30 Apr 2007


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Customer care

Advice factsheet.

The key to good customer care is communication, both with your customers and your staff.

A good starting point is to look at your working relationship with your staff. Lead by example. It's a well-known fact that if you show care for your employees, they in turn will care for your customers. Delivering a high level of customer service depends on holding on to good staff.

One way of improving staff retention, customer service, store standards and business efficiency is through staff training. Sales staff are at the front-line of your business and therefore need to be trained in the right personal and communication skills. Customer care relies on the spoken skills of your sales staff. Without it your store could never be truly customer friendly.

Staff training also improves employee job satisfaction and along with this good customer care comes naturally. It's about getting to know your customers and their particular needs, thereby giving them a personal service.

Training
Every communication with the customer is vitally important. A satisfied customer will return time and again and recommend your store to others. Just one incident, which results in one dissatisfied customer, could multiply the damage to your reputation when they complain about your store to other customers.

Train your staff in the following communication skills:

Greet customers warmly, by name if possible.
Smile, make eye contact and look and sound cheerful.
Be polite, friendly and speak clearly.
Show a personal interest.
Be helpful. When offering product advice, think about the customer's needs.
Make sure your appearance and that of the store is creating the right impression.

Procedures
Make sure your procedures and systems are working efficiently, as this will ultimately save the customer time and money.

Use reliable suppliers to ensure adequate stock levels, and concentrate on the efficiency of the checkout procedure. Customers will complain if they have to wait too long to be served. Try and provide the most convenient service you can.

If you are out of stock of a particular product, offer to order it for the customer, but make sure that you can keep your promise of delivery date. If there is a delay, inform the customer as soon as possible.

Complaints
Deal with complaints efficiently and learn from them. There may be areas of your business you need to improve.

When handling a complaint from a customer the two important points are to listen and sympathise. Apologise for the problem and establish exactly what the facts of the complaint are. Try to find a solution to the problem and agree with the customer what you will do.

Give your name and contact telephone number so that customer knows who is dealing with the complaint. Keep the customer informed and sort out the problem as a matter of priority. If you are polite and handle the complaint well, it is even possible to convert the complainant into a regular customer.

Give your front-line staff the training and authority to deal with complaints as they arise, rather than waste the customer's time. The member of staff dealing with the customer should take responsibility by apologising on behalf of the business, and you should make it clear that staff should never blame other members of staff for the mistake.

Make regular checks
Regularly look at your business and think about where poor service might arise. When incidents occur, try to find out the root cause of the failure and make improvements accordingly.

Involve your whole team in customer care and ask staff for their suggestions. It is a good idea to reward your staff for excellent customer service. They will then feel valued and will be keen to make the extra effort.

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