I’ve written about customer service in the past, but I wanted to bring it up again as it is a vital piece to your business. One specific aspect I want to talk about is the “it’s not my job” mentality that lots of businesses seem to suffer from.
Customer Service Is Everyone’s Job
Your business should have an all-hands-on-deck approach to customer service. If your accountant gets a call because the customer called the wrong number, then they shouldn’t just provide the correct phone number, they should get someone on the line with the customer to help them.
If your actual customer service representatives have a bad attitude, then you need to try to shape them up or replace them. It is too easy for customers to find one of your competitors and price them out. Losing a customer over something as silly as a bad customer service experience is absurd!
Don’t Take It Personally
When a customer complains, don’t take it personally. What you need to do is personally accept responsibility for correcting the problem. There are some businesses out there that know they have problems, and just hope daily that their customers won’t notice or complain.
What a horrible plan! Customer complaints should be considered a free piece of Gold. I routinely give out complaints in hopes that businesses will correct them. This is because I understand the value of a customer complaint. I believe Zig Ziglar said it best:
“Statistics suggest that when customers complain, business owners and managers ought to get excited about it. The complaining customer represents a huge opportunity for more business.”
I’ve offered advice to Blockbuster, Netflix, Cable Companies, Burger King, and countless others. I’ve never received formal feedback, but I hope that the information was well received.
Ending “It’s Not My Job”
Today is the day for you to formally end the “It’s not my job” mentality. Customers need to know that your company is there for them, and every one of your employees depends on your customers for their paycheck. Therefore, it is only reasonable that everyone be responsible for the experience the customer receives.
“It’s not my job” is a business illness that needs to be remedied as soon as possible. Your business will do so much better when everyone on board has a customer-centric attitude. Think of how different your business could be if every employee offered suggestion on ways to improve the experience!
Create The Proper Climate
You, as the leader, needs to create a climate conducive to this attitude. You must nurture your employees desires to offer improvement suggestions. You don’t have to employ every idea you receive, but at least let your employees know you are listening.
Consider implementing a system that employees can use. Be sure to not turn it into the ubiquitous “suggestions box” that no one uses or checks. Create a meaningful, useful system, and use it! You’ll probably be surprised at just how much insight you can get from people who often don’t have opinions about anything.