Developing Service Standards - Part 2

Service standards set a target for companies to meet customer needs through the use of its people, systems and technology.  These standards empower management to “set the bar” for behavioral expectations.  When developing service standards, they should:

• Be planned and agreed upon by your staff affected by the standard
• Be created carefully
• Be stated in writing
• Meet customer needs
• Be clearly written
• Be supported by management
• Be changed if they are not working or are outdated
• Be added to
• Reflect organizational goals
• Be communicated effectively and continually

Courtesy Standards for In-Person Customer Contact

• Greet customers in a friendly way as they enter your office.  If you are on the phone or busy with another customer, acknowledge the customer non-verbally immediately with a smile and eye contact.  Your greeting should flow and be natural for you but should consist of:
  • Greeting such as “good morning, good afternoon”
  • Your name
  • “May I help you?”
  • Note:  If the customer interrupts your greeting and you don’t have time to say everything at first, be sure that you let the customer know your name sometime during the conversation, and also be sure to let them know you are willing to help them.

• Make eye contact with customers every time you speak to them.  Make them feel welcome.

• All conversations should conclude with:
  • Agreement with the customer on the next step to be taken if their question wasn’t completely during the interaction
  • Confirm that they have no additional questions or concerns that you can help with
  • A word of thanks for their visit, inquiry, purchase, etc.  .
  • Restate your name and encourage the customer to call you if they have any other questions or need anything.

• If you are with a customer and the phone rings, excuse yourself and pick up the phone.  Ask the caller to hold, transfer the call if appropriate, and/or get the customer’s phone number and promise to return the all as soon as possible.

• Do everything you can to answer the customer’s question directly rather than transferring to another party.  If you don’t know the complete answer, explain to the customer that you are going to see if you find someone with that answer, excuse yourself, and then call the appropriate person. 

• If you must turn your customer over to another department, explain to the customer why you must do so. 
  • Enlist the customer’s approval to do so – use the customer’s name. 
  • Call the party you whom you would like to enlist support from, and request their permission to help. Briefly explain the situation and the customer’s question before asking them to come to you.
  • When the new staff member arrives, introduce the customer to the new person and briefly explain the scenario.  “Customer, I am certain that Johnny will do his best to help.  Thanks again, Customer.”

Next weeks email will feature In-the-Field Service Standards!

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