Eight Rules for Great Customer Service

Great customer service is sort of like the Golden Rule.  There are many, many details you need to know to relate well to others, but at the end of the day there’s just one rule: Treat other people how you would want to be treated.

In customer service, there may be “8 Rules” but there is one underlying principle: Good Service = Good Relationships.

You’re not providing a one-time favor for someone; you’re building a long-term relationship. Treating customers like you’d treat a friend is another way to think about it. Learn (and use) names, learn life stories; treat each person like a special person. That’s the Golden Rule for customer service.

Now let’s look at eight more rules that will make your customer service stand out – and really, truly work.

1. Be there. When the phone rings, does a person answer it quickly, every time? When someone walks in the door is a person there to greet him immediately? You can’t build relationships by sending people to voice mail or running them through a five layer phone tree. Make it a priority to take the first step in customer service, and be there when they call or come in.

2. Be reliable. When you say you’ll do something, do it. Don’t promise anything you don’t know, for sure, that you can deliver. Always follow-up. If a client asks you a question (“Can you find out where my mom’s new sweater went?”), provide an answer (“I’ll look into it and let you know by the end of the week”) and then follow-up (“It’s Friday, and I thought I’d let you know that we have found her sweater…”). Ask for more, too, while you’re at it (“Is there anything else I can help you with today?”). Few things annoy clients as much as someone dropping the ball and not doing what they said they’d do.

3. Listen up. When a client is talking, be listening. The only thing worse than having someone drop the ball on follow-up is someone not listening to you, and asking you for details you’ve already provided. Oh wait, I know something worse: having to tell the full story to one person, only to have to repeat it, details and all, to another person – and another. Remember the last time you were at the doctor’s office with a nurse demanding every single detail? You know exactly what I mean. If you’re not the person to solve the problem (“I have a question about my bill”), don’t ask for any details – refer the client to the right person first.

4. Apologize. Complaints can be tough. It’s easy to say, “Oh well – can’t please all the people all the time!” In reality, complaints are often the way our clients communicate their feelings of anxiety (“I’m really worried about my mom and don’t have a clue what to do about it”) or guilt (“I should really be the one doing this – then it would be perfect”). Listen (see Rule #3) and then, before you begin defending or explaining, apologize. Say, “I’m really sorry you had that experience.” You’ll instantly defuse the situation, and allow real communication – and real problem solving – to start.

5. Be helpful. Do you remember how you felt the last time a stranger held a door for you? Even the smallest helpful gesture changes relationships from stranger to friend. As you work to build relationships, look for ways to be helpful, even if you may not profit from it. Maybe someone on the phone actually needs a completely different kind of service – recommend one you know about. Helpfulness has wings of its own and will return rich rewards to you.

6. Empower your team. Train these customer service principles to every member of your team. Give them opportunities to practice and ask them to notice each other’s great service – and share it. Public praise is one of the strongest rewards you can give and will change behaviors. Make sure, whenever possible, your team has the power to do small things for clients – offer coffee, cookies or simply pause to listen to an overwhelmed client. These are the things that build relationships – and create awesome, committed clients.

7. Go the extra mile. It might be enough to tell your client you’ll look into a problem and get back to him. But going the extra mile means not only locating the missing sweater, for example, but making sure it is correctly labeled and re-labeling it if necessary. It means taking the time to call back before the deadline you set and follow up. It means not just pointing to the activity area, but walking with the client to the area, chatting and visiting while you walk. Going the extra mile takes a few minutes of your time, but can pay big dividends when your clients start telling others about you.

8. Throw in something extra. A big smile, a certain saying (“Have a wonderful day!”), a long-stemmed rose from a big bunch on your desk – look for ways to add something extra to the service you provide. It can be something very small, but it will make a big, big difference to the perception of your clients (or future clients).

Great customer service doesn’t take a ton of new resources and effort. Little things will add a lot of polish as long as you keep in mind that one key word: relationships. Treat every client – and every prospective client – as a valued friend and you’ll automatically up the level of service you provide.

Consider it Solved

What’s your challenge?

Getting staff to finish their training? Getting people to a meeting? Keeping one group of employees from picking on another (the newbies, the night shift)?

Whatever your challenge is, try some of these simple – but effective – approaches to building a stronger team and getting it DONE!

• Communicate. If your day is like mine, you’re busy with phone calls, emails and tasks on deadline every single minute. Stopping to wander the halls and talk with staff feels like a colossal waste of time. But it’s not. It’s one of the most important things you can do to communicate your values to your team, and shape them into the team you dream about. Don’t forget that communication goes two ways, too. Listening is every bit as important as talking. A minute of praise, a thank-you for a job well done – that’s one of the most motivating things you can do. Yes, it takes time. But spending a few minutes every day on this simple task will save you hours fighting a crisis that you may not have seen coming. So shut down your email, don’t take any calls, and get out there and talk to your people!

• Spell it Out. What are your goals? That’s another way of asking how you would know when your biggest problem is solved. When I asked you the question, “What’s your challenge?” what immediately came into your mind? Write it down. Now, write down what you would see if the challenge was perfectly solved – that’s your goal. One of the first steps in solving any challenge is knowing where you want to end up. Sometimes we get so focused on the problem, we forget to focus energy and creativity on the solution. So write it down. And focus on the solution; it’s your goal.

• Be Positive. We not really talking about the “power of positive thinking” here, although that certainly has merit. What we’re talking about is spending more energy focusing on the goal than the problem. You’ll be surprised how that changes your energy level, and how it helps you begin making progress toward achieving that goal.

• Make a Plan. You started by talking more to your team and listening more to them too. You’ve written down one of your major challenges, and your ideal outcome for that challenge. Now it’s time to make a plan.

When my youngest daughter was only two we enrolled her in a neighborhood Montessori Preschool. Within the year, she learned that no task is too hard if you just break it down into individual, small steps. It was a good lesson for all of us, as we watched this tiny child learn to cook, clean, read and write – all by breaking each task down into small, easy-to-manage steps.

Learn to write out your challenge, spell out your goal, and then outline, step by step, what needs to happen to achieve that goal.

Pretty soon, you’ll be achieving your goals, one by one, and aiming for higher, more exciting goals.

You’ll be able to take those challenges and consider them solved.

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