How to Develop Customer Service Wizards

– Lucy Glennon specializes in customer service training and recruitment and hiring. She can be reached at 866.645.2047 or lucyg@hireguru.com. www.hireguru.ca.

CUSTOMER SERVICE – A stellar customer service provider sticks out like a rose in a field of thorns. I call them ‘wizards’, as they have a seemingly innate ability to deal with almost anybody on any level, make them feel good about the company, the products and the service, and send them on their way a true fan.

Are they born with this innate ability? Or, if not, where does it come from? Wizards are a reflection of four key aspects of customer service delivery.

1. Hire the right person for the job. Nothing comes across more clearly than a service provider who doesn’t like their job. Witness many call centers with unmotivated, poorly trained and ‘only a number’ employees. They simply don’t want to be there. 
2. Make time to train the employee in all aspects of the job and the companies’ expectations. The ‘sit by me’ method of launching new employees often means you are passing on someone else’s shortcomings and lack of knowledge to a new employee and passing on responsibility for training to someone who may not be equipped for that role. Have a structured plan for getting a new employee fully trained. It is an investment in your company
3. Ensure your new employee has a supportive supervisor, coach or mentor that will work closely with that person over time to monitor and improve their skills and behaviours. Learning by trial and error is time consuming and de-motivated for an employees, particularly when mistakes are not used as learning experiences.
4. Reward progress and achievements regularly. Most employees want to be appreciated and understanding what motivates them is the job of their supervisor.  Recognition can be a ‘thank you’, a public display of thanks, a monetary reward, a token of appreciation, or a slap on the back. Whatever it is, make sure supervisors catch people doing things right on a regular basis.

When employees are happy and valued in a workplace, it shows.