Steps to Developing Strong Customer Service

Developing a strong customer service program isn't something that should be taken lightly. It should take lots of planning and careful scrutinizing as customer service acts as the ambassadors about the company's philosophy and culture to customers. A strong customer service program lets customer know that you appreciate their business while a poor one will turn them to a competitor. There are a number of steps to consider when developing your own program.

1.) What does your company stand for? A strong customer service program should be based upon the philosophy of the company and the overall cultural attitude within the company. For example, if the company is focused on life-time customer the customer service program should be designed for long-term retention and not short-term profits.

2.) Scope of Responsibilities: Once you have understood the culture and strategy of the organization you should begin to design the customer service program. You should have a clear understanding of how much power and ability you are going to give your customer service representatives, how much time they can spend with each customer, how much money they can spend to make the customer satisfied, whether or not they can call customers back, do they have the ability to send free gifts, should they be tracking and collecting customer information for later sales? All of these questions are important in determining the actual form of the customer service program.

3.) Recruitment of Employees: First hire for attitude and then train for skills. Attitude is one of the most important considerations when attempting to find the right employee. Attitude influences their positive impressions when talking to customers, influences how well they get along with co-workers, and influences their strength as a company employee. Skills can be taught and learn but attitude is something each person carries with them for a lifetime.

4.) Facilities and processes: Determining where you are going to conduct customer service and the processes of that customer service are very important. Will the customer service be conducted via the phone in the U.S. or India? Will customer service be provided at the location of the sale in addition to via the telephone? Will customers be required to call, write, or email customer service representatives? The goal should be to make customer service easy but also ensure that some integrity is followed in the process.

5.) Training and Development: Develop and train customer service employees to the best of your ability. Make sure that that you reinforce your culture through this training program. There should be an initial in-depth training program and then a follow up program every six months. The more training you offer your customer service employees the stronger their ability to handle customer problems and contribute to life time customers.