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Talking about good customer service and not demonstrating it means you have lost before you even started! As a utility manager, the first step in motivating your staff to provide excellent service is to consistently demonstrate the attitudes and behaviors you want your staff to use with their customers. Following are ten actions that your staff uses to gauge just how serious your commitment to good customer service is. 1. Start the Day off Right We all have days where we get up on the wrong side of the bed and go to work with a less than stellar attitude. As a manager, you need to always remember that your mood affects the mood of your staff. This in turn has an affect on the way they treat the customer. The way you first greet your staff in the morning can set the tone for the rest of the day. Make it a positive greeting! J 2. Discuss Your Feelings, Don’t Vent Them If you find yourself getting angry with one of your staff, you don’t have the luxury of venting your feelings to him or her in a negative way. Letting off steam with a dramatic outburst erodes your relationship with your staff and demonstrates to them a totally unacceptable fashion to deal with customers. Instead, if you get angry with one of your staff, do one of the following: Remain calm Discuss the matter in private, never in front of other people Explain in detail why you are upset, not in general terms that force the staff member to guess why you’re angry Give the person a chance to respond and say how he or she feels, thus avoiding a one-way conversation Come to a mutual solution to the problem 3. Do the Right Thing When you find yourself face-to-face with a difficult customer, your staff will carefully watch and listen to your every move to see how well you deal with the situation. If you handle it like a pro in dealing with difficult people, you teach your staff, by example, how they should act in similar situations. 4. Support Your Staff’s Decisions When customers are upset and they can’t get what they want, they often ask to speak to the manager or supervisor. If your staff has made a decision that enforces company policy and you reverse it, you have just taken the first step toward disempowering them. Why should they bother to stand up for the company if the company won’t stand up for them? We recommend talking to the customer and then discussing the issue briefly with the staff member. If you and the staff member decide to reverse the decision, have the staff member be the one to tell the customer so that the staff member can be the hero in the customer’s eyes. By taking the extra few minutes to collaborate with your staff, you empower and encourage them to be more flexible and resourceful. 5. Be Willing Not to Know the Answer Some supervisors think that being a manager means having to know all the answers to every question that’s fired at them. There will always be times when you won't be able to answer a question, so don’t try and bluff it. Admitting that you don’t know can be a sign of strength that garners trust from those around you. By being open to discovering answers, you encourage your staff to do the same. 6. Learn to Listen Listening to what our customers need can consume a fair portion of our day. Your staff needs to understand that they should not interrupt their customers or jump to conclusions about what the customers are saying. The best way for you to reinforce this message is to learn to listen to your staff when they speak to you. If you cut your staff short or ignore what they are saying, you can guess how well your next listen to your customer pep talk will go over.7. Time to Take Socialize Know your staff and what they are up to in their lives. By all means have your privacy, and respect theirs, but don’t be so distant that you are out of touch with major events such as birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, and so on. Celebrate noteworthy occasions and develop a relationship with your staff that is based upon respect for them as complete individuals rather than just the results they produce. 8. Use Good Telephone Etiquette You should be your staff’s best example of excellent telephone manners. If you do so consistently, your staff will naturally follow your example. Anytime you pick up the phone is an opportunity for you to demonstrate good telephone manners. 9. Thank Your Staff Often Be generous with compliments to your staff and acknowledge their service skills when they’ve done a good job. Don’t assume that they know you appreciate the good job they do - nothing has the same impact as hearing it straight from you. By fostering an environment of recognition and appreciation, you encourage your staff to main-tain consistently high levels of service. The negative attitude that some managers have toward praise . . . “Why should I thank them for doing their job? That’s what they get paid for!” . . . is sure to guarantee staff resentment, which, in one-way or another, is reflected back to customers. 10. Say What You Mean and Mean What You Say Your staff is appreciative when you are straightforward with them. If difficult situations need to be dealt with, your words should match what your body language and tone of voice are already communicating. By being honest and straightforward with your staff, you gain their trust. If they can count on you to say it the way it is when things aren’t going well, they are that much more appreciative of your praise when things are going right.MEASURE-X 888-644-5499 www.measure-x.com The Customer Service Training Experts! |
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