HOW TO GIVE THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE By; Myeshi Briley,MS,HS-BCP

HOW TO GIVE THE BEST CUSTOMER SERVICE

By; Myeshi Briley,MS,HS-BCP

Customer service is essential to every business and if you don't realize it you can be out of business very quickly. In order for your company to succeed you have to get customers to come and stay. The desire to deliver excellent customer care must be embraced by every employee, from the CEO to the latest new hire. Think of customer service as a philosophy, not a department.

Even if your products or services are wonderful and your staff is uniquely talented, what a customer remembers is the direct interaction they had with your company. Whether it’s in person, remote or digital. Give your customers the personal touch. They need more attention than automated email responses. Also your VRU system shouldn’t make them scream in frustration. In addition, when your customers post on social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, reply to them. Post photos and bios on your website so your customers see you and your staff as real people who are there for them. Set up focus groups, interview customers or run a survey to get an idea of what your customers want. Meet your customers on social media, at webinars, interactive websites, trade shows and conventions. They’ll learn from you and you’ll learn from them.

Make sure your policies, procedures and systems, whether for sales, support, delivery or development operations, are absolutely user friendly. In today’s hectic world people are too busy, you must deliver efficient customer service. Prioritize continuous on-line accessible service, personalized service and faster responses. Make use of self-service and community forums to enable customers to find resolutions to issues on their own. After all, millennial consumers prefer trying self-service options before contacting a customer service representative.

Offering self-service can be simple, like posting a list of FAQs or complex like providing a searchable database of solutions. Also consider providing customer service with mobile apps or video streaming. If you run a small business that can’t afford around-the-clock customer-service use an always-on self-service channel. You’ll reap huge benefits from it.  Customers find the convenience of clicking on a company’s web site and easily finding what they need time saving and appealing. Compared to the cost of a fully manned customer service team, a website is a huge cost savings to an organization.

You must also make the online support experience personal. Your verbiage is important. For instance there is a big difference between Submit A Ticket and Email Us, though they may do the same thing. The customer needs to feel that the company leaders and staff are accessible to them and appreciate them as their profit base, the people who are keeping them in business. Also the website needs to convey a clear and positive message to customers of what your products or services are about and what your company stands for.

If your company has an actual customer service team, you need to make sure they are clear on how to interact with your customers and are fully trained in soft skills. Customer service isn’t for everyone. It requires a unique set of communication and people skills. Your customer service representatives need to enjoy speaking with people and helping them. They need to value each customer as an individual, and adjust to different types of calls from different types of people. The most important skill they need is active listening and the ability to think quickly. Your customer service representatives should listen to what each caller is saying and respond directly to that. They need to realize they are there to listen to that customer and to take care of what that caller needs. They representatives must take ownership of the customers issues, follow-up and make sue the customer is satisfied. In order for them to do that you have to empower your customer service reps with the authorization to solve the customers’ issues, even allowing them to offer courtesy credits or refunds if needed.

You must make sure you offer your customers an easy way to leave feedback such as a telephone survey at the end of a call, an email survey sent directly from your CRM tool, or a form on your Contact Us page. Feedback is absolutely necessary for customer satisfaction. Feedback is a win win for your company and your customers. Your company will discover areas that need improvement, and your customers will see that you are dedicated to delivering world class customer care.

Also, encourage feedback from your staff on better ways to serve the customers.  Involve all of your staff in improvement efforts. Help your employees help your organization. Figure out what's working for your company and what your firm needs improvements on. Your company needs to build up a solid reputation of competence to your customers so they’ll have confidence in your organization. That will create loyal customer relationships that will sustain your company long term.  To get to that point and to keep that advantage you have to offer ongoing training to your internal support staff in skills like probing, analysis, data gathering, problem solving and solution implementation.

Also encourage feedback from your customer service employees about their work environment. High morale is essential in that department. Many customer service reps work in harsh conditions of low pay, little to no time off, no empowerment, little management support with supervisors that often won’t even take supervisor calls per customer requests, and an environment with threats of termination for not adhering to strict three minute time limits on customer service calls or for requesting credits on something that’s not the company’s error. Conditions and policies like that are a stab in the back to a company’s customer service initiative. Make sure your customer service team is happy and engaged. Find out how they feel about their working conditions, including training, compensation, opportunities for advancement, and their colleagues and management staff. Then make any improvements needed to improve your customer service team’s morale. If you truly expect your employees to be the best in customer service, you have to treat them as well as you want them to treat your customers.

Clever companies are always looking to improve their customer service for both immediate customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. If you want to succeed long term, your business needs to make a serious ongoing effort to study what it’s doing to attract new customers and what it's doing to maintain existing customers. If you don’t have happy customers, you won’t stay in business.

Sources

http://smallbiztrends.com/2016/03/top-performing-customer-service-companies.html

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235050

http://www.desk.com/success-center/customer-service-principles

https://www.surveymonkey.com/mp/6-keys-improving-teams-customer-service-skills/

http://www.inc.com/guides/improve-your-companys-customer-service.html

https://www.americanexpress.com/us/small-business/openforum/articles/how-to-build-a-business-focused-solely-on-customer-service/

http://www.business-wisdom.com/articles/ArtclDevelopingYour.html

MILLENNIALS HAVE A LOT TO OFFER & CEO'S/ PRESIDENTS DIVERSE IN BUSINESS KNOW IT. By; Myeshi Briley,MS,HS-BCP

Millennials today make up most of the labor force (one in three American employees). Consequently, corporate leaders need to start today to develop the leaders of tomorrow are their companies won’t have much of a future. Most upper executives reached mid-management positions by their mid-thirties, which fast-tracked them to C-level roles later in their career. These same top leaders must in turn develop the talent of millennials, who possess the ability but not the experience. Engage senior leaders to align millennial talent with a shared cohesive vision and direction for your organization.

