Great culture has the potential to turn your average business into an amazing business. An article written by ICMI points out 5 customer service skills that can help you improve your culture and the wow-factor for customer service. A summary of that article is below:
A poor culture almost ensures that your employees will be running for the exits with your customer experience suffering in the process. Ask your newest hire what they think of the company culture and they can tell you if your culture is attractive or not. Now ask your customers and I bet they can tell you a lot about the culture based on their interactions with customer service.
4 Ways Customer Service Improves Culture:
1. Lead with Empathy
We love the word empathy and for good reason. It’s all about genuinely caring about the feelings of another person. Raise your hand if you don’t have empathy somewhere on a QA form in your call center. Customer service leaders, how do you rate the level of empathy you show to your staff?
2. Watch How You Talk About People
Gossip is a fantastic culture killer. It’s so easy in customer service to get in this mode of customer bashing. I know I’ve been guilty of it. Talking poorly about customers affects your attitude toward those customers. In the same way, talking poorly about other employees has that same effect.
3. Demonstrate a “Can Do” Spirit
Nothing is more deflating to a customer than when they call customer service for help only to hear a “No. Sorry, I can’t help you.” In the exact same way, employees hate hearing this same line internally. When an employee comes to you with a problem, adopt a buck stops here mentality and take responsibility for the solution. Then they get to go back to the customer with a solution rather than a sad face.
4. Lighten Up a Little Bit—Or A Lot
I love nothing more than a customer service professional that is personable and friendly. It’s like talking to a person instead of a robot. In the same way, it’s ok to have a little fun with your colleagues. It’s ok not to be all business all the time. Teams that laugh together stay together!
5. Seek To Understand
Those difficult customers are really the true test. By seeking to understand where the customer is coming from, we set ourselves in the best possible place to work with them. The same goes for employees. Those difficult relationships are going to require extra effort and understanding. Tools that help understand the unique strengths and ability of your team are invaluable.
As leaders, awesome company culture doesn’t just happen and it’s not as simple as planning trips to play paintball or buying lunch for the office. To build a fantastic culture, practice all of those customer service skills that you preach on your most important customers—those people serving your customers.
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