

With all that said, we should also recognize that some complaints are about situations or policies that cannot be altered to the satisfaction of customers. These complaints could be regarding regulatory compliances or risk considerations. Even so, customers will appreciate and be more forgiving if we respond in a friendly manner and show them that their request is heard and their feelings acknowledged.

Complaints are unique opportunities for us to reflect and review our products and services. We should embrace them to bring the organization to the next level of service excellence.

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One of the primary indicators of a successful organization is that of the manner in which it deals with customer complaints. It is indeed a challenge to exemplify this skill as the stakes are high whereby the staff’s failure of addressing customer concerns can blemish the company’s reputation and strain relations between the customer and the company. As such, it is paramount for organizations to adhere to conventions of proper customer service etiquette in tackling complaints effectively either over the phone, email or in person, and providing a competitive edge in their respective industries.

Firstly, in a bid for employees to exhibit these practices, there needs to be a clear written procedure on tackling customer complaints through all modes- in-person, electronic mail and telephone, that needs to be communicated to the staff to acquaint them with standards expected of them when delivering customer service. Such procedures should be initially practiced on the staff before rolling them out as policies, so as to equip them with a repertoire of skills in handling customer complaints and evaluate their performance in handling adverse situations and their ability to use their discretion if the issue is complex. If the procedure proves to be effective, it can be laid down as a company policy, otherwise revised accordingly. There should also be records of all agreements and undertakings with customers so that staff can refer back to them when addressing a particular complaint and it reduces the customers’ hassle of having repeat their history of transaction with the company at length.

In the event of any complaint brought forth, the staff should apologise for the lapse and acknowledge the problem. However this does not amount to an admission of guilt on the employee’s part. Instead, it conveys to the customer that the staff understands the customer’s plight which suggests his sensitivity towards the customer’s needs. Furthermore, apologising and letting the customer speak aids in calming him down as it assures him that his complaints are being listened to attentively. Additionally, when speaking to customers, the staff should paraphrase and summarise information to the customer at intervals throughout the conversation. This ensures an accurate flow of information between the customer and staff and reduces the possibility of any miscommunication taking place.

Particularly, when conversing over the phone or in-person with customers, staff should possess voice clarity and articulation to ensure proper communication from his side and that the customer is able to well-capture the essentials of the conversation. When customers encounter staff that do not have a firm command over the English language, they tend to lose their temper and disconnect the line without giving the staff a chance to speak. Such a lapse also places the company in poor light as it adversely suggests its incompetency in providing high quality training to their staff in customer service. Although it must be conceded that of late, organizations have been recruiting migrant labour and as such, this problem may be dominant due to workers speaking in varying accents, it is nevertheless crucial to ensure that via training programs, employees have a reasonably good command of the English Language so that they could communicate and interact with customers effectively.

Staff should also be clear on the type of issues different departments cater to so that any complaints can be forwarded to the relevant unit and prompt action can be taken towards rectifying the issue. Additionally, in events of product defect, customers should be given a time-frame as to when the defect would be rectified and that the staff would revert to them. In other cases, staff should assure customers that their complaints would be looked into and they would ensure such a lapse does not take place again. This instils confidence and certainty in customers towards the company regarding their concerns/feedback being looked into and exemplifies the company’s efficiency and dedication towards providing excellent customer service. Moreover, organizations should focus on addressing the root causes of complaints surfaced as opposed to showering the customer with vouchers in a bid to compensate for the lapse. Although many companies adopt the latter practice, it does not eradicate the underlying cause of the concern and therefore the chances of a similar or even worse lapse may arise that may exacerbate the situation. Therefore to avoid the situation of incurring additional costs, organizations should be devoted towards unraveling the causes of any such issues promptly.

Lastly, in order for organizations to evaluate their effectiveness in resolving their clients’ complaints/feedback, it is optimal to ask the customer via an online survey or over the phone on his/her evaluation of the staff’s performance in rendering his service to her and whether he/she has succeeded in answering her concerns well. This procedure is an optimal measure of the employee’s performance in customer service as it aids in providing timely feedback to the employee which paves way for him/her to take any corrective action if necessary. As such, the standard towards the provision of excellent customer service is never compromised and the company can foster strong relationships with its customers and scale to greater heights.

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For many organizations, interaction over the phone has become the primary means of communication between customer and the organization. Telephone courtesy and customer service are now intricately linked so much so that the face of the organization is actually expressed through the person behind the telephone. Choice of words, attitude and the willingness to address customer needs are the reflection of customer service.

The following are a few tips which are essential to a positive customer experience:

1. Start Well

After your introduction, the next word that would be important will be your courteous invitation for the client to express the needs or area of service which you can help to address. The typical questions that are usually used here are “Can I help you?” or “How may I help you?” There are differences in the usage of these two questions, the latter question is the preferred one simply because you are no longer asking whether you can help the client which is now a given. Your question is how you may help the customer.

2. Smile when you talk

It is often said that people can see you smile over the phone. They do. You actually carry a different tone when you are smiling than when you are frowning. Thus, cheer up when you are talking over the phone as your customers are able to see your genuine answer through your tone.

3. Listen intently

At many times, your customer only explains the symptoms without specifically mentioning his/her particular needs. For example, a customer may call you with a message that “I am with my important client at a restaurant in Fullerton Hotel. The waitress just told me that there is a problem with my credit card. Is there a problem there?” On the surface, you may actually know the exact problem with the situation. Perhaps, he has busted his credit limit and his transaction did not get through. But, you should be aware that he is with an important client and he is not interested to hear your explanation on why his transaction did not get through. He needs a solution. So, don’t just hear him but listen to him.