Millennials Want Mentoring

Millennials would rather be leaders than followers. They find the opportunity to learn from a mentor enticing. By teaming upper management with millennials in ‘reverse mentoring’ you offer the younger generation career path guidance directly from senior executives. They gain a precious peek into the world of top-level management. Plus the firm gets a chance to transfer corporate knowledge to their younger talent.

This generation is eager for training. Consider assigning projects to millennials that allow them to network. Another thing is cross-training on a quarterly basis. Invite professors or business coaches for presentations on various types of management or leadership fundamentals. This will help employees understand the company’s strategic course and its organizational issues.

In addition to career development, you need to tap into this generation's strengths. For that, you must encompass the way millennials engage, grow and learn. You need to work with them and not discourage them. As the president of the Spring Klein Chamber of Commerce, I cater to young entrepreneurs in the area. Half of our board is made up of millennials. I encourage them to bring their ideas to the table. 

Listening to millennials and taking their ideas seriously is the best way to motivate and retain them. Create activities and venues where they can voice their ideas and they’ll propose inspired solutions to issues. Brainstorming meetings allow them to get to know other employees and gain visibility. Give your millennial employees varied responsibilities, propose projects that include a learning component. This generation works harder when challenged.  

Outdated, Rigid Work Styles Hold Them Back

The millennials’ enthusiasm will have a positive influence on your firm. Their connection with social media along with their adaptation to the latest technology is key to your organization’s future. This will prove vital to your company’s development as you look for new, innovative ideas. Keep in mind, they were raised in a digital world and communicate electronically…rather than face-to-face. Relying on mobile platforms: phones, tablets, laptops for work and projects…they collaborate in open gathering spaces and often work from home.

Personal time is important to them. Millennials pursue a balanced life and flexibility. With a focus on results not hours, they don’t have a clocking in and out work style…they might work from home or a coffee house. Set deadlines for them and if they complete their work to your standards, they are finished for the day.

Offer Rapid Progression

Career advancement traditionally depended on seniority, but millennials value results over tenure. Create a strategic plan that illustrates what their future looks like at your firm. Let high achievers, who have the potential to rise up the ranks quickly, do so. Otherwise they’ll get frustrated.

One reason millennials want to rush up the career ladder is compensation, because they begin work with an average debt of $20,000 in student loans. Also, they don’t think they’ll ever see a pension or social security check, so they expect they’ll have to create their own financial independence in retirement. Basically, this generation merely wants to get paid what they’re worth. If you can’t afford raises, offer them more vacation time and flexibility—a day off for a job well done goes a long way with millennials. They are also the most educated generation in history and they are continuous learners, so offering tuition reimbursement programs will increase retention rates.

A Stimulating Career

Millennials want to contribute something to the world and they have a passion for international settings. Most want at least one overseas assignment during their career. They also want to be proud of their employer’s corporate values. They want to work for a company that strives to improve its community. This generation looks for employers with good environmental and social records, and many will leave a company if they find the firm lacks values.

Frequent Feedback

Owning to social media, millennials like instant feedback. A yearly review isn't enough for them. They require frequent, honest feedback in real time. They expect praise for a job well done. Regularly highlight their positive contributions.

Set well-defined targets for millennials and touch base with them often. A transparent management system, detailing how performance is rewarded gives them a feeling of value, and the motivation to work hard. Millennials prefer open communication, so have an open door policy and make yourself accessible. When employees offer constructive criticism, invite them to present a business solution and give it serious consideration.

The Latest Technology

Millennials assume the technology that empowers their personal lives will drive communication and innovation in the workplace. Update your IT plan and provide state of the art technology. However, this generation is more effective at work when they also have access to their  own personal technical devices.

Diversity

The millennial workforce is composed of more minorities and women than any other generation. Consequently, they bring in fresh ideas and contrasting perspectives. Workplace diversity is important to millennials and it helps eliminate challenges stemming from gender and diversity gaps that currently effect many corporations.

Millennials are an asset as they are the future leaders. But their greatest resource is previous generations who went through the same things they are facing: a bad economy and a tightening job market. And  the older generation can learn from the younger one as well. Both offer attributes that complement each other. This is important, as the baby boomers leaving the work force will be replaced by the millennials. So now is the time to prepare for that future. As a CEO I have been a huge leader in understanding the market and changing to help support future leaders.  Loving change is one of my best qualities, when others hate change.

Resources:

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article78789262.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ashleystahl/2015/06/04/managing-millennials-6-musts-for-ceos-who-want-to-get-ahead/#c79fc7f6997e

http://fortune.com/2015/03/01/the-perks-of-hiring-a-millennial/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/taitran/2016/02/21/a-millennial-response-to-an-open-letter-to-yelp-ceo-takeaways-for-millennials-and-companies/#3dbae339433a

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/business/biz-monday/article78789262.html#storylink=cpy

http://texasceomagazine.com/departments/one-gen-x-ceo-cultivates-millennials/