ZERO COST FACTOR

A service orientated company need not spend a huge amount on buildings or furnishings.
It is amazing to consider how much large companies can be willing to spend on peripheral eye pleasing gimmicks.
When I worked as a manager in large hotels, I would have a sizeable budget for new carpets, marble tables, or silk furnishings. Yet no money would be available for intangible things like encouraging great service, or pleasing the guests needs.

It is these hard to measure factors though which bring customers back time after time, and set you up for long term loyalty and profit, not the latest photogenic decor.
What so many often miss is the zero cost factor of inducing great service. It takes effort, not dollars to encourage a superior service culture

PHONE A FRIEND

Since the eighties, businesses have increasingly relied on technology to save them money and time with answering telephone enquiries.
However,the overwhelming feedback from customers has been that they are not liked, menu options and lengthy un-answered transfers being the surest way to alienate customers before you have even had the chance to find out how to deal with their problem.

Yet how many businesses recognise this as a marketing gift. If they become one of the only businesses to answer their phones with a PERSON, think what a major P.R coup that would be.
A customer ringing up would be so surprised to have a friendly voice answer, that they would be a fan from the word go!.

SERVICE SUPERSTAR WORKSHOP

You've asked for it, now its here!

Customer service training sessions to transform your business instantly.

Each workshop is 3 hours and there is an option of either Sundays 10am - 1pm, or wednesday evenings 5pm - 8pm. Book early, and if you bring more than one you get a large discount.
$60 per person, or $40 for multiple bookings.

Venues are training rooms at Papanui, Cashmere, and Kaipoi.
Other venues can be arranged for groups.

ARE YOU UPTO SPEED ?

Having the latest knowledge on your industry or profession is key for keeping customers served well and for retaining top staff. It is your responsibility to seek and learn that knowledge. You need to read the latest journals, websites and blogs or be on the training courses. Information in this digital era is key to promotion and success.

You will be asked many questions daily on your work, so it is vital to be seen to be upto speed on your subject.

Be interested, and dont shy away from using your own leisure time to further your knowledge too.

What you do in your eight hours at work just pays the bills.....what you do in your time decides how you succeed.

DIGNITY

There are times when some bright spark at head office will come up with an idea or theme or gimmick to attract attention. It may be a PR trick to grab some fleeting press coverage or a dressing up day for the staff.

Sometimes this can involve telling the staff to dress in pantomime clothing or a costume of some sort to fit the selected theme.

The trouble arises when this theme is not wholly accepted by all the staff and therefore they do not wish to dress for the day as a chicken or in a pirate costume or whatever.
By forcing them to go along with the mandatory dress code, you can not only affront their dignity, but alienate them from your company for a long time .

Allow your staff the choice, and do not forcefully take away their dignity for the sake of some percieved gain in publicity or sales.
The same applies to uniforms - make sure staff can keep their dignity intact and feel comfortable wearing it.

STAY IN TOUCH

Many of your staff communicate in different ways to each other and would probably welcome easier access to managers and work updates if they were communicated in a way familiar to them.

For example, is the staff roster pinned up on a wall somewhere at work? Why not text it direct to their cell phone, there is plenty of software out there to facilitate this.

Can their pay checks be emailed direct to them instead of in an envelope?
How about allowing training videos to be viewed at home or in their own time, instead of in group sessions at work?

Stay in touch with your staff, work smarter.

SAY THANKS!

Two of the most powerful words in the English language.
Thank You.

Do you take time each day to see who you can express these sentiments to?
I use my words here with purpose, "these sentiments".
You can not just stroll up to someone and say thanks for shopping with us, or hey thanks for turning up to work today, and stroll off again.
No - it needs to be delivered with meaning, unhurried, and with a smile.
Say it with sincerity and watch the world warm to you too.
Go on say thanks to somebody special today, then keep on doing it. I guarantee you will make the world a better place for all of us.

WALK A MILE

" Walk a mile in someone elses shoes" goes the famous saying.

In customer service terms, this could not be simpler....... see things from their perspective, imagine yourself with their needs and expectations.
Does everything and everyone work around what is best for the customer, or is the work place constructed around what is cheapest for the company?
Does the business look at things and analyse angles from the customer point of view or is it wholly centred on shareholder profits and making short term gains to induce bonuses for the managers?

