Are your customer service practices killing your team?

Guest Blog:  Aran McFarland, Ricoh Americas Corporation, Senior IS Manager – IT Support Center

I think it’s no big surprise that the way to succeed in business today is to deliver a level of customer service that can provide a differentiator between your products or services and those of your competitors.  Any manager in the Service Desk/Help Desk industry has known this for years; however we may have sacrificed our teams in the process.

It doesn’t matter how your organization measures customer service success; as a manager your customer service key performance indicators (KPI’s) can either be the most rewarding or most frustrating set of metrics you look at.  Managers continually make educated decisions in an attempt to improve customer service.    However, all too often we get bogged down in the procedures of providing customer service while overlooking the human element. Many of our technicians have the potential to provide outstanding customer service on their own; however, we have not empowered them by providing the tools and authority to make a difference.

I think that great customer service starts with the empowerment and autonomy of your team members.  Establishing autonomy with your team doesn’t happen overnight because many people in the support and service industry have been tightly regulated with regards to customer service rules and may be skeptical to take this step.  Below are a few things that will help you get started.

• Training: Whether you provide your training in-house or take advantage of one of the HDI training programs, it is imperative that you provide your team with the skills needed to accomplish this.  Remember, they need skills training, not procedural training.
• Start with the small things: Rather than provide a script for your team when answering the phone, provide them with the points that should be covered and let them tailor it to their individual style that’s appropriate for your work environment.
• Provide guidelines, not procedures:  Rather than script your technician’s actions provide them with a checklist of what needs to be captured and let them determine the method.
• Tie autonomy to career advancement: As each person advances in their career they are often expected work with increased responsibility and less supervision.  Don’t wait for the next promotion to prepare them, start working your team towards that goal now.
• Provide constructive feedback:  Feedback must be given frequently and in a timely manner to reassure your team members that they are doing the right thing. 

After all, providing great customer service is not about what manager can write and implement the best procedure, it’s about one individual making a connection with another and finding out how to best serve them.