Why Customer Service Training Is Essential For Your Staff

| Thursday, September 9, 2010
By Study IT All

A companies brand can establish itself as both a mental and emotional state in the minds and hearts of customers. A company that lives up to it's brand's promise can and often do charge 100% more than their competition. Because they are satisfied with the products and the service from the company, customers and staff tend to stay longer. That being said, many of us have experienced customer service that is quite far from that of the brand's performance. Many of us have been at the receiving end of extremely poor service delivery and it may have seemed that we knew more about the product or service than the company itself. On other occasions we may have been behind the counter ourselves, providing poor customer service that is inconsistent with our own brand's promise.

Service for products vary from product to product as customer demands and expected measurement of delivery may vary too. Service delivery intensive businesses have more work to do. Staff have the option of either providing service that negates the brand or that supports the brand. There are occasions where one staff member may fulfill the service delivery to a customer, just to have another staff member drop the ball. These kinds of businesses have to make sure that there is consistency with regards to the level of service delivery at every point during the customer experience. Unfortunately staff cannot deliver what they don't understand or know. The majority of staff members receive inadequate training and no real brand orientation. They are not given enough knowledge to deliver on the brand's promise.

But, staff can't deliver what they don't know or understand. The question is how many people know what a mission and vision statement is all about and how many people know that mission statements are the underlining promise of a brand. The need for staff to be trained on customer service delivery, brand awareness, Office etiquette and office protocols can not be overemphasized. Studies reveal that an average of 56% of employees who interface with customers lack their own management's support to deliver their brand effectively. Not unlikely, as 50% of those managers don't understand the positioning of the brand themselves.

Hence organizations look at employing individuals with such skills to add value to their organizations. You most always receive excellent service at both ends of the counter. It's important to note here that such successful companies spend more on employee training than on marketing. It is critical that we learn to link staff behavior with our own brands vision,mission, policies and customer service. We must teach everyone on our team from the CFO to the janitor, what our brand means and how that meaning determines the distinct level of service we must deliver to support the brand. It's important that our team deliver that full brand value on a consistent basis day in and day out. Big corporations in the world have survived the harsh economic times simply because of consistent customer service.

An experience I had some time back, was at UCO where for every day glitch or downtime experienced during training that adds up to a week, the online training college promises free course training for under privileged delegates from the townships, indirectly giving back to society through such schemes. A mail goes out to the delegate carrying the complain and what has been done to put the issue right. What an interesting new way to promise great customer service! I commented on the new sign to the gal at the register. Studies reveal that 40% of marketing is wasted on unmotivated or uninformed staff members. Again, staff can't deliver what they don't know.

Recently, I had some time back, was at UCO where for every day glitch or downtime experienced during training that adds up to a week, the online training college promises a free course training for under privileged delegates from the townships, indirectly giving back to society through such schemes. A mail goes out to the delegate with reason for complain and on what has been done to put the issue right. What an interesting new way to promise great customer service! I commented on the new sign to the gal at the register. Studies reveal that at least 40% of marketing is wasted on unmotivated or uninformed staff members. Again, staff can't deliver what they don't know.

The other critical pitfall is that the most management teams who have in fact taken the time needed to flush out the brands fabric in full, have not figured out how to effectively communicate those deliverables to the rest of their team. Team members need to be reading from same page of the playbook to deliver consistent brand value. In next month's issue of Deep Insights, we will further outline brand fabric and introduce a plan to get your own brand fabric into the hands of your team members who can drive service that supports your brands full value.

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