Sep 03, 2014 By Jeff Toister

Three Strategic Tweaks That Will Improve Your Service

in Featured, Customer Service

The legendary customer service companies know something most of us don’t.

It’s not their strategy. Their strategies are extensively written about in books, magazines and blogs. These strategies are widely copied, yet without the same success.

So, what’s their secret?

Here are three strategic tweaks that help the legends become legendary.

Tweak #1: Share the Vision

Most companies have something that defines their brand of service. It might be a corporate mission, a vision statement, values or a slogan. The great companies make sure every employee understands this definition and lives by it.

This definition, called a customer service vision, serves as a compass to point people in the right direction. It guides strategy, investment, training and even employees’ daily decisions.

The key test is to be able to ask any employee two questions and receive consistent and clear answers:

What is our company’s customer service vision?
How do you contribute to that vision in your job?

Tweak #2: Align Your Employees With Outstanding Service

Companies make employee-related decisions every day that impact customer service, but customer service is hardly given any thought when these decisions are made.

The best companies create a deliberate alignment between their customer service vision and their employees.

Here are four questions that can help you discover that alignment in your organization:

Do you consistently hire employees who are passionate about your brand of service?
Are employees trained on the customer service vision so they can use it as a guide?
Are policies and procedures written to reflect the customer service vision?
Do leaders regularly discuss the customer service vision with their team?

Legendary customer service organizations can confidently say “yes” to all of these questions.

Tweak #3: Connect the Survey to Business Results

Most companies track some form of customer feedback, often through a survey. The results are tallied and efforts are made to improve the score. The great companies establish a firm connection between their survey and business results. They realize that a good survey score doesn’t matter if it doesn’t translate into tangible success.

At a strategic level, their survey program is dedicated to helping increase revenue, referrals and customer retention through better customer service.

At a tactical level, they use the survey to identify the top problems plaguing their customers so those problems can be solved.

At an individual level, they follow-up with upset customers to try to win back their business.

These companies become obsessed with customer feedback. Not with the score, but with listening to their customers and learning how they can make things better.

The Difference is Execution

Legendary customer service companies don’t really know anything the rest of us don’t. They’re simply more committed to customer-centric strategies. They focus on doing a few important things really, really well.

About the Author

Jeff Toister is the author of Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About It, a book that reveals hidden obstacles to outstanding service. His company, Toister Performance Solutions Inc. helps clients identify these obstacles so they can improve customer service.