4. Paraphrase when possible

Whenever possible, paraphrase the needs that was addressed to you. Use your own words to reword the needs that were communicated to you earlier. This would reduce miscommunication when you are crafting a solution for your customer at a later stage.

5. Seek help

There are times when you do not have the immediate solution and you would need to seek help from your supervisor. It is perfectly fine to mention to the customer that you would need to seek his patience to wait for few minutes while you are working to solve his/her needs.

6. Ownership

If the problem can not be resolved immediately over the phone and further follow up is required with various departments and co-workers, own the problem and tell the customer that you would take ownership of his/her needs and would follow up with your colleagues. When you take the ownership of the issue, you should ensure the follow up and closure with the customer once it is resolved.

7. End well

End your phone conversation with “I hope that we have resolved your issue. Is there anything else we can do for you?” This would ensure closure of the issue you are working on. The second part of the sentence is providing an opportunity to serve any other needs that the customer might have.

I hope that the above will be of help to you. Always remember that the reputation of the organization you are representing is in your hands.

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At Trust, one of the values we care about most is the self-belief that you can. This stems from having authentic confidence. Confidence that is authentic takes on a life of its own. It emanates energy that it evident in all that you do. As opposed to false confidence, a mask that people wear to hide their insecurities, people who are truly confidence have the inherent power to inspire, and make things happen. It’s all in their attitude and mindset.

People who are authentically confident may seem like a special breed. They make it look so easy. In their element, we see them innovating, speaking their mind, propelling themselves forward towards bigger and better things in their lives. It’s true, authentically confident people have a profound impact on everyone they interact with. In fact, The University of Melbourne recently published an article highlighting a correlation between authentic confidence and promotions at work.

Ever wondered how they do it? Are they really just born that way?

The truth is, what we see on the outside is only a small part of what is really taking place on the inside. Mindset matters. Dig deeper and you’ll see it reflected in the habits that they cultivate, the attitudes that they reinforce and the lifestyle that they choose daily. Authentically confident people are exerting so much positive influence on the inside, on themselves, that it seems effortless on the outside.

What we don’t see is their personal labor of love behind the scenes.

1. They are on a continuous journey of self-awareness. Authentic confidence requires the recognition of personal strengths and weaknesses. Truly confident people embrace criticism as much as they value compliments. They use criticism as a way to improve. However, they aren’t attached to the criticism, because they know that criticism is merely somebody else’s opinion. Instead, they spend a lot of time in healthy reflection and seek out feedback to continue to better themselves.

2. They speak with certainty. Most people they interact with place a premium on their time and confident people show their respect by speaking concisely and with certainty. Confident people recognise that it’s difficult to get people to listen to you if you cannot deliver your ideas with conviction.

3. They focus on small victories. According to another study, small victories create androgen receptors in the areas of the brain responsible for reward and motivation. The increase in androgen receptors increases the influence of testosterone, which further increases their confidence and eagerness to tackle future challenges. Confident people recognise that small victories create a virtuous circle or more victories, and each victory adds up.

4. They don’t seek attention. In fact, they give it away freely. Confident people recognise that being yourself is a greater display of confidence than proving your worth. The right people will get attracted to the right attitude. Pay attention to authentic confidence, and you’ll see that those with it are constantly shifting the focus to others who worked hard to help get them there. Confidence begets confidence.

5. They don’t crave approval or pass judgment . Instead, they draw their self-worth from within. Confident people don’t waste time sizing people up and worrying about whether or not they measure up to everyone they meet. They also don’t need to take other people down a notch in order to feel good about themselves. There’s a common belief that if you need to bring someone else down, you’re already below them.

6. They listen more than they speak. People with confidence recognise that they are much more likely to learn and grow through active listening. While they like putting their opinions out there to see if they hold up, they’re always open to what others have to say. Instead of seeing interactions as opportunities to prove themselves to others, they focus on the interaction itself, because they know that this is a far more enjoyable and productive approach to win people over, and to expand their own horizons.

7. They take risks. When confident people see an opportunity, they take it. Instead of worrying about what could go wrong, they ask themselves, “What’s stopping me? Why can’t I do that?” and they go for it. Fear doesn’t hold them back because they know that if they never try, they will never succeed. They recognise that fear is natural, what we do in the face of that fear makes all the difference.

8. They aren’t afraid to be wrong or unsure. Confident people embrace a growth mindset. They view their mistakes as learning opportunities. At the same time, they are comfortable acknowledging that they don’t know the answer.

9. They celebrate other people’s successes. Confident people aren’t worried about their relevance because they draw their self-worth from within. Instead of doubting themselves, they focus on all the wonderful things that other people bring to the table. They recognise that everyone has a part to play and constantly dish out praisefor their contributions. Confident people build confidence in others, and everyone is better off as a result.

Bringing It All Together
At the very core of a confident person, is someone who gets their happiness from within. Being happy is a subset of having strong self-love, which is a subset of confidence. Confident people know they are not perfect, and they care for their emotional well-being as they would a loved one. In order to be authentically confident in what you do, you have to be happy with who you are. Confidence comes from feelings of well-being, acceptance of your body and mind (self-esteem) and belief in your own ability, skills and experience.(self-actualisation). It is not a set of prescribed rules, it is a state of mind.

Building confidence is a journey, a constant labor of love and a sense of openness to what the universe has to offer you. If you haven’t embraced it, it’s about time you did.

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