“In this ever-changing society, the most powerful and enduring brands are built from the heart. They are real and sustainable. Their foundations are stronger because they are built with the strength of the human spirit, not an ad campaign. The companies that are lasting are those that are authentic.” – Howard Schultz, Starbucks CEO
Has your company adopted a new approach to customer service or do you still view this critical task from the traditional sense of providing for the customer’s needs? Far removed from this thought process, is the new approach to customer service – it looks at this task as a business imperative and an indispensable part of the company’s strategy. Even if your company has been successfully delivering and catering to the needs of the customer’s and ensured that the new approach to customer service is everyone’s onus, there will always be room for improvement. Customers do not remain the same – their needs keep changing and they expect that companies will comply.
A study revealed that many senior leaders of reputed companies believed the company was doing a great job at customer service despite not using the new approach to customer service – that is customer service was not part of their company’s strategy. They were unable to see how great customer service can affect branding, market reputation, acquiring new customers, improving the quality of their products and even in keeping their employees satisfied. In fact, only about 38% of these companies had included customer service in their company’s overall goals. The new approach to customer service is about ensuring that every customer interface treated as part of their journey and each interaction must be personalized and memorable such that customers are encouraged to spread let others know about these experiences.
In the traditional approach, customer service was a department / a lone function – the responsibility of only those members of the company who were part of the customer service teams. However, the new approach to customer service states that customer service must transcend the boundaries of departments and permeate every portion of the company and business. This approach views customer service as an indispensable part of the customer’s journey with the company that every member of the organization must be able to deliver on and proficiently carry out. According to the study (mentioned above) at least 67% of the leaders believed that their company was making significant progress in using the new approach to customer service. This was despite the fact that their benchmarks, metrics and method of delivering service were still traditional. The call centres in such companies still had customer service representatives taking endless calls, following a time in and out routine, answering innumerable queries while monitoring wait time – the assembly line kind of arrangement. In this age of the internet and being constantly connected, this kind of customer service does not fit the bill of new approach to customer service.
We have discussed in the past that for the success of any business, a company must first focus on its employees. They form the base and foundation of any business imperative and the new approach to customer service is no different. It is critical for the leaders and managers of the company to first understand and ‘know’ the people they lead and if we focus only on customer service, the employee cross-section is different than in other departments. The employees are fairly younger (ranging from 20-30 years) than those in other teams. They are keen on moving up the corporate ladder fast and hence do not shy away from learning new skills and putting to test the ones they have. They want to successful with a sound, work life balance and will not hesitate to switch jobs if they believe that another organization could offer these better. Anyone running a business would understand the issues and costs associated with employee turnover and the resultant drop in product and customer service quality. Therefore, the new approach to customer service would be to create a progressive, flexible and employee friendly workplace that would keep these ‘restless souls’ at peace and willing to give their best. This in turn would bring down the attrition rate and save the company costs and associated problems.
In order to retain employees, the new approach to customer service would be to create flexi work hours and arrangements for employees. This has become even more important since companies have begun employing more females. Despite all the modernization and digitization, women typically are still responsible for their homes in addition to their jobs, placing more pressure on them. In such a scenario, providing flexi timings, reduced number of hours, work from home arrangements and other such staggered work situations ensure that employees are able to balance their home and work life and more likely to remain with the company. There is enough ‘smart’ technology available to ensure that despite flexible working arrangements, targets met and the work output remains at the optimum. If companies can manage global businesses, it is not hard to manage local employees working in flexi arrangements. There are a plethora of tools and software to choose from to ensure that customer service representatives too can work from home, even if it is one day in a week – the new approach to customer service.
Before companies can expect employees to change and take on more responsibilities, it is imperative that the policies are congenial to such change. To ensure the highest level of productivity and job satisfaction, there must be enough time afforded to employees to take short ‘refreshing’ breaks in addition to the lunchtime. Employees who may be upset or annoyed about something would be unable to focus on their jobs unless they have some way to vent or let out their frustration. Conversely, if employees can take time to move away from their workspace for a ‘breather’, would come back to their work a lot more energized and comforted, positively affecting the quality of their work. Companies that monitor every single minute of each employee tend to have higher attrition, since employees feel spied on and distrusted. Such employees then would serve the customers with the same feelings of resentment and annoyance.
As a company willing to adopt the new approach to customer service, you must also be prepared to empower and provide opportunities for employees to use their discretion. Over managing tells employees that the company does not trust them enough nor does it consider them smart enough to take small decisions for their daily jobs. Such lack of appreciation is reason enough for employees to be disgruntled and display the same when dealing with customers. The new approach to customer service is about managers and leaders inspiring, leading and sharing their experience and knowledge and then allowing the employees to use this learning to raise the standard of customer service, their own job and the products offered by the company. Mentoring is certainly part of the new approach to customer service as it encourages employees to engage in self-development activities, outperform themselves and do whatever it takes to keep their customers happy. The new approach to customer service takes into account that employees are as interested in the development and success of the company as the leaders since that translates to better opportunities for them.
Employees that consistently display behaviour and performance in line with the new approach to customer service must be recognized and rewarded. This is a sure shot way to keep them motivated. A survey conducted some time back revealed that those employees that received praise and attention from their managers were more effective and motivated than those whose efforts went unnoticed. Recognition and support for efforts and performance are more effective than monetary benefits at times and form a critical part of the new approach to customer service.
Adopting a forward thinking strategy and a new approach to customer service is crucial to optimize productivity and growth and ensure that the employees remain focused on serving the customers in the best manner. If you have not already, perhaps it is time to shun the old and ineffective methods of customer service and switch to a new approach for the benefit of your business and customers.
