Improving Workplace Customer Service

Introduction

One of the most important stakeholders in any business is the customer. Therefore, quality interaction between the organization and the client is the basic key to success. The employees are responsible for portraying the most upright image of the company to ensure they cater to the needs of the customer guaranteeing high levels of client retention. In this case, customer service is depicted as a culture of service to the consumer that permeates through the entire company. Therefore, when the provided service is below expected levels of excellence, it will heavily affect the enterprises performance in the market. The executive management and other staff with managerial duties share the responsibility of improving the workplace customer service through a number of strategies as presented below.

Discussion

Training

One of the most effective means of improving workplace customer service is training practices. The employees should note that the primary factor of achieving effective customer service is through clear communication. In this case, the customer should clearly understand the message that the worker wishes to convey. The voice tone and use of authentic positive language is a vital aspect in guaranteeing a clear communication (Kelly, 2014). The training agents should be experts in communication and have the skills that the organization wishes to impart on its workforce. The training sessions will also involve various practical instances where the employees depict a scenario that they may encounter with customers as a means of fully understanding how they can communicate. This practice will make certain that corrections are made before interacting with the clients.

Work Ethic

Another important factor for improving customer service is through the development of work ethic. In this regard, consumers appreciate a company representative who understands the problem or concerns that they have encountered as it is (Solomon, 2014). This ability is important where the customer feels the member of staff can appropriately provide an immediate and effective solution. Through developing work ethic, employees will manage their time well such that time spent solving a problem for one customer is substantial to prevent delaying others who also have existing concerns at the time (Solomon, 2014). In light of this, a worker demonstrates that he or she has a clear focus on the objectives and goals that have been set in relation to their roles such that they can strike a balance in its performance.

Knowledge

In an effort to provide quality customer service, an employee should have knowledge of the trends in the market particularly on issues that are affecting the organization. The organization should establish a culture that requires employees to keep learning and stay focused on the issues that are affecting them in relation to the products offered (Kelly, 2014). The client is usually dependent on the organization for direction and guidance on how to tackle the problems they encounter. If the questions that the consumer is asking become too technical, the staff should identify the experts in the discipline who can assist them or alternatively learn more on the issue to effectively solve the problem. Additionally, the employee should understand the importance of honesty such that when one does not have an answer for the predicament he or she should state clearly that they do not know rather than incorporating ideas that may worsen the situation.

Respect

It is a common phrase in the world of business that the customer is always right. This concept identifies the nature of interaction where the company representative should not depict a negative attitude towards the customer (Solomon, 2014). The employee should maintain a cheerful tone or portray empathy depending on the situation. The workers should have the ability to identify the difference of these scenarios. In the case where the actions of the representative are at fault accepting blame is a critical factor. Keeping the happiness of the customer in mind is the integral factor in this interaction (Kelly, 2014). The worker should demonstrate their ability to keep a cool head to avoid getting into heated arguments or hurling of insults with the client.

Adaptability

To establish an effective and quality provision of customer service, the organization should demonstrate the ability to tackle their different needs. It is evident that despite the company having a target group of customers, each one of them is unique. In some cases, there are those who appear to change personalities each time they visit the store or workplace. The company representatives should understand the different scenarios and develop skills to tackle them as they come (Solomon, 2014). In this case, it is important that an employee can accurately deduce the mood of a consumer even before speaking to them to adapt to their current state and effectively provide the service they desire. The highlight factor is the ability of the employee to learn from different experiences.

Conclusion/Recommendation

The provision of quality customer service is an important factor in the success of a business. As the company continues to grow it becomes more difficult to tackle the issues affecting the consumers hence the need to deploy representatives who will depict the image, attitude and thinking process of the organization. Therefore, the techniques used in the hiring of such workers are critical in attracting the most qualified individuals or those who portray the potential of developing such traits. The organization should harbor the required customer service attitudes within the company culture such that it becomes a part of daily operation for the entire workforce from the senior executives to the entry level workers. 

References

Kelly, T. (2014, Oct 17) 4 Practical Ways to Improve Your Customer Service Right Now . Fast Company, Retrieved from https://www.fastcompany.com/3037201/4-practical-ways-to-improve-your-customer-service-right-now 

Solomon, M. (2014, Oct 6) 6 Ways to Improve Customer Service Culture (And 6 To Avoid). Forbes, Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/micahsolomon/2014/10/06/6-dumb-things-that-wont-improve-your-customer-service-culture-and-5-that-actually-work/#743674520228