How Do Employees' Service Skills Come Across to Customers?

By David Saxby, Measure-x

Customers don’t give a darn if a utility’s employees struggle daily with a variety of challenges. What they want to know is whether employees care about them. One way employees can demonstrate this care is through the service they provide. But they need to make sure their actions and words reflect their commitment to excellent service.

In other words, having good service skills is one thing but making sure those skills come across properly with customers is another matter entirely. I urge utility employees who provide customer service of any kind to take the following survey to assess how well their service skills translate into their daily actions. They should answer each question with a numerical response as follows: 1 is Never, 2 is Rarely, 3 is Occasionally, 4 is Often and 5 is Always.

1. I greet every customer in a courteous and friendly manner whether in person or on the phone.
    

2. My choice of words, my tone of voice and my body language clearly communicate to every customer that I care about them.
    

3. When my customers speak to me concerning their needs and problems, they always have my full attention.
    

4. I say thank you to every one of my customers at the end of the interaction with them.
    

5. I never use technical jargon. I use terms that my customers understand.
    

6. I am friendly with all my customers whether or not they are friendly with me.
    

7. When I make a promise to a customer, I follow through.
    

8. I identify my customers’ needs and appropriately match our products and services to satisfy their needs.
    

9. I try to resolve unhappy customers’ challenges in a way that is satisfactory to both of us.
    

10. I apologize for the problem the customer has experienced and try to resolve it promptly. When a customer complains, I realize that it’s an opportunity to solve the problem because the customer wants to continue to be a loyal customer.
     

11. I look at every problem from the customer’s perspective.
     

12. I smile when I interact with every customer in person or on the phone.

Now add up the numerical answers. A score of 60 is excellent. If your score is lower than 60, your commitment to superior customer service may not always be evident in your daily customer interactions. Consistency of mood and attitude is critical in service. Treating people well – or not – according to one’s whim of the moment is not what service excellence is about.

Here are some more tips for improving customer-service skills.

• Give a friendly greeting. Say “good morning” or “good afternoon,” then state your name and ask how you can help the customer.

• Smile! A smile always comes across in your tone of voice whether on the phone or in person.

• If a customer is rude, don’t take it personally. He or she is probably having a bad day and did not intend to take it out on you. Be polite and friendly. Make it a good interaction so the customer can come away with a good feeling. Perhaps you can get a smile out of the customer. Being rude back, whether intentional or not, can escalate the problem.

• Find out what your customer needs or wants. Then help them get it.

• Show customers that you care about their concerns. Listen to their concerns and work to solve the problem to the satisfaction of everyone.

• If you don’t know the answer, don’t just tell the customer you don’t know. Ask if you can place them on hold while you find the answer or ask them if you can call back. If you are going to call back, remember to get their name and phone number. Then get back to the customer promptly.

• Thank the customer for calling or stopping by.

 

Utility employees who pay attention to how they use their service skills will discover that they can take the quality of their service to a higher level.

 -------------------------------------

David Saxby is president of Measure-X, a Phoenix, Ariz.-based measurement, training and recognition company that specializes in customer service and sales skill training for utility companies.  He can be reached at 888-644-5499 or via e-mail at david@measure-x.com.  Visit the Measure-X Web site at www.measure-x.com.

[Home] [Training] [Contact Us]