Confident Customer Service
I walked away thinking ‘I am so impressed with the way they handled that whole situation and will definitely recommend them to others’.
It’s amazing when you experience exceptional customer service, isn’t it?
That feeling when you know you’ve made the right choice, achieved exactly what you wanted and got value for money in the process. That’s the feeling I had when I walked away from the shop. That’s the feeling I want every customer to have.
Even when things don’t go according to plan, such as when you make a complaint, it’s still possible to achieve satisfaction. Expressing dissatisfaction shouldn’t have to mean you leave feeling disappointed.
Whether you’re handling complaints or everyday interactions, confidence is key. Superstars of customer service have confidence and belief in their ability to handle and resolve a situation. Confidence is the foundation of exceptional customer service.
Imagine if everyone in your team felt and appeared confident in everything they do
Your team would:
Embrace the challenge each internal or external customer presents
Listen and respond to all customer requests positively and with good pace
Feel great about meeting and exceeding customer needs
Be there at the right moment, ready and willing to assist.
Some people have a natural tendency towards being confident serving people. They are always ready to help, guide and serve when required. It’s great if you have a team of people with such positive traits, however others need to learn how to do it. That’s the great thing; all of this can be taught, and one of the best ways to set your team up for success is to demonstrate what good looks and feels like.
What does exceptional service look and feel like?
Let’s start with your why. Training and managing teams becomes a whole lot easier when everyone is clear about their purpose. When you understand your purpose and the reason why you do what you do, this becomes motivational. This is our starting point for Exceptional Service Makes Sense development programme.
How much time do you and your organisation dedicate to showing and guiding your team in what great service looks and feels like? If you don’t do enough of this, perhaps if your team experienced or observed exceptional service it might help to lift standards and boost confidence. Try it and see.
Take time to show your team what they do well and correct the things they don’t do so well. It’s a crucial part of their learning. A clear set of service standards comes in handy at this stage. You can find how to create one in my book - more on that below.
When everyone understands what’s expected of them and what good looks like, they grow in confidence and begin to assess and evaluate their own performance. It’s great when this happens, especially when you witness the domino effect it has within teams. With the right culture and mindset, exceptional service can become infectious!
Reward exceptional performance to build confidence
Recognising and rewarding team performance and their impact on customers can further boost confidence levels. Your team will understand just how valuable they (and your customers) are.
Encourage individuals to watch those who do it well. Give them the freedom to have a go, practice, and improve.
When you see someone doing great things, reward this. Even the smallest recognition will build confidence and create focus.
Celebrate success, from a simple high-five or thank you to more formal recognition programmes.
Exceptional Service Makes Sense... Business Sense
If you’d like to dig deeper into the building blocks of exceptional service and get your team oozing confidence in their ability to deliver, take a look at my practical guide to getting it right.
Exceptional Service Makes Sense... Business Sense is a practical guide to getting service spot on. It covers the Zest for Life tried and tested 4-stage approach:
1. Getting the basics right
2. Connecting emotionally with your customer
3. Embracing feedback and being confident in response to complaints
4. Measuring and improving service delivery.
The guide isn’t only for improving teams, it can also help those with a natural ability for customer service to develop and support others. It will enable you and your team to articulate what good looks like, how to do it and what that feels like, building confidence as you go.
The book also covers opportunities to celebrate success with your team and will help you set out and practice 10 things you want to improve to take you and your team to the next level. I hope you enjoyed this post and feel inspired to read my book. If it raises any questions, you can book a discovery call with me here.