Walk a mile in their shoes and see how you can turn the long term profits upward in a second.

FOR YOUR COUNTRY

This may seem a little dramatic, but great customer service is doing your bit for your country.

Foreign visitors come and use any number of services and then they leave.
The impression they leave with is determined by the level of service provided. That then forms a reputation throughout their population. This reputation can be worth millions in future trade, and is often overlooked by people looking after the daily service needs, and the big picture gets lost along the way.

So, next time you are looking at serving a tourist or foreign businessman, look at how you can really excel - for the greater good of your country and reputation.

SURPRISE THEM

Everyone loves to get a surprise gift.
So if your staff are working hard on a summer day, how about turning up to work with a bag full of ice creams to hand out to them, or after work take them out for a quick cold drink at the local bar.

Customers too will be pleasantly shocked if you turn up and offer them an ice cream, or a wee gift hamper from you - "just to say thank you for being a customer of ours".

I bet you that customer will tell a whole lot of their friends about how they love to use your company or service!

For the small cost of these surprise gifts, you wll reap dividends in loyalty many companies would envy.

A NOTE FROM RON....

Service is the currency that keeps our economy moving. I serve you in one business, you serve me in another. When either of us improves, the economy gets a little better. When both of us improve, people are sure to take notice. When everyone improves, the whole world grows stronger and closer together.
RON KAUFMAN

MOTHERS LOVE

The idea of having a creche at the workplace is nothing new, many big corporations and some big retailers have been running them for employees and customers for years.

The problem is that most people in employment are in medium sized or small businesses. These employers nearly always recoil with horror when faced with the cost of having such a care facility for their employees. They may like the idea, but rarely implement one because of cost.

This attitude needs to change, for it is the mothers and care givers of this world we live in who are nurturing our next generation. These people are already proven in their ability to love, and care and think of someone else first, and not themselves. Are these not the same qualities we would love to show to our customers?
Think about it. Think too about how you could make it possible to have a child caring facility in your workplace - when the will is strong enough.... the way shows itself.

Who sets your standards - your industry, your ego or your customers?- Harry Beckwith

ONLINE CRITICS

If you are running a service based industry, such as hospitality or retail, then somewhere online there is a web based review site waiting for your customers to post an online critical appraisal on you.

That could be a good thing. Mainly because you want to hear about how they feel in order to gauge what is important to them. You also will need to see how your competition is being talked about, be it good or bad.
In short - these online reviews can be used as just another tool for you to use in constantly improving. With the pursuit of excellence at your central focus, these reviews should be both observed and used in your decision making.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS

No matter about the rights or wrongs of my following statement......it is a fact that you are judged by others after only a few fleeting seconds of visual contact.

The same is true of both a person to person encounter, and also of the first time a customer is seeing your business. For this reason alone it is of vital importance that you keep your signage, entrance ways and reception area in immaculate condition.
Also true to ensure that the personnel on the front desk or near a business entrance are the best you have and looking fabulous all the time.

All too often, I walk into a business and see deliveries still waiting to be moved, or signage damaged and not fixed, bulbs missing in light fittings. Small details which indicate that nobody cares.

Look at your business with first impressions in mind.

WE ALL SERVE

Everyone is in service.
It is not just the hospitality people or retail workers. A dentist is there to serve, as is a surgeon, a street sweeper and the school teacher.
There is no end either in opportunities WHEN you can serve, it can be done at home with your children. It can be in the street to a stranger, and it can be done in the community or for your country.

Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don't have to have a college degree to serve. You don't have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.- Martin Luther King

One machine can do the work of 50 ordinary people. No machine can do the work of one extraordinary person.
- Elbert Hubbard

TUNED IN TRAINING

If your training sessions are in front of a whiteboard, or include lots of paper handouts, then you need a rethink.

Many of your staff have grown up in the internet age and are not used to reading lots of script or holding their attention on one thing for too long.

Try and tune in to their new way of learning, make a few 3 minute training videos or find existing ones which you can fit into your training needs. Play them in brief sessions, not half day training periods like the 'old' days. Show them onsite, before their work times in small groups, or let them view them on a laptop in their own time. Keep it flexible.
Drip feed this training with add on pieces of information or short quiz sessions and role plays.

The old training methods will not improve todays work force so move with the times or the new breed of employees will take their attention (and skills) elsewhere.