HR Newsletter

Building a Reputation for Great Customer Service from the Ground Up

Whether your business manufactures a product or provides a service, earns a profit or is a not-for-profit, has three or 350 employees, one thing is certain – you have customers. They pay your bills and keep you operating. So it's in your best interest to provide your customers with excellent service. But entrusting your customers to your employees can be daunting if you don't have a strategy that supports exceptional customer service. ADP TotalSource is here to help with the following tips on building customer service into your organization.

Hiring people who will provide excellent customer service is plainly the best way to ensure your customers will receive top-notch service. Take a cue from Enterprise Rent-A-Car, which is well-known for its successful recruitment process. Enterprise looks for eight critical customer service skills in its candidates:

1. A passion for taking care of customers
2. A willingness to be flexible
3. A work ethic based on dedication to the company and its mission
4. An eagerness to learn a new business and work their way up
5. Self-motivation and goal-orientation
6. Persuasive sales skills
7. Excellent communication skills
8. Leadership ability

• A candidate's prior customer service experience doesn't always mean he or she will be the best fit for the unique needs of your customers.
• Look for the following attributes: high interactive skills, emotional literacy, assertiveness, empathy, flexibility, and good problem-solving skills and judgment.
• Skills can be taught, so determining which candidates have a temperament conducive to excellent customer service is critical.

Taking a step back from hiring can help you determine what to look for as you seek to hire people for customer service positions. Defining "excellent service" can be challenging, and it will be unique for your company. First, look to the values that drive your company. Ask, "How do we want our customers to recall the experience of working with us?" If you run a repair shop, you may want your customers to recall that their item was repaired correctly by technicians who were capable and friendly, in a timely manner. Next, consider what your customers will expect from your business. In the repair shop example, customers may also expect to be given an estimate up front, and consulted if repairs will cost more – in addition to the friendly, timely experience you want them to recall. Putting these two considerations together will give you a good idea of what behaviors you want your employees to exhibit.

Once you've hired the right person for your customer service position, be sure your expectations for excellent customer service are clear. At Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, that means keeping it simple, so employees can easily remember and carry out the mission. They focus on four key behaviors: smile, greet, own, and thank. Employees are instructed to model these behaviors in specific ways. For example, employees are expected to make eye contact and smile when they interact with patients, families, guests, and other employees; employees are also instructed to thank patients and families after any detailed interaction, such as, "Thank you for taking the time to listen to my explanation of this procedure." Are your organization's expectations of excellent customer service this specific? The senior vice president of HR for Children's Healthcare of Atlanta explains, "I think everybody fundamentally knows that…you're supposed to smile, but we had never told (our employees) specifically that these were our expectations."

Want to take your employees' customer service skills to the next level? ADP TotalSource offers a series of training courses through TotalSource University that can help your employees learn how to interact with customers in a consistent, positive way.

Finding the right candidates and instructing them on specific customer service behaviors can give your business the advantage when it comes to customer service. And, if you need a hand, ADP TotalSource has the tools and services to help.

"Building Service with a Smile," HR Magazine, Society for Human Resource Management. November 2006.
"Hiring Right," Donna Earl. www.trainersdirect.com.
"Eight Critical Customer Service Skills," Brand Autopsy, John Moore. From Exceeding Customer Expectations, Kirk Kazanjian. www.brandautopsy.typepad.com.
"Hire a Quality Customer Service Candidate," Jennifer LeClaire. www.inc.com

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