Google

10 Customer Service Quality Statements to Measure up Against


It might sound quick and simple, to say how well your business does in satisfying it's customers. Hearing such as:-

"We're increasing our turnover by 14% year to date"

"Our customer complaints are now less than 4% or our transactions"

...might sound like music to your ears, but that's just the time you need to be very careful.

A regular measurement of where you are as your organisation, not depending on some of the easy-to-fake figures, might just make the difference in how well you are doing now, and into the future.

Try these quality statements and set up a mechanism whereby you review them monthly - yes, that's right, monthly. This needs to be thorough and objective. And maybe even the scores made by a cross- section of your people in all areas of your business - then you get objectivity and a true picture of how you are scoring. It is a great activity to score each of these out of 10, make a tracker month by month and each time you review, ask yourself the question:-

"What would we need to do to move our score up by 3 points"
Do it point by point and then, after you have that 3-point question, work out a monthly action plan, so that step-by-step, you gradually improve. (Note:- If you are too near a score out of 10 to have three points to go - upgrade your statement!).

Then and only then will your improvement be sustainable and you can reset the questions over time to a higher standard. Then you truly will be The Best in class!

The Quality Statements:-

  • We use a variety of staff to monitor customer service on a regular and consistent basis

  • We know and can clearly state our customer groups

  • We listen to customers about our products and proactively seek to redress issues

  • We notice and congratulate our people and teams when they perform well

  • Senior management are fully and visibly engaged in customer activities

  • Our people enjoy the challenge of changes

  • Our organisation and our people have aligned values

  • Our customers find working with us easy and pleasurable

  • We know how our people feel about working here and always respond to make it better

  • We have teams and individuals who can respond quickly to changes circumstances, whatever they are Keep a track of these - visually represent it somewhere very publicly for your people. Involve many of your them in monitoring, finding solutions and taking accountability for change, where needed and your business, your people and you will thrive.

    One final point. Starting is good, being able to demonstrate your success in 12 months is another thing - as is still doing this review at that time.

    Martin Haworth is a Business and Management Coach. He works worldwide, mainly by phone, with small business owners, managers and corporate leaders. He has hundreds of hints, tips and ideas at his website, http://www.coaching-businesses-to-success.com. (Note to editors. Feel free to use this article, wherever you think it might be of value - it would be good if you could include a live link)

    ...helping you, to help your people, to help your business grow...


    MORE RESOURCES:

    RELATED ARTICLES


    Proofs of Delivery and Logistics: Speeding Throughput and Avoiding Pitfalls
    It should be a straightforward business scenario: making sure that the delivery documentation from the supplier or haulier matches up with the documentation at the target destination.However life is rarely straightforward, and if problems do arise, order completion times and cash flow will inevitably suffer as a result.
    My Child Has Opie Eye!
    7:00 a.m.
    A White Paper: Profiting with Kindness
    In 2002, there wasn't much interest for Kindness in business, and some business people would question, "What does kindness have to do with business, anyway?" Is this a for real question or just to prove a point? Or perhaps they couldn't figure out what being kind really had to do with business. Or perhaps the word was a jargon word, an unfamiliar language.
    Identify Your Silent Customer Service Message
    With the growing number of people in every business sector, doing business requires creativity and ingenuity. The entrepreneur that understands the importance of thinking differently is the entrepreneur that sees their businesses growing.
    Dont Eliminate The Middle Man - Add One
    Today, there are situations when we actually add a "middle person" instead of eliminating one for increased service efficiency. If it's cost-effective and demand is high, then proper market positioning will make it a worthwhile endeavor.
    Empowering Customer Service Vital
    It never fails to amaze me how many companies have employees who are empowered to offer former customers wonderful incentives to lure them back, yet their customer service representatives have the ability to offer virtually nothing to convince an unhappy customer to stay.Powerless, these CSRs often actually ignore customers' requests and declarations of their intent to leave, even encouraging them to seek out another company!They often repeat the few phrases they're allowed to say over and over again, further infuriating the customers.
    Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fonder
    However, in the world of business, this cliché may not necessarily be true. Sometimes it can be more like 'Out of Site, Out of Mind'.
    Service Equals Performance Equals Service
    Service can be described as a "performance" of some kind involving two parties whereby one party is the benefactor and the other party is the performing party receiving some type of monetary payment. The value of the Service depends on the personal experience of the benefactor.
    Are You Giving Your Customers Enough Reasons To Return To Your Business?
    Good customer service just isn't enough anymore in the marketplace in which we live. Times are changing and business owners are learning that they need to create such an awesome customer loyalty program that they are always at the forefront of their customers' minds on a regular basis.
    Your Voice Print
    "Mountains are built one pebble at a time and climbed one step at a time." This is a quote of mine that I personally put into practice each day as I progress towards fulfilling my WHY in life.
    Minimize The Pain of Check Recovery
    $350 million in bad checks are written each and every week. That fact alone makes bad checks a serious problem for American businesses.
    RETAIL GREETERS: Sales Builders or Customer Turnoff?
    Do you need greeters or should you avoid them? That is the perplexing question many retail organizations are struggling with today. Often touted in the press as the perennial example of the benefits to employing greeters,Walmart has hung on to its practice faithfully.
    What's in a Name?
    Different people call their Customers by different names. If they don't have Customers, they have Clients, purchasers, licensees, users, patients, members, franchisees, or buyers.
    Is Your CRM (Customer Relationship Management) System Doomed To Fail?
    "Right, People. Let's blast out that mail campaign we've been planning for so long.
    Dealing with Disgruntled Customers
    No matter how hard you try, in business you simply can't please everyone. You could have a highly trained customer service squadron and an award-winning product, but still you'd have some buyers who just weren't happy.
    Customer Service - How Good Are YOU?
    At 8.30 am a wealthy client (on his way to make a presentation to the local council at 9 am) walked into a store that sells photocopiers.
    Invalid Excuses for Poor Business Results - The Weather
    Note to Kmart: It wasn't about the weatherIn the 1970s Kmart was the retailer to beat. No matter what happened, they seemed to turn profit.
    Accountants / Lawyers Do Yourself a Favor - What do Your Customers Want?
    In my day to day practice in strategic human resource management I often come across customers looking for a 'good' accountant or 'good lawyer'. As an accountant myself the common thread for a 'good acountant or lawyer' seems to be 'I want someone who can explain things in plain english without the jargon'.
    Call Center Services - An Ever Increasing Demand
    Are your company's call center services all that they could be? Even centers that were state of the art a decade or so ago might be out of date and inadequate today. As technology expands, so do clients' expectations regarding communication.
    The Marvelous World of Metaphors
    Recognize metaphors from every angle and round up more insight into your own innovation. Nobody can do it better than you can!A metaphor is a figure of speech in which a word or phrase that means one thing is used to describe an object or ideas to which it is not literally applicable -- a ship is said to plow the sea.