Give your staff more power to improve your relationship with customers


In most service businesses, things go wrong with the consumer experience from time to time. Obviously individuals anticipate this to occur sometimes - we don't live in a perfect world, following all - but companies are judged not so much on what goes wrong, but on how they go about putting things correct

Usually, correcting problems is something reserved for managers or complaints handlers - which is fine, except that the customer often has to go from one person to an additional to get the issue fixed.

In services, the individuals element of the provision is obviously extremely essential. In some cases, people really ARE the service: hairdressing, teaching, entertainment, and so forth. For retailers, the staff are the company as far as the clients are concerned, so retailers need to consider hiring good "people" people in the first place. Not all of them do - and staff training is no substitute for hiring individuals who're polite and helpful anyway.

Combining these two elements, we see that clients who have a problem stand a great opportunity of being greeted by a disinterested store assistant, who refers the issue to someone else who may or might not be available and who might or might not be able to help. This will hardly enhance the customer's encounter with the service - and it's extremely unlikely to result in a return visit.

IKEA, the Swedish furniture retailer, is well-known for many things - stores the size of football pitches, easy Scandinavian designs, flatpack furniture, and Swedish meatballs in the retailer cafeteria, amongst others. What they have beyond any doubt, though, is committed and capable staff (whom they call co-workers). Getting a job at IKEA is by no indicates easy: the business is looking for individuals who can act on their own initiative, and who can deal pleasantly and capably with clients, so IKEA is very selective in who they employ.

IKEA staff are all empowered to fix customer problems instantly. Whichever employee is approached, he or she will cope with the problem straightaway, regardless of whether by replacing a faulty product, offering a reduction, or offering a meal voucher for the restaurant. Obviously staff have guidelines for what they ought to and shouldn't do, but the guidelines are just that - staff are expected to do whatever is essential to solve the customer's problem.

Simply because the staff are well trained, well motivated, and intelligent, they could be trusted to cope with problems. The outcome is really a cost saving, because much less staff time is wasted on dealing having a problem - if a totally free meal in the cafeteria saves even half an hour of management time, it's money well spent. The net result is that IKEA runs with fewer staff than most comparable retailers, and scores much greater on customer satisfaction surveys.

Hire great staff to begin with. Train them well, especially in terms of understanding the boundaries of their empowerment. Do not second-guess them. If they had been over-generous in handling a complaint, or believed a consumer who was pulling a fast one, it won't help if you start giving the staff member a difficult time. Most people, staff or customers, respond well to fair treatment. Hire trustworthy individuals, then trust them.

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This article was sent to us by: Leah Rogers at 01202011

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