A Little Difference

Communication! Communicate often and communicate consistently! Your employees desire to know what is going on with your company. They want to know the good, the bad and the ugly. An informed employee can make informed choices about the actions they take each and every day to support the company.

It has been proven that engaged employees provide better Customer service.
If that is the case then why are so many companies hesitant to engage their employees?
Perhaps they don’t understand how to engage them? Or is it because they don’t understand the value of doing so?
Maybe it is because they think that engagement is extremely costly?Maybe they misunderstand the idea of employee engagement?
In order to increase engagement it is critical that everyone in the organization buy into the idea?
Engagement is about creating autonomy for each and every employee, it is about ensuring everyone understands the value of the work that they perform, it is about letting your employees know that you value their contributions.
Wouldn’t you rather deal with organizations whose employees are engaged? Google, Go Daddy, Build A Bear, Nordstrom’s, Boston Pizza. These stand out from the others. They are great companies to interact with.
What is stopping you from creating the same environment?

It is absolutely critical that you work with your employees to determine valid responses when problems occur. Your ability to resolve the problem satisfactorily can mean the difference between keeping or losing a Customer. Most Customers undersand that problems happen.

So what works best?
1. Determine the common types of problems that occur.
2. Come up with a resolution to each type of those problems.
3. Empower your employees to offer those resolutions to the dissatisfied Customer.
4. If none of these are satisfactory then allow the Customer to speak with a Manager who has a level two resolution ready.

What does this do for you?
*Provides your frontline employees the ability to resolve problems. This will likely give them more job satisfaction.
*It speeds up the resolution process because each employee is empowered to address.
*In those instances that the Customer does accept the resolution it makes them happier more quickly. No waiting on line for a “manager”. Your employee will be the hero.
*It helps build Customers for life.

What not to do when your Customer has a complaint.
1. Argue with them.
2. Tell them they are wrong.
3. Tell them you are right.
4. Fail to resolve the issue leaving the Customer to stew even longer.

Stuff happens. How you resolve it is up to you. Failure to resolve it is a sure fire way to lose your Customers.

When this website was created we were hoping to involvement from from people like you. People interested in good serice and the impact that has. Our desire was to create a groundswell of folks interested in seeking out outstanding service and then allow us to recognize those service providers for a job well done. Well, we haven’t had a lot of interest in that. If we were to ask for examples of poor service would we get more participation? We know there are people out there busting their tails each day to make sure they provide superior service. Are we just not noticing it? Are we not gettting it? Are we not taking the time to recognize it? Thoughts??

I wonder sometimes whether Companies really understand the value of employee engagement? It seems that today so many employers see employees, associates, etc as adversaries. How does one get an employer to understand that this is so far from the truth. I believe that 90% or more of employees come to work to do a good job. They want to provide value and feel good about their day. They want to make a difference.
Why do employers make it so difficult? An employee/employer relationship should not be antagonistic.
Most employers do not have a clue about what it takes to make a happy employee. If they did, they would capitalize on the fact that a happy employee will lead to a happy Customer. I believe they would be quite amazed at how little an employee really does want. A kind word, recognition of their efforts, perhaps some flexible hours, a new kind of filing system, acknowledgement of some personal issue going on, a question about the photo on the desk. You know it may be even as simple as you knowing their name, saying hello in the morning and goodbye in the evening. Believe it or not there are actually bosses out their that don’t know all of the names of their direct reports!
Come on bosses. Employees are not all out to get you. Recognize them and they will amaze you!
For your own sake it is time to start taking care of your employees. These days when we are all so concerned about the bottomline it is absolutely critical you start taking care of your most valuable resource. So many employers say this but very few do. Which is it? Do you just provide lip service or do you actually value your employees and their contribution to your paycheck?

Have you ever thought about the impact your employees have on Customer Service? If your employees are satisfied they are more likely to ensure that your Customers are satisfied as well.
Do you agree?

I would appreciate your feedback on where you have found outstanding Customer Service. I believe it is harder and harder today as compamies are laying off employees and people become more and more concerned about their jobs. What do you think needs to happen to bring back Customer Service? My idea was to recognize outstanding performers and create a groundswell of high performers. Is that doable?