Happiness is at the root of stellar customer service. Think of it as a merry-go-round – sales staff turn prospects into new customers; but it’s service that turns new customers into repeat ones. It’s service that makes customers happy, and contented customers are easier to deal with than fuming ones. Which, of course, makes staff happier too.
Good customer service can make or break a company. A product can be top-of-the-range and selling for a bargain, but if the sales representatives don’t have great customer service skills, it won’t matter. Service should therefore be a number one priority to any business.
Customer service involves many things, says Willie Ong, Assistant Vice President, Ascott Centre for Excellence. It requires a great attitude, a deep knowledge of the business, and a genuine desire to help customers get what they want. That’s not just the product or service in question. Customers also want those goods provided in a positive manner so they can feel good about the transaction into the future as well.
Ong says Ascott uses both in-house and outside expertise to train its staff in this make-or-break area of business. “With insights garnered over the years, our customer service training curriculum is based on real-world scenarios that our course participants are trained to manage and deliver with a winning edge.”
Singapore’s Wing Tai Clothing’s maxim outlines a similar goal. In order to provide quality service, it says employees must possess the right knowledge, skills and attitude. It ensures this through regular product and trend seminars.
The policy has had some recent success. Liza Adalina Coelho, a shop supervisor at Dorothy Perkins, a Wing Tai Clothing-owned retail store, won a Customer Relationship Excellence Award last year. This regional service award, organised by the Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Customer Service Consortium, was given to only seven customer service professionals in Singapore.
So how do you go about teaching and training customer service?. As experts tell HRM, video training is fast-gaining popularity as a cost-effective training tool. It involves a one time cost for videos and other materials. And with the films available in a variety of media, there is rarely any need to update systems before putting the training into practice.
Video training can be done within a group at the workplace, or sent home with an employee for some self-study there. The videos give concrete learning skills and display scenarios to help employees identify what types of customer service skills are needed in any given situation. These courses usually include simple tips for improving customer service, activities for team building and confidence, and role-playing ideas so that employees can practice the skills they just viewed. They also provide motivational advice to keep employees enthusiastic about customer service.
Another advantage of video training is that it is a one-time cost. Businesses can train current employees now, as well as future employees as they come on board. The materials are also available for refresher courses or updates on specific areas.
Singapore’s Service Quality (SQ) Centre runs a training programme called “Say Hello to Service”. This aims to develop staff skills and understanding when it comes to interacting with customers over the phone.
The SQ Centre says staff need a confident mindset to handle phone transactions and the know-how to use the right choice of words to diffuse difficult situations. By the end of the training, participants are able to project a polite and professional image on the phone, listening empathetically and still working to meet customer needs and expectations.
Things are different when customer service happens in person. The SQ Centre runs a similar programme on the importance of good grooming and encouraging staff to present themselves in the best possible manner. It says the professional polish helps to create lasting impressions and project the corporate image that customers expect.
Hong Kong Disneyland thinks of its employees as ‘cast members’ and its customers as ‘guests’. It places a great emphasis on ensuring the first group ensures a “magical” experience for everyone in the second.
Guest service training is integral to creating memorable guest experiences. Each cast member – even the managers and accountants – go through rigorous training when they first join the company. Frequent refresher courses, tailored to their individual roles, are also on the cards throughout their employment.
This service philosophy dates back to the days of Walt Disney, who founded the company in 1923.
Damien Lee, Director of HR Services, Hong Kong Disneyland, says the training has a very real and immediate impact, with 90% of guests saying they would revisit or recommend the experience to others. “This reflects our guests’ enjoyment of their visit,” he says. “Our cast members strive to create wonderful memories for our guests to share with friends and families.”
“Customer complaints are actually like preventative medicine providing us with advanced warning,” says Mary Sandro, founder of ProEdge Skills, a US-based consultancy. “By the time bad customer service hits an organisation’s financial statements, forget the medicine. It’s time for emergency surgery.”
Studies suggest that the root cause of customer complaints can be traced back to one of three areas: individual employees, the company, or the customer, with 80% of complaints traceable to the last two categories. By listening carefully, an organisation can identify opportunities for training employees, improving products and services, and educating customers with every complaint received.
Wing Tai Clothing has implemented a personalised customer service hotline to handle all enquiries and complaints. Retail service officers personally answer all calls, listen to the issues, and take responsibility for working with other departments within the organisation to find a solution for customers.
“By providing a single point of contact for our customers, we save them time and trouble from being transferred from department to department to have their issues heard and needs met,” a company spokesman tells HRM. “If the complaints are regarding our products or service quality, they are documented and follow-ups are conducted to make sure the gaps are rectified in future.”
More often than not, the culprit is the actual product or service being provided, explains Sandro. There may be an inherent flaw in the design or there could be a glitch in the distribution channel that causes dissatisfaction. Even if everything is perfect, marketing and advertising campaigns, or salespeople can inflate value and create customer expectations that are impossible to satisfy.
“Customer complaints are never easy to hear but if we shift from being defensive to opportunistic, complaints can be our best friend,” Sandro says. “If we do not listen, rest assured, the financial statement will communicate the news eventually.”
Once considered one of the poorer service destinations in Asia, Singapore is quickly improving its customer service skills. The Global Competitiveness Report, by the World Economic Forum, shows it is now ranked 10th in the world, having jumped five places over the year to November 2008.
Singapore was ranked 15th in 2007, and 26th in 2006.