Customer-friendly service culture: 10 tips

If you as a manager want to improve your customer service, you should first establish a corresponding corporate culture: a holistic concept in which people are at the center of organizational processes. This is not easy. But the following ten tips can support you in your endeavor.

1. formulate a mission statement

Your mission statement should reflect the company's core values with regard to customer service. It should be short enough to be memorable - but long enough to be meaningful. Write your mission statement in an understandable and impactful way so that all employees grasp the essence of the intended changes.

2. develop a corporate mission statement

Not everyone realizes what good customer service looks like on the first day they start their business. For that, you need to be proactive. It's easier for your staff if they can use a mission statement - a longer version of your mission statement - as a guide. Formulate this mission statement so succinctly that it could be printed on a card and pocketed.

3. focus on personal responsibility

For a contact center to operate efficiently, employees should be empowered to act. Make sure that your supervisors explicitly point this out to them and support them in doing so. Keep bringing up the principle of empowerment in your training sessions and have managers reinforce it. Demonstrate this attitude by recognizing and rewarding employees who show initiative.

To ensure that empowerment doesn't just remain lip service, you need to communicate one thing clearly: Every employee has the right (after a certain training period, of course) to make his or her own decisions, even if they turn out to be costly. This is an important part of the learning process and the most important operational point you need to focus on when creating a service culture.

4. consider personality as the most important hiring criterion

To keep it short: Place more emphasis on certain personality traits of the candidate during interviews than on his/her experience (nevertheless, professional experience should of course be appreciated and taken into account).

When creating rosters, look for truly service-oriented employees and give them the tools they need to be actionable. After all, frontline managers are among the most important players in building and maintaining an optimal customer service culture.

5. involve the executives in your onboarding process

To establish a culture of service, involve the CEO or management directly in the training. There's nothing more effective than having executives present when you want to show that your company takes customer service seriously. In this way, you demonstrate that leadership has a direct interest in the performance and success opportunities of customer service employees. It also communicates the mission statement and company mission from the outset through the executive level.

6. start each shift with a standup meeting

Whether you call it a Daily Huddle, Standup Meeting or Team Meeting, a recap of key service principles at the beginning of the shift is optimal for getting employees in the mood for the day. This ritual can become a catalyst for your service culture, especially if employees are allowed to take turns leading the meeting. On the one hand, it serves as a direct exchange and consolidation of expertise throughout the group; on the other hand, it offers employees the chance to develop leadership skills.

To establish service optimization strategies throughout the company, a daily reminder of the principles of customer service is excellent. It promotes a sense of togetherness and morale among those on whom success directly depends: the agents who are in direct contact with the customer.

7. avoid management that is remote from employees

Employee proximity is another important aspect of creating a customer service culture. If a manager hides in his office, he misses countless opportunities to support his team and the service culture. And that brings us back to hiring criteria: Make sure the right people are in the right positions. This will ensure that your managers are approachable and happy to help.

8. revise your customer service trainings

Training is not necessarily considered relevant to a company's culture. But this is not true of a customer service culture. Service employees should absolutely learn the rules, processes, and touchpoints that make up their day-to-day operations. Make them aware of the many ways your company caters to the customer. If you take the time to select top candidates, you should also invest in the best possible training.

9. eliminate the responsibility thinking

"Not my job" - Getting such phrases out of the heads of employees and managers must be a concern for any company with customer service ambitions. Everyone should be ready to lend a hand during peak times.

A lateral approach solves practical problems, boosts morale, and clearly shows all employees that everyone in the company is working toward the same, common goal.

10. encourage collaborative thinking

When a customer service breakdown occurs, encourage all departments to work together to find the reasons and ways to avoid it in the future. This not only leads to better results, but also benefits the corporate culture - because it shows what is valued in your company. Remember: acting responsibly and making a sincere effort to learn from past mistakes are the cornerstones of any customer service culture.

If you take these ten pieces of advice to heart, you'll be well on your way to a service culture that will benefit your company and your customers in the long run.

Author:
David Evans is Head of Product Management at Vonage. He has more than 20 years of experience in Innovative Software and over 12 years of product management experience. With his team at Vonage, Evans takes a customer-centric approach to product development and is always looking for new ways brands can connect with their customers to drive loyalty and growth.