Customer Service Excellence

Ever notice the little random things that make your day a little brighter? The petrol attendant cleaning your windshield? The friendly cashier at your local supermarket who  tells you about an item on special? Or even the Uber driver turning up your favourite song? These are the little gestures and skills that contribute towards excellent customer service skills

Customer service is a vital aspect of any organisation, but excellence is a skill that must constantly be learnt and practised. It not only applies to external existing customers, but also to potential customers and internal stakeholders.

First, you have to determine customer strengths and weaknesses within your organisation by asking the following questions:

What does service excellence mean to you?

What do you already know are the gaps?

What do you know works for sure?

What would you like your organisation to do differently?

Once these are identified, consider these pointers to help you and your people brush up on service excellence;

Persuasive and clear communication skills - Finding strategic and easy to follow methods of communication are helpful in diffusing customer conflicts. Whether this means developing a script to follow and adjusting it to different clients, or having an incentive that will help them move past the incident

Empathy - Make friendly conversation with your customer, ask about the problem they're experiencing and empathise with them. Engage and ask questions. It makes them feel heard.

Patience - It's not just a virtue, it also is a vital tool to have when dealing with consumers. Make sure to listen to them, walk them through several steps as many times as they want to. This will not only create a safe environment for them, but sharpens your people skills as well as helps you navigate various issues calmly

Responsibility - Responsibility always reassures customers that an organisation cares about the experience of their users and also prompts loyalty when an organisation takes accountability for their mistakes. Apologies go a long way, especially if they are personalised. Offer customers a discount on their next order, throw in free shipping to help soothe logistical issues they've had. That is a winner!

Naturally, customer service all comes back to humanity and how we treat others the way we should be treated. It is a human experience that benefits both the organisation and the customer, but speaks to the value of serving others with kindness

Here's a clip of Johnny's story and the little gestures he made that went a very long way for his customers:

Watch me