Kristi Daeda is an HR Professional, Consultant and Career Coach. She writes about careers and professional effectiveness at http://www.kristidaeda.com. Contact her at kristi@kristidaeda.com for more information on engaging your workforce.
Businesses can be fiercely protective of their customer base, and rightfully so. You invest time, money and sweat equity in connecting with, relating to and building solutions for these people. Customer satisfaction drives your success through revenue and referrals.
So, who’s handling your customer relationships?
The minute that you hire people, you are relying on them to help prop up that relationship through their customer service. But let’s be honest — rarely does an employee have the same passion, drive and investment as an owner. A paycheck can motivate them to do what they’re asked, but how do you get them to go above and beyond?
Employees are best-equipped and most likely to give award-winning service when they have high satisfaction. To increase employee satisfaction provide them with the following:
- An understanding of the big picture. Share with your staff the “why” behind the “what.” When you ask them to do something, help them understand why the task is important, who’s relying on it, and what the next step will be. Help them prioritize. Over time, they’ll start putting the pieces together on their own and deliver better results with less instruction.
- Regular, non-threatening feedback. Get into the habit of talking regularly about their work. Praise when it’s warranted, and offer gentle correction when necessary. Your guidance not only helps them better meet expectations, but also shows that you’re interested in their success.
- A safe place to fail. Mistakes are part of life, and though they can be costly and irritating, they’re necessary on the path to mastery. Have controls to keep things from getting out of hand, but allow your staff to make mistakes, identify them, and correct them on their own. Unless they arise from extreme carelessness or malice, keep the feedback focused on solutions.
- A measure of responsibility. Everyone likes to feel like they’re making a meaningful contribution. Show you trust them by letting them exercise some control over their work. As they prove themselves, allow them to widen the scope of their authority. Challenge them by holding them accountable.
- Training and equipment necessary to succeed. If you try to save $5 by not purchasing a calculator, every time someone finds themselves doing long division by hand, they’ll be thinking how cheap the boss is. Don’t be extravagant, but do make sure that your staff has basic equipment, in good working condition. And don’t leave them floundering for answers: train them on their job, and expect them to succeed at it.
- A genuine interest in their lives. Your employees want to be wanted. They want to feel like you care about them as individuals. Ask about their families, their hobbies, their weekend, whatever. Be genuine. Genuine caring engenders genuine loyalty. Loyalty is priceless.
- Recognition. This doesn’t necessarily mean a fancy plaque at a catered lunch. Understand how each staff member likes to be praised. Some will want the spotlight, some will vastly prefer being recognized in private. Some want a cash bonus, others will be best motivated by new projects and interesting work. Know the difference, and praise when you can.
- A goal. Short-term, long-term, doesn’t matter. Create one goal, or more, for each employee. Make sure that it’s something they can achieve that is directly related to the business’s success. Then cheer them on, and help them get there. Everybody wins.
These things are fairly simple in concept, but terribly hard in practice for two reasons: (1) you’re probably very busy, “too busy” to spend time on chit-chat and back-patting, and (2) it’s very hard to cede control to others when the success of your business relies on customer satisfaction. But the alternative is riskier: leaving your customer service in the hands of the disengaged. Which would you rather have representing you to your clients: a peon or a professional? A servant or a star? Or perhaps the better question is, which would your competition prefer that you have?
