Building a Base for Customer Service
Feb 26
The most important part of any structure is the base. Ask the Ancient Egyptians that built The Pyramids at Giza, or ask Adrian Smith and Bill Baker, chief architect and chief structural engineer respectively, when they designed Burj Dubai.
If you’re a business owner or manager, building a base to achieve exceptional customer service can be the difference between success and failure. As a business owner, there are certain requirements to cultivate an environment and develop your employees to live and breathe customer service.
If you’re an employee, you can build the same base in yourself by changing certain behaviors and habits.
Owner, manager, and employee: the following are the 6 pillars for the foundation of your customer service and can be summarized in the acronym: TAAKER
T – Timing
A – Appearance
A – Attitude
K – Knowledge
E – Efficiency
R – Results
1)Timing
Do you give yourself adequate time to get ready in the morning? Do you reach the office early enough to setup for the day? Are you ready for the customers before they are ready for you?
Timing is essential because it sets up the vibe for the entire day. If your day starts rushed, your entire day will be rushed and customers can sense it. On the other hand, if your day starts with preparation, giving enough time for each aspect of your business, your day will be relaxed, you won’t feel rushed and the customers will feel relaxed as well.
2)Attitude
No one can deny that customer service is difficult. Each person has their own perspective, their own experiences and is an influence on how they are as a customer. Now multiply that by the thousands of people you deal with in your industry and you’ll get a headache.
That’s why attitude is so important. As people dealing with people, we have to have a positive outlook. Each customer has to be approached with a clean slate. Whatever personal problems we are having, as hard as this might be, must be left at the door. We have to become a form of a therapist to customers, listen to their problems, their wants their needs and not let it affect our attitude and the ultimate goal, helping them and thus helping ourselves
3)Appearance
We have all heard the phrase “dress to impress.” That phrase holds true in every industry and in every business. Appearance is not just clothing or uniform. Appearance is body language, personal hygiene and overall presentability.
4)Knowledge
How can a doctor perform surgery if he doesn’t know medicine? How can a mechanic fix your car if he doesn’t know how to hold a wrench? How can a sales person sell you a product he/she knows nothing about?
The same question can be applied to customer service. How can you provide a customer with a positive experience if you know nothing about what a positive experience looks or feels like?
5)Efficiency
We live in a fast-paced world. We have unlimited information at our finger tips, we reach our destination faster with GPS.
Customers now expect that same fast-paced feel in any industry.
Customer’s don’t like to wait. Customer’s like to get-in, get-out and get-on with their lives, unless it’s an issue in which they acknowledge the length of time required prior to the visit. Handling a situation efficiently, setting expectations of timing and keeping customers aware of progress are all part of the positive experience.
6)Results
Customers want results. Customers want to leave the experience with their problems solved and their needs met. It’s our job to achieve those results.
Sometimes the desired result cannot be achieved. In this case, we must offer alternatives and an explanation to the customer why their desired results were not met. This is one of the hardest things to do but must be done.
In my experience, these are the basis for customer service in any field or industry. I will be going into more detail in each one and explaining how to build each base for your employees, your company and yourself